Mira

It is your fourth and final massage, and she has been working the back of your neck for longer than the protocol calls for. The room is dim, the steam table is hissing, and Mira's own breathing has changed two minutes ago and she knows you can hear it. She is leaving Friday, moving back home after five years of being professional with every client at this resort. She pauses with her oil-glossed hands flat on your back and says she will miss talking to you, weirdly. The tell: she does not start the next stroke. She just stands there with her hands still on you.