When they were finished singing, everyone cheered. The same woman who had poured her a drink went over to the kitchen and rifled around. She pulled a used blue candle that was left over from Pedro’s birthday party from a drawer and a concha from a plastic bag covering a collection of various breads. Aria watched her light the candle on the stove and push it through the crust of the sweet bread, which she had put on its own little ceramic plate. Aria squirmed under the discomfort of being the center of attention. The woman placed the concha in front of her and said, “Make a wish.” In her head, Aria made the same wish as she had before. When she blew the candle out, again everyone cheered.

Aria let the sun disappear from the sky. She talked to Pedro and allowed him to translate what he could for the people who wanted to know more about her while she drank more soda than she should have. When she got up to make her exit for the night, a few of the children had already fallen asleep on the floor and on couches. She stepped over one of them, surprised that they could sleep through the noise still echoing through the house.

“No, hey … Antonio can take you wherever you want to go,” Pedro said, motioning to one of the younger men on a couch. He spoke briefly to the man in Spanish.

“Sure, sure, I can take you,” the man said. He grabbed his coat and hat from the arm of the couch and led the way out the door.

“Hey thanks, I had a really great time,” Aria said.

“Me too, hey thanks for coming. I hope to see you again real soon. Happy birthday!” Pedro said, hugging her tightly.

Aria walked across the room and hugged Consuelo, who blushed in response. “See you guys later, thanks,” she said to the other people in the house. Though she had not met each of them individually, they all smiled and waved warmly to her when she said goodbye.

Aria directed Antonio to the Super Sun Market, knowing that Omkar would be worried when she got back. The brakes of his little Ford truck squealed audibly at every stoplight. The man, who had been born in America, spoke perfect English. He kept the momentum of the conversation going for the whole drive and, at the end of it, asked her for her number. When she explained why she didn’t have one, he gave her his number instead. Aria thanked him for the ride and took the number, but knew that she would never use it because it was obvious that he was interested in her romantically.