# The Wednesday Circle
The coffee shop had been their sanctuary for three years now. Every Wednesday at seven, the back room of Caffè Letterario filled with the quiet shuffling of manuscripts, the click of laptop keys, and the particular nervous energy that accompanies people about to share something vulnerable. Margaret Chen had founded the group when she'd moved to the city after her divorce, seeking community among strangers who understood the peculiar loneliness of putting words on a page.
Tonight, she arrived early as always, arranging the mismatched chairs into their familiar circle. Seven chairs. They'd started with twelve members, but attrition had whittled them down to a committed core: herself, Douglas, Priya, Nathan, Elise, Omar, and—as of four months ago—Carolyn.
