The Witnesses in Her Apartment

Elena stood at the kitchen counter, her hands trembling as she rinsed the spinach. The water ran cold over her fingers, carrying away the dirt along with the last of her dignity. Six years of marriage, and she'd learned about the affair from a grocery receipt.

The cat — Marco's cat, technically, though Marco had been gone for three weeks — wound around her ankles, purring with a betrayal all its own. Elena had hated this animal for years. Now it was her only witness.

"You knew," she whispered to the orange tabby. "Of course you knew."

She dropped the spinach into the sizzling pan. It hissed and collapsed, surrendering to the heat the way she had surrendered to Marco's charm, his laugh, his carefully constructed lies. The smell of garlic and greens filled the apartment, too domestic for this moment of undoing.

The water in the pot for pasta boiled over, hissing against the burner, and she didn't move to stop it. Let it burn. Let the smoke detector wail. Let the neighbors wonder.

She'd always prided herself on being the kind of woman who didn't miss things. She noticed when clients were unhappy before they spoke. She caught typos in contracts that partners had missed three times. But somehow, she'd missed this.

Or maybe she hadn't. Maybe she'd chosen not to see.

The cat jumped onto the counter and nosed her hand. She didn't push it away. Its fur was warm against her cold skin.

"We're both pathetic," she said. "You miss him. I miss the version of him that never existed."

She turned off the burner. The spinach was limp, overcooked, ruined. Like her.

Outside, rain began to fall, water drumming against the windows, washing the city clean. Some things could be washed clean. Some things couldn't.

Elena scooped the spinach into a bowl. The cat watched, its golden eyes unblinking. Tomorrow she'd call a lawyer. Tomorrow she'd change the locks. Tomorrow she'd decide what to do with the cat.

Tonight, she'd eat dinner with the only other creature who understood what it meant to love someone who didn't exist.