Tijana had already lifted the chair toward the trailer when a man in a yellow raincoat told her to stop. A name was written in black marker on its back. "It might not be rubbish," he said. The riverbank was full of things that had once belonged to somebody, so Tijana had no patience for his caution. "Then we'll ask every bottle cap about its family first," she replied, immediately regretting her harshness.

The man introduced himself as Niko. He was thirty-two, worked in a print shop, and wore two different work gloves. The chair was dry, although it had rained overnight. A fresh moving-company sticker was attached to its leg. Tijana lowered it. They called the number and learned that some furniture had fallen from an open trailer. Its owner lived two streets away.

"All right, the bottle caps are safe for now," Tijana said.

Niko laughed and took the other end of the chair. As they carried it, she learned that he helped repair furniture on weekends, while he learned that she edited wedding photographs she was finding increasingly difficult to tell apart. The chair's owner, an older woman named Rea, answered with a measuring tape around her neck. Recognizing it, she sat down in the hallway. It was the chair where her late husband had tied her shoes before outings for years.

One leg wobbled after the fall. Niko promised to return with tools, but Tijana noticed that he used "we." She didn't correct him. On Sunday, she arrived early, bringing glue he didn't need and a cake they all enjoyed. Rea told them about moving while they worked. When she asked whether they were a couple, Tijana said, "We're still negotiating about rubbish." Niko lowered his eyes to hide his smile.

After the repair, they went to the river. Tijana admitted that she usually rushed decisions because the amount of unfinished work frightened her. Niko said he sometimes delayed finishing just to avoid going home to an empty apartment. Neither tried turning the other's habits into virtues. They sat on the steps and shared the remaining cake, eating straight from its box.

They arrived together for the next cleanup but worked in different groups. When Tijana found an old picture frame, she showed it to Niko from a distance. He shook his head and pointed to the dumpster. She obeyed, laughing. Afterwards, they went to buy gloves. They chose different colors, then each took one from the other's pair, without any particular reason that needed explaining.