The Glass Pyramid

The corporate retreat center rose from the desert floor like a crystalline pyramid, its glass facets winking under the Nevada sun. Elena checked her iPhone for the third time in as many minutes. Still nothing from Marcus.

"Looking forward to the keynote?" The man beside her adjusted his fedora, a jaunty hat that seemed out of place among the suits and athleisure wear. He was maybe thirty-five, with tired eyes and a smile that didn't quite reach them.

"Just checking the time," Elena lied, slipping the phone into her pocket. Her thumb hovered over his contact one more time—three years together, ended with a text message while she was at the airport.

"Brad." He offered his hand. "I'm in the supplement division. You?"

"Elena. Marketing." She shook his hand briefly. "And I'm not looking forward to any of this. My boss thinks this retreat will 'synergize our vertical integration.' I think it's just a tax write-off."

Brad laughed, genuine and surprising. "A pyramid scheme within a pyramid building. Meta."

The connection sparked something—irony, recognition, the weary solidarity of two people who've seen too many corporate buzzwords. They spent the next hour dodging networking events, making up increasingly absurd corporate jargon. "Let's circle back to leverage our bandwidth for some low-hanging fruit," Brad deadpanned, and Elena snorted her drink.

"I should go," she said later, as the desert sky purpled. "I told myself I'd start running while I was here. Something about clearing my head."

"Mind company?"

The path behind the hotel wound through scrub brush and red rock. Elena hadn't run since college, but Brad matched her pace, pointing out constellations, making her laugh until her sides ached. They didn't talk about exes or dead-end jobs or the existential dread of thirty-something.

They stopped where the path crested, the pyramid glowing below them like a landed spaceship. Elena caught her breath, checked her phone. Marcus still hadn't replied. Somehow, that was okay.

"Same time tomorrow?" Brad asked, adjusting his ridiculous hat.

Elena smiled, really smiled, for the first time since she'd landed. "Same time."

The iPhone stayed in her pocket the whole way back.