The Pool at Midnight

The hotel pool was empty at 2 AM, which was exactly why Elena had come down. She couldn't sleep—the jet lag, the unfamiliar bed, the way David had turned away from her when she'd reached for him earlier.

The water was still, black glass reflecting nothing. She dipped her foot in. Cold shocked her skin.

"Couldn't sleep either?"

Elena jumped. A man sat in the shadows of a cabana—maybe forty, silver threading his temples, expensive watch catching the moonlight. He held a glass of amber something.

"My husband's in room 412," she found herself saying. "He's probably asleep."

"My wife's in 414," the man said. "She's definitely asleep."

The acknowledgment hung between them—two marriages, two hotel rooms, two people who'd stopped trying years ago.

"I'm Marcus."

"Elena."

She sat on the edge of the pool, legs trailing in the water. The silence stretched until Marcus spoke again.

"You know what's playing on cable right now?" His voice was wry. "Some movie about a couple who falls in love in Paris. Every five minutes, I think about disconnecting the cable. Just—snip. But then what would we do at dinner?"

Elena laughed, startled. "David and I eat in restaurants now. Used to cook together. Now we need background noise or we might actually talk."

A movement near the perimeter fence caught her eye.

"Is that—"

"A fox," Marcus said softly.

The animal stood frozen, watching them— russet coat bright against the dark, eyes glowing gold. It looked impossibly wild there, between the pool and the parking lot, something ancient and untamable.

"I haven't seen a fox in years," Elena whispered. "Not since we moved to the city."

"They're everywhere," Marcus said. "People just don't notice."

The fox dipped its head, drank from something beyond the fence, then slipped away into darkness.

"They mate for life, you know," Marcus said. "But they hunt alone."

Elena's throat tightened. She thought of David, how they'd once been hungry for each other. Now they were just—full.

Marcus stood. "I should go. Before I do something stupid like ask you to stay."

"You should go," she agreed.

He paused at the gate. "The conference ends tomorrow."

"Yes."

"Room 412," he said, not quite a question.

"Room 412," she confirmed. "My husband's there."

"And your wife's in 414," she added.

"Right."

He walked away without looking back.

Elena stayed until the sky began to lighten, until the pool turned from black to gray to blue. Then she returned to room 412, where David was still asleep, breathing steady and predictable, and she knew exactly what she would do when they got home: call the cable company. Disconnect the service. Sit across from him at their own table and learn to be hungry again.