Chapter 29 - Chapter 28

"Where did I go that night?" Siyabonga tosses the question back to me, his dark brows gathered over eyes clouded by memory and liquor. Half a smile, void of humour, crooks the corner of his mouth. "I crashed at Mfundisi's. Got drunk and passed out at his place."

"You never get drunk."

"I think your wife asking for a divorce is a good enough excuse."

I wince, balancing the glass of Bain's on my bent knees, cupping the coolness of it between hot palms.

"That night when I threw it in your face that you weren't there when I lost Themba ... that wasn't right," I say. "I was in such a dark place, but that's no excuse. I'm sorry."

"It was true." His voice is subdued, laced with misery. "I wasn't there."

"You have to forgive yourself, S, even though it wasn't your fault. You were right when you said I told you to go on that trip. I did. We could never have known. So many things conspired against us that we couldn't have predicted or controlled."

"I knew something was wrong even before the hospital called. As soon as the plane landed, I wanted to get right back on and fly home. Something just felt off. I should have come home. It would have changed everything."

"Do you have any idea how many times I replay you telling me not to close uPhuthu that night? To go home early?" Tears thicken my voice. "Or how I hated myself for not getting that loose board repaired the week before, when it was on my list of things to do?"

I tripped.