Farewell My Dear Uncle

1

Havenport, early May.

It was my twenty-first birthday party.

Xander, the man I'd loved for six years―the man I called my uncle―was proposing to another woman right in front of me.

The room erupted in applause, but I couldn't even force a smile. All I felt was a sharp, bitter ache deep in my chest.

As I stood there paralyzed, my phone began vibrating violently in my bag. I pulled it out to find a flood of messages. My thesis advisor's text was pinned right at the top, just under Xander's n