Philip waved her inside. Tonya opened the door, her head at a deferential tilt. “I’m sorry again about the plates. I feel—”

“It happens. Your hands were probably frozen.”

Tonya nodded, even though she knew the explanation couldn’t have been further from the truth. Much better for Philip to think she’d been reacting to the temperature than to an overheard call with his wife.

“You should take off. Nobody’s sitting outside in this weather.”

A combination of guilt and hope made Tonya protest. Philip paid ten dollars an hour for showing up. How Tonya earned her real salary was delivering food and drink. “Maybe the after-five crowd—”

“Most folks are working from home, and those in the office are going straight to their families afterward. Go. Spend time with your kid. You’ll get sick hanging out in this cold.”

Philip wasn’t asking; he was telling. There was no disobeying an order from the restaurant’s head. Tonya forced a smile. “Of course. Yes, Chef.”

Her down coat was in the front closet usually reserved for guests. She grabbed it off a hanger and then turned to bid Mike good-bye, only to see the bar unstaffed. Apparently, Philip had told him to kick off as well. Tonya looked toward the cooks for a sign-off nod, but they were either too busy with takeout meals or too mortified by her earlier mistake to acknowledge her departure.

Outside the restaurant was even more empty than the inside. Tonya popped the collar of her coat as she stepped onto the sidewalk, an act less about protecting against the cold than attempting to disappear. Tonya didn’t want to draw any unwanted attention as she commuted home. It was better for a woman in the city to be invisible, she thought. At least it was these days.

The virus had driven the city’s cell-phone-armed social media army behind closed doors. The few folks still out and about often didn’t mean anyone well.

As she marched down 47th Street, Tonya felt that she was hurrying through a postapocalyptic landscape. She kept her head down, mask on, and feet moving forward. Once she hit the subway entrance, she hustled down the stairs, avoiding looking at any of the stragglers on the platform. She stared at her shoes until she could board the F train.