The Pool at Midnight

Maya found her at the apartment complex pool at 2 AM, floating on her back like some abandoned constellation. The underwater lights turned Elise's **hair** into a halo of amber, spreading beneath her like something alive.

"You're going to wake the manager," Maya said, sitting on the lounger. Her **iPhone** lit up with another text from him—something about his **cable** being cut, how he needed her to call the provider, as if their marriage had been severed by some utility company's mistake rather than his own careful dismantling.

Elise didn't move. "Let him wake up. Let him come down here in his boxers and explain why his clothes are in the hallway."

The pool's surface ripled. Somewhere, a dog barked.

"I made dinner," Maya said. "That **spinach** recipe you liked. The one with the pine nuts."

"I'm not hungry."

"It's wilting."

"Everything wilts, May. That's the point." Elise finally turned over, treading water. "You know what's pathetic? I still check his location. Not because I think he's cheating again. Just to know he exists somewhere. Like he might disappear if I don't keep logging coordinates."

The underwater lights flickered. The pool had that distinct summer smell—chlorine and heat and the metallic taste of other people's memories.

"He asked me to call the cable company," Maya said. "Like I'm his secretary now. Like I'm still the person who fixes things."

Elise swam to the edge. "So what did you say?"

"I said I'd call tomorrow."

"Of course you did."

"I will call. He needs the internet for work."

"You're still taking care of him." Elise pulled herself up, water streaming down her arms. "Even after he moved out. Even after—" She stopped. "You're still his wife. Just not the one he sleeps with."

The lights died completely. The pool became darkness itself.

"Get in," Elise said.

"It's freezing."

"Get in anyway."

So Maya did, fully clothed, and they floated together in the dark while her phone buzzed unanswered on the chair, messages piling up like cable knots she'd spend another lifetime untangling.