Cable to the Surface

The coaxial cable had been loose for weeks, dangling from the wall like an accusation we both refused to acknowledge. Elena sat on the edge of the hotel pool, legs submerged in water that glowed orange from the sunset. She was peeling an orange, the citrus scent sharp against the chlorine.

"You're still doing it," I said, sitting beside her. "Pretending nothing's wrong."

Her hair was longer now, dark strands clinging to her neck where the pool water had splashed. She used to wear it short, back when we were young and broke and believed love conquered tax brackets and mortgage payments. Back before I knew what her silence meant.

"What do you want me to say, David? That we haven't had a real conversation in six months? That I've been swimming in debt while you're obsessed with a promotion that won't fix us?" She pressed her thumb into the orange, juice dripping down her wrist. "There. I said it."

I watched her wrist. The silver bracelet I'd given her five anniversaries ago caught the last light.

"I saw the credit card bill," I said quietly. "Thirty thousand dollars."

"Swimming lessons," she said. "Yoga retreats. Anything to feel something other than this." She laughed, but it was choked. "Your mother asked when we're having children at Christmas. I almost told her we can barely afford ourselves."

The cable swayed in a breeze I couldn't feel. Three years of therapy had taught us how to fight better, not how to stop.

"I'm tired of swimming," I said. "I think I've been swimming for years and just realized I never learned how."

Elena looked at me then, really looked. Her eyes reflected the pool's orange surface, and for a moment, I saw everything we'd lost and everything we'd never had.

"Me too," she said. She reached for my hand underwater, her fingers cold against mine. "But I think we're supposed to be drowning together."

"That's not romantic," I said.

"No," she said, squeezing my hand. "It's just true."

The orange slice floated on the water between us. The cable kept swaying. Somewhere in the distance, a hotel guest dove into the deep end, and we both watched the ripples spread toward our feet, not moving, just watching them come.