Signal Loss

The third message went unanswered. David stared at his iPhone, the screen casting a blue glow across his face in the otherwise dim parking lot. *Running 15 late. Start without me,* she'd written an hour ago. Now silence.

He zipped his jacket against the October chill and walked toward the padel court alone. The rhythmic thwack of ball against racquet echoed from the enclosed glass walls—other couples, other partnerships that showed up on time.

They'd met here three years ago. Elena had been watching him play through the fence, laughing when he'd sent a ball sailing into her lemonade. What followed was eighteen months of easy laughter, Sunday morning matches, and the kind of connection that felt like finding your glasses already on your face.

Then came the promotion. The relocation discussions. The phone calls that grew shorter, the visits that became rare, the text messages that devolved into logistics.

David sat on the bench and unwound the charging cable from his pocket, coiling it around his hand like a rope. The fraying wire exposed copper beneath—too much bending, too much stress, never quite replaced.

His phone buzzed. Not Elena. A calendar reminder: *Dinner with Elena - 6 months since The Talk.*

The Talk. When she'd said the commute was killing her, said the long-distance wasn't sustainable, said maybe they should both be free to find someone closer. She'd cried. He'd nodded, because what else do you do when someone decides you're not worth the inconvenience?

He'd told himself he was respecting her choice. Giving her space. But standing here, three months later, still waiting for her to show up to a standing Friday game she'd probably cancelled months ago, he understood the truth: he was just the cable she'd finally unplugged.

David stood up, shoved the coiled wire deep into his pocket, and walked toward his car. His iPhone lit up again—Elena this time. *So sorry. Can we reschedule?*

He stared at the message, then typed back: *No. We can't.*

Behind him, on the empty padel court, wind scattered dead leaves across the service line.