Backhand Over Broken Glass

The sweat pooled in Elena's palms as she gripped the padel racket, her knuckles white against the neon green handle. Across the court, Marcus laughed at something Sarah said—his new business partner, his new everything, if the rumors from the office were true.

"Your serve," Marcus called, spinning the ball on his racket strings. He'd always had that arrogance, that way of making a friendly match feel like territory he was staking.

Elena smashed the ball. It clipped the net and dropped mockingly on her side.

At the edge of the court, a calico cat watched from beneath a palm tree, indifferent to the wreckage of a fifteen-year marriage playing out before it. The animal reminded her of their honeymoon in Mexico, of Marcus holding her hand as they walked along the beach at sunset, of believing that love alone could weather any storm.

That night at the resort restaurant, she'd ordered the spinach salad—something light, something that wouldn't betray how her stomach churned. Marcus and Sarah had shared paella, feeding each other across the table like newlyweds, while Elena picked at her greens and pretended not to notice.

"You're playing angry, El," Marcus said now, at the net. "It's throwing off your form."

"I'm fine."

"You're not." He glanced at Sarah, who was stretching by the pool, her bikini barely there. "We should talk. About the divorce settlement. About being adults about this."

Adults. The word landed like a backhand she hadn't seen coming. Because adults didn't destroy families over office politics and ego. Adults didn't replace fifteen years with someone half their age and call it "finding themselves."

Elena walked to the net. The cat had fallen asleep in the shade. Sarah was now in the pool, laughing as Marcus's business partners joined her. Just like that—her life, her husband, her future, all floating away in chlorinated water while she stood on dry land holding a racket.

"You know what the problem with padel is?" Elena said quietly.

Marcus frowned. "What?"

"The walls." She looked at the glass enclosure that surrounded them. "You can hit the ball as hard as you want. It always bounces back."