|Javier|
Something felt… off.
Or maybe I was just letting my mind wander too far.
I lifted my glass of whiskey slowly, letting the amber liquid coat my tongue as my eyes drifted toward my wife. She was radiant tonight, her smile effortless, lighting up the space around her. She leaned in as she spoke with my relatives, nodding and laughing in all the right places, as though every word they said held some hidden weight of importance. I couldn’t help but watch her, the warmth she radiated only highlighting the chill of isolation creeping over me at our own table.
Meanwhile, I sat with my cousins, my glass the only company that didn’t talk back or judge me. The clink of ice against glass was my constant companion, a rhythm as predictable as it was empty.
“I told you to give her some assu
