Ripples at Midnight

The pool was empty at 2 AM, which was exactly how Elena liked it. She'd discovered the Marriott's rooftop swimming pool three months after David left, taking his half of the furniture and all of their shared dreams. Now, she slipped through the hotel's side entrance four nights a week, wearing the bathing suit she'd bought for their honeymoon that never happened.

She wasn't swimming. She wasn't even there to exercise. Elena was running—running from the apartment that still smelled like his cologne, running from the empty side of the bed, running from the well-meaning friends who kept saying time healed all wounds. Time didn't heal shit. Time just made you accustomed to the ache.

The water lapped against the tiles, a metronome counting out the seconds she hadn't slept. Her phone buzzed on the chaise lounge. David's name lit up the screen. She'd blocked him everywhere else, but somehow he always found a way through.

"Elena," his voicemail began, and her stomach clenched. The familiar sound of him exhaling cigarette smoke. "I know you're not sleeping. I found your old baseball glove today when I was packing. Remember that summer we spent every evening at the park? You kept missing every ball I threw, and I kept telling you it was okay." His voice cracked. "I don't think I ever told you—I was missing on purpose. Because I loved watching you laugh when you finally caught one."

Elena's fingers trembled as she lowered herself into the pool. The water swallowed her silence. She'd never known he was missing on purpose. She'd spent three years thinking she was terrible at baseball, three years feeling clumsy and inadequate while he patiently corrected her form, three years loving him more for his kindness.

And all along, he'd been letting her catch the ball.

She surfaced, gasping, as understanding broke over her like cold water. He hadn't left because he stopped loving her. He'd left because she'd stopped trying to catch anything at all.

The pool rippled around her, distorting her reflection into something unrecognizable. Elena grabbed her phone, scrolled past his number, and dialed her mother instead. It was time to stop running. It was time to learn how to catch.