Rising Tide

The iphone vibrated against the marble countertop, its screen illuminating the dark kitchen with the notification: *HR wants to meet. Tomorrow 9 AM.* Elena stared at it through the bottom of her wine glass, watching the light distort like some deep-sea creature rising through dark water.

"Bark," said Buster, her ex-husband's retriever, scratching at the back door. He wanted his walk.

"Not now, Buster. Not in this rain."

The dog whined, a sound so like human disappointment that her chest tightened. She'd inherited Buster in the divorce along with the mortgage and this house that now felt too large for one person and one dog who reminded her daily of the man who'd left her for his assistant.

Thunder rattled the windows. Outside, the storm drain was already backing up, water creeping toward the foundation again. Three floods in six months. The insurance company's letter lay next to the phone — *non-renewal effective immediately*.

Her iphone lit up again. Not HR this time. A text from David: *Can I get the rest of my stuff Saturday? Sorry about the short notice.*

She thought about last week, when she'd walked Buster past the café where David now sat with that girl — Chloe, twenty-four, with perfect skin and none of the exhaustion that comes from fifteen years of marriage. Elena had stood there in the rain, Buster tugging at the leash, while they laughed over lattes behind fogged glass. She'd wanted to burst in, to scream, but instead she'd turned and walked toward the river, Buster splashing through puddles, both of them soaked through.

The screen showed the time: 11:47 PM. She had to be up at six. Buster would need to be fed, walked, cared for. The house needed to be dried out, sanded, painted, sold. The insurance needed to be figured out. The severance package needed to be negotiated.

"Bark," Buster said again, more insistently.

Elena slid off the stool, knees aching, and opened the back door. The dog bounded out into the downpour, chasing something only he could see through the darkness. She watched him, this creature who'd lived through the same separation, who'd licked the tears off her face at 3 AM, who loved without condition or reason or pride.

The iphone lay forgotten on the counter, its screen dimming to black, while outside, the water kept rising, indifferent, as water always is, to all of it.