The Riddle We Never Solved

The goldfish in the tank behind you has been swimming in the same circle for twenty minutes. I've been watching it instead of looking at your face, which I've memorized over three years but suddenly seems like a stranger's.

"You're not listening," you say, and your palm comes down on the table between us. The sound is sharp, startling. A small, angry punctuation mark.

"I am," I lie.

"We need to decide. About the house. About us."

Outside, a baseball game drifts through an open window somewhere—the crack of a bat, distant cheering. It reminds me of that night in Chicago, when you kissed me under the lights at Wrigley Field, your face illuminated like something holy. We were drunk on cheap beer and possibility. Now we're sober, and the only thing illuminating us is the harsh fluorescent glow of this Thai restaurant, and the small brass sphinx on the counter that stares at us with enigmatic, painted eyes.

"Remember what you said that night?" I ask. "About how some riddles don't have answers?"

You sigh. Your palm is still on the table, fingers curled slightly. I can see the faint line where you'd removed your wedding ring three weeks ago—just to see how it felt, you'd said. The tan line is fading now, like the memory of who we were before everything got complicated.

"The sphinx asked a riddle too," I continue. "What walks on four legs in the morning, two at noon, three in the evening. The answer was 'man.' But maybe the real answer was: something that inevitably disappoints itself."

"You're being dramatic."

"Am I?"

The goldfish breaks its pattern, darting to the surface, then back down. Even it knows when to change course.

"I sold the tickets," you say quietly. "For the game next week."

Something in my chest caves in. Not dramatically—just a small, structural failure. Like a foundation slowly settling.

"Oh."

"I think we both know what that means."

I nod. The sphinx keeps watching. The goldfish keeps swimming. Somewhere, a baseball game ends, and I realize we never solved the riddle. We just stopped asking questions.