The Vitamin A Deficiency

Elena adjusted the brim of her hat, pulling it lower over eyes that had seen too many Saturday mornings on this padel court. The orange ball skipped across the surface — a hateful bright dot against the blue artificial turf.

'You're missing the easy ones today,' Marcus called from the other side, his hair still thick, still dark, still unfairly untouched by the three years since their divorce. He was already on his third marriage. Elena couldn't even manage a second date.

She thought about the vitamin supplements on her bathroom counter — the expensive ones her therapist recommended for stress. Something about cortisol and bone density and women over thirty-five. The container promised radiant health. What it delivered was expensive urine and a persistent reminder that she'd forgotten how to be anything other than tired.

'Match point,' Marcus said, and there was something in his voice — that particular tone that had once made her leave everything she owned in Madrid. The kindness she couldn't stomach anymore.

Elena watched the ball arch toward her. An orange moon against an artificial sky. She didn't swing. Just let it bounce past, once, twice, a mocking rhythm.

'What are you doing?' he asked, stepping toward the net.

She took off the hat. Her hair — thinner than last year, she'd noticed — fell flat against her neck. The sun hit her face directly. No shield. No pretense.

'Remembering why I left,' she said. 'It wasn't the other women.' She picked up her water bottle. 'It was how you made me feel like I should be grateful for the bare minimum.'

The silence stretched between them, longer than any rally they'd ever played.

'I don't think you're tired, El,' Marcus said quietly. 'I think you're punishing yourself for things that weren't your fault.'

She walked to the net, extended a hand she couldn't keep from trembling. 'Forty-love. I'll see you next Saturday.'

Later, she'd throw the vitamins in the trash. But for now, Elena walked toward the parking lot, finally ready to stop playing games she'd already lost.