The Last Game

The morning sun beat down on the padel court as Elena adjusted her grip on the racquet. Across the net, David wiped sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. They'd been coming here every Sunday for three years, ever since they'd bought the membership at the country club as a celebration of their tenth anniversary.

"Your serve," she called out, and David tossed the ball up.

It hit the net.

"You've got to snap your wrist more," she said automatically, the same correction she'd given a hundred times before. "Like I showed you."

"I know, I know." David's voice was tight. He jogged to retrieve the ball, his movements stiff. Beyond the court, palm trees swayed in the breeze, their fronds casting dancing shadows on the pavement. The pool glittered in the distance, a couple of children screaming as they jumped in. Everything looked the same as always, and suddenly, Elena couldn't breathe.

"David."

He looked up, ball in hand.

"I can't do this anymore."

The ball dropped from his fingers and rolled toward the fence. "What?"

"This. All of it." She gestured vaguely at the court, at the club, at everything their life had become. "I saw the messages on your phone."

David's face went still. "Elena—"

"Don't. Just don't." She walked to the bench and sat down heavily. "I thought if we kept doing all the right things—going to the club, playing padel every Sunday, hosting dinner parties—that everything would be fine. That we'd be fine."

David came and sat beside her, not touching her. "I never meant for—"

"I don't want to know who she is," Elena cut him off. "I don't want to know anything. I just want you to know that I know."

They sat in silence for a long time. Somewhere in the distance, someone laughed.

"What now?" David asked finally.

Elena looked at the pool, at the palms, at the life they'd built together that felt suddenly like a stage set. "I'll stay at Sarah's tonight. I'll come back tomorrow for my things."

"Elena, please—"

She stood up, picking up her bag. "I'm going to the restaurant to get some lunch. I'm going to order that spinach salad I always get, and I'm going to sit by myself and eat it, and I'm going to figure out what comes next."

She walked away without looking back. Behind her, on the empty padel court, David's ball sat in the dirt where it had fallen.