“I told you I am,” I said. He winked again, then took his hand off the wheel to move the gearshift. I could do was stare. A limb fixation was definitely a cry for help, and yet here we were.
In an effort not to embarrass myself further, I attempted more small talk. “So does your family miss you when you’re out of town working in the field? Or do you live alone?”
He shook his head. “No, most young people here live with their parents and family until they get married. I’m twenty-eight, and technically could afford to be on my own, but I live with my parents, and my sister and her family.” He cleared his throat like he was considering what else to say. “That way I can save and help with the house expenses. But they’re used to my schedule.”
He used that same tone from before, like there was more to the story, but I was not going to get pushy. Well, pushier. “How about a girlfriend? Does she mind your schedule?”
Totally not pushy. Was I intentionally trying to get to the point where he asked me about my girlfriend, and I’d have to lie or say something that could make this trip incredibly uncomfortable? Did my shame at being an intrusive shit keep me from staring at him like I needed an answer ASAP?
Nope.
Elias just shook his head and simply said, “No girlfriend to worry about.”
The way his throat moved and shoulders tensed when he answered made me veer off from my line of questioning. I decided to just let that shit go and not plant any more conversational bombs for now.
We got to Awassa in the midafternoon, and after a quick check-in at the hotel, we went to our rooms with the plan to meet with the others for dinner.
The hotel had great internet, and though it was early morning in New York, I decided to try Luce. She would probably be getting home from a shift at the hospital and be around for a quick chat. I video-Skyped her and she connected after only a couple of rings. I grinned as soon as I saw her pissed-off face filling up my laptop screen.
“You little fucker! I thought you were dead!” she yelled, then sucked her teeth as I sat there cheesing. Acting like she was so pissed she wanted to snatch me right through the screen was my best friend’s love language.
I wasn’t stupid enough to say it, though. So I teased her instead. “I love you too, Luce.”
That got me an epic eye roll. “Would it have killed you to send a two-word text? ‘I’m fucking alive’ would’ve worked.”
“Uh, that’s three words, genius,” I said, certain that would just set her off on another rant about how I was going to be the death of her.
God, it was good to see her face.
From where she was sitting I could see the back of her leather couch, which she’d saved for like, six months to buy. Behind her were rows and rows of books in white bookshelves. Her curls were an unruly mess, and she was wearing a T-shirt that said Flexin’ in my Complexion. I could see her Kindle and a huge cup of coffee, probably decaf, sitting in front on the table.
Luce and I had met the first day of ninth grade the fall after my dad died. After he passed away my mom decided to move to Ithaca in Upstate New York, where my dad’s parents lived. We’d always been close to them, and back then she needed the support.
Lucía’s family lived just two streets away from us. We were both only children, and hung onto each other for dear life through everything. Her parents were also one of the few Dominican families in Ithaca, which sealed the friendship between us. We both stayed in town for college, but after graduation Luce went to Seattle to get her master’s in nursing and later settled in New York City. In the four years since we’d finished college, I’d used DC as my home base, though I was barely there. After years of living so far apart, these Skype sessions were old hat for us.
Lucía was my best friend and I loved her, but she never, ever sugarcoated the truth. Which made me reluctant to share my instant fixation on Elias. I was kind of embarrassed, because I’d known the man for a day. I had no idea what kind of person he was, and I had basically turned into a cliché.
“Ayo!” I jumped, startled by Lucía’s voice. I must have been doing my “in my feelings face” as she called it, because she tilted her head and stared at me with a frown before asking, “You call me and then just sit there in silence. Did something happen? Are things not working out with the job?”
I shook myself, trying to act normal before she caught on. “Everything’s fine. It’s been great so far, actually. This place is amazing,” I said, running my hands over my hair, feeling exposed again. “It’s so weird being here as an adult and on my own, because some things feel so familiar. I know I couldn’t possibly remember much from when I was a baby, or even from when I was six and we were here for those few months, you know?” I confessed, genuinely puzzled by the jumble of emotions that had been coursing through me from the moment I stepped off the plane.
“I bet,” Luce said, still looking at me like she wasn’t sure how to read my mood. “It’s got to be wild in many ways, and sad in others. Especially because your mom always speaks of her times there like they were the best
