Watermarks

The corporate retreat was Elena's idea — a desperate attempt to salvage something that had been hollowed out years ago. Three days at a resort where they could pretend to be people who still loved each other.

They started with padel, a sport neither of them knew how to play, which seemed appropriate. David kept swinging at the air while Elena chased balls into the fence, her laughter sounding like glass breaking. 'This is supposed to be romantic,' she said, breathless and flushed. 'That's what the brochure said.' David nodded and missed another serve, thinking how easily they could both be replaced.

That afternoon, while Elena napped, David found himself at the pool. He watched a woman swimming laps, her stroke rhythmic and relentless, cutting through the water like she was trying to escape something she couldn't name. He remembered the summer they'd met — how Elena had swum out too far and he'd followed, both of them treading water in the lake at dusk, his hands on her waist, certain that some loves were written in the water itself. Now he wondered if he'd ever learned to swim at all, or if he'd just been waiting to drown.

Dinner was with another couple from the retreat. They talked about their kids, their mortgage, the baseball league they'd joined. 'We're a team,' the man said, squeezing his wife's hand. 'That's what marriage is, right?' Elena smiled too brightly. David drank his wine and thought about the Spanish word for bull — el toro — and how it sounded like a door closing.

Later, in their room, Elena turned to him. 'Do you think we can still be happy?' She asked it like she was asking for directions.

David looked at her, really looked at her, and saw all the versions of themselves layered over each other like sediment. 'I don't think happiness is something you find,' he said. 'I think it's something you practice.' He took her hand, and for the first time in years, he didn't let go immediately.

Outside, the ocean kept hitting the shore. Somewhere a clock ticked. They lay there in the dark, two people learning, at last, how to swim.