The Green Between Us

The spinach had been stuck in Marcus's teeth for twenty minutes. Elena watched it from across the dinner table, a tiny green flag caught in his front incisor, waving at her with every self-assured word he spoke about his promotion.

'You should have seen me in that meeting, El. Like a fox among rabbits.' Marcus laughed, his chest expanding, the spinach undulating. 'I've been swimming in the shark pool for three years, and finally—'

Elena swirled her wine, remembering the friend who'd warned her about Marcus six months ago. Sarah had noticed it first—the way he never asked about her day, how he had opinions on everything and interest in nothing. Sarah, who Elena had stopped calling because Marcus found her 'too negative.' Sarah, who would have told her to get out before she signed the lease.

'The carpool savings alone will be incredible,' Marcus was saying now. 'We can finally start looking at houses. I told my mom you'd be thrilled.'

The spinach was becoming unbearable. It was everything—small, gross, and entirely unnoticed by the person wearing it. Just like their relationship.

Elena thought about the pool she'd secretly dipped into last month—her old grad school fund, untouched, still there. The freedom she could buy with one phone call to the property manager who'd been texting her about the studio in the city. The friend who'd offered her their couch.

'Marcus?' she said softly.

'—so I was thinking we could look at—what?'

She set down her wine glass. 'You have something in your teeth.'

His hand flew to his mouth. The spinach was gone in an instant, but the sudden silence remained. For the first time in three years, there was space between them—real space, the kind where truth lives.

'I'm not moving in with you,' she said. 'And I don't want a house.'

The fox looked very much like a rabbit then. And as she stood up, keys already in her pocket, Elena realized she'd never been more grateful for spinach.