The Riddle of Winter

Elena sat at the kitchen table, the remains of their dinner pushed to the side. Across from her, Marcus was texting again, his face illuminated by the blue light of his phone. The HDMI cable snaked across the table between them, connecting their televisions during those long-distance months, now coiled like a dead thing in the center of their shared life.

"He invited you to the sphinx gala?" she asked, her voice flat.

Marcus looked up, annoyed. "It's a networking event, El. The Sphinx Group—they handle tech mergers."

"Right. Tech mergers." She picked at the tangerine on her plate, peeled back a section of bright orange rind. The scent hit her—citrus sharp, reminding her of their first date in that Barcelona plaza, when he'd bought her oranges from a street vendor and told her he'd never been good at endings.

She squeezed the fruit, releasing juice that pooled on her white plate. Blood-orange dark, almost crimson.

"I'm doing this for us," Marcus said, his voice tightening. "The position pays double what I make now."

"And the hours?"

"Don't start."

"You'll be gone more than you're here. You're already gone when you're here." She met his eyes. "What's the point of being married to a sphinx, Marcus? You present me with riddles I can't solve, and when I get them wrong, you just—what? Withdraw further? Find someone new?"

The cable between them seemed to pulse, a reminder of all those nights they'd spent connected through screens, believing that love could survive distance, that technology could bridge the gap between what they wanted and what they had.

Marcus set down his phone. "That's not fair."

"Is it?" Elena stood up, her chair scraping against the floor. "I'm done guessing. I'm done solving riddles. I want a husband who's present, not a puzzle to be decoded every single day."

She walked to the sink, squeezed the rest of the orange into her palm, the juice running sticky between her fingers. She could feel him watching her, could feel the weight of everything unsaid between them. The sphinx had offered her riddle, and she was choosing to walk away rather than answer.

"I love you," he said quietly.

She turned around. "Then show me. Not with promises of future money or networking galas. Show me now."

Marcus stood up slowly. He reached across the table, took her sticky hand in his. The cable lay forgotten between them. Outside, snow began to fall.