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As soon as that phone call ended, she tried to call Barry. Again, he didn’t answer.
Her stomach constricted with nervousness as she tried to figure out what to do next. Yes, taking a leave of absence was normal. But something told her that all was not well with Barry.
Unfortunately, she had no way of tracking him down without causing a commotion and maybe even outing their relationship to their coworkers. Worse, leaving the office to go look for him was impossible. She had a few important meetings set up for the afternoon that she couldn’t put off.
She spent the next couple of hours trying to concentrate on work in between bouts of worries. Was Barry sick? Was it something worse?
She signed out of work at five p.m., and headed straight to Barry’s house. When she saw his car parked in his driveway, some of the tension biting at her nerves disappeared. She parked her car right behind his and made her way to his front door.
She’d been in his house enough times to know where his spare key was. Worry made her consider using the key to enter the house, but she decided to try the doorbell first. It took a couple of rings, but she eventually heard the click of the lock unlocking, then the door opened.
And then there Barry was.
It was obvious that he’d been drinking. Alcohol fumes came off him in waves and his eyes were bloodshot and hooded. Though he was still in the black suit she’d seen him in earlier that day, his tie sat askew on his neck, as if he’d tried to remove it then given up.
Fresh concern immediately shot through Xolani. “Hey?”
“Hey, Xo,” he returned. One corner of his lips lifted slightly then settled back down right away as if he was too tired to give her a proper smile. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to see you.” She closed the distance between them and hugged him. Though the stench of alcohol stung her nose, she didn’t care. She was just relieved to see him.
Barry hugged her back with one arm, but it wasn’t nearly as tight as usual.
Stepping back to study his face, she said, “I heard you took a leave of absence. Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, everything is okay.” He tried to smile again. This time he got both corners of his mouth to lift but the smile didn’t even last two seconds or even reach his eyes.
“No. Everything is not okay.” She cupped his face. “What’s going on, honey?”
Barry didn’t answer her question. Instead, he stepped aside to let her in the house. “Come on in.”
Once she was in the house, he closed the door. While she was taking off her shoes and hanging up her coat, he padded down the hallway. Once she was done, she followed him to the living room. But when she got there, her footsteps halted as shock swept through her.
By normal standards, the living room looked okay. But by Barry standards, it was a complete mess. He was a neat freak and didn’t like when things were messy or out of place, yet the coffee-table and rug were littered with beer cans.
How much alcohol had he had? And what would cause him to drink so much?
He moved to the couch, sat down, then reached for an unopened can of beer. After popping it open, he took a deep gulp.
“Okay, something is wrong.” Xolani moved to sit beside him. She touched his upper arm. “Barry, tell me.”
He took another gulp of his beer while staring at the TV. That was also concerning because the TV was off, so he was just staring at a dark screen. Was this what he’d been doing the whole day?
“Bar_” Xolani’s breath caught in her throat and she felt the back of her eyes sting. “Barry, what’s wrong?”
While still staring at the TV, he quietly said, “Patrick’s dead.”
“Huh? Patrick?” The name was familiar. Frowning, she wracked her brain for her memories of the name. When she found it, she gasped, “Patrick? Your father?”
Barry took another gulp of beer.
Xolani couldn’t believe it. “Your dad is dead?”
“Dad?” Barry smiled wanly. “I doubt anyone ever called him that in his life.”
His father was dead? Now the drinking made sense… or maybe it didn’t. Previous conversations had left Xolani with the strong impression that Barry loathed the ground his father walked on. If Xolani hated someone as much as Barry hated Patrick, she’d be happy to hear of their death. At worst, she’d be apathetic to it.
But this wasn’t apathy or happiness. It looked like grief.
