Losing Lindani by Leanne Marshall

Author:Leanne Marshall [Marshall, Leanne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-11-21T00:00:00+00:00

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I stood aside to allow her through. ‘Thanks for coming by, Mila,’ I said, curbing my inclination to come right out with it.

‘New hair?’

‘Don’t even!’ I said, half-heartedly digging into her bicep.

‘It suits you, strangely.’

I returned a tilted smile like the lady on the canvas – her illuminating presence never failed to lure me into a comforting sense of security.

‘Well first, the good news. Kai started eating normally again. He even asked me when he was going back to school, and not in an I’m dreading it kind of way either.’

‘Oh nice, some good news!’ she said. ‘Where is the little guy anyway?’

We hadn’t seen anything of Mila since returning from South Africa the week before, but she had been in almost constant contact via text – which at first I’d found to be infested with awkward energy at her forcing my early return home. But if truth be told, I was beginning to miss her.

‘The bad news is, he did see something when you caught him in your things.’ I had rehearsed my delivery, hoping to appear secure enough to discuss the picture.

‘Oh shit, really.’ Her phone tumbled onto the sofa cushion.

‘I’m sorry, Lo, it was tucked away under some clothes. I didn’t think he’d seen it.’

‘It’s okay. It’s just, I was just a bit taken aback that’s all.’

‘Where is he?’ she deflected.

‘He’s in his room, catching up with schoolwork. I don’t know where he gets his strength, I really don’t.’

A seed of embarrassment sprouted. I’d called Mila here to moan about recent developments. I was proud I’d managed to find peace in the time it took for her to arrive since finding the phone, and since Kai delivered his mini bombshell. That was a significant improvement in itself, so I attended the kitchen and poured her a white coffee before filling her in.

Mila’s response was a mixture of confusion, irritation and a third unidentifiable emotion. Her eyes flicked erratically between invisible stimuli as she learned about the iPhone that had mysteriously appeared in my home.

‘Did Dan just have the one phone?’ she asked.

‘Why would he have more than one?’

‘Oh, I don’t know, perhaps to secretly lure a random woman into starting a new life with him on the other side of the world?’

My teeth clamped my inner cheek.

‘Look we need access to this phone. He mustn’t be far, he must have come back and dropped it by mistake. Either that or I am way more irrational than I thought!’

‘Just forget the phone, Lo, you’re gonna make yourself ill if you carry on. He’s gone, that’s it, nothing can change that. Kai is muddling through well, given that you haven’t exactly mastered how to protect him. Just move on, put yourselves first will you!’

Whose side are you on, Mila?

My head sank into my palms, affording me a bit more time to process Mila’s outburst.

She must have recognised my resignation, so softened her approach. ‘I don’t mean to sound cruel, Lo. You know that, don’t you? It’s just, you’re not

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