What The Water Washes Away

Elena shouldn't have been surprised to see Sarah at the resort bar, but she was. Seven years since they'd spoken, and here they were, both at the same overpriced tropical escape, both wearing wedding rings that meant something different than they'd planned in their twenties.

Sarah was the one who approached first, that careful smile Elena remembered from the weeks after she'd slept with Elena's fiancé. "You're here," Sarah said. "I heard you moved to Seattle."

"I heard you got married."

They made small talk like strangers with shared history, and when Sarah's phone chimed with a work email, she laughed bitterly. "I'm still swimming in debt from that startup failure. Remember how convinced we were it would change everything?"

Elena did remember. She remembered Sarah's excitement, the late nights, the way she'd stopped calling. She remembered the other things too—the secrets Sarah had read on her palm that night at the beach house, the things she'd promised never to tell.

"I do palm readings now," Sarah said suddenly, gesturing to the lounge chair beside her. "Tourists mostly. You'd be surprised what people want to know."

"I know what my future looks like," Elena said. "That's why I'm here."

Sarah's husband was cheating. Sarah knew, had known for months, stayed because she'd already left one marriage and couldn't bear to be the kind of woman who left two. "He says he loves me," she whispered. "He says it doesn't mean anything."

Elena looked at this woman who had been her best friend, who had once traced the lifeline on her palm and promised her that happiness was coming, who had then slept with Elena's fiancé three weeks before the wedding. "It never doesn't mean something," Elena said.

Sarah's eyes filled with tears. "I miss who we were before everything got complicated."

"We were young," Elena said. "We thought friendship was supposed to be easy."

They swam in the ocean together at dawn, just like old times. The water was cold and clear, and for a moment, Elena could almost believe they were still those girls who believed love and friendship would last forever. But when they reached the shore, they both knew—some things the water doesn't wash away. Some stains are permanent.