After half an hour of tossing and turning, I gave up on sleep and decided to go out and take a walk around the hotel compound. They had a nice garden and pool area, and I hoped the fresh air would help me relax. As I stepped out of my room, I shivered in the cold night air, looking up at the sky.
It was magnificent.
Of all the places I’d been to, this sky seemed to have the most stars. They looked so close, too. I felt like I could reach out and touch them. A wave of emotion hit me as I stood there with my face raised to the night sky. Unbidden, a tear rolled down my cheek as I thought about my parents. Had they been to this hotel when they lived here? Had they taken walks in this same garden together? As I struggled to recall my father’s face, the frantic fear that one day I’d completely forget him resurfaced, making my heart gallop in my chest. The truth was that every year my memories of him dimmed a little more, but here I felt connected to him in a way I hadn’t in a long time.
I heard someone approach, so I quickly brushed my tears away and turned to see Elias walking toward me. He was wearing a thicker bright orange fleece this time, and the contrast of that fiery color against his brown skin made me a little breathless.
“Jet lag?” he called out to me as he approached.
I nodded and walked over to meet him halfway. “Yeah, I’m still all out of whack. What’re you still doing up?”
He shrugged as he looked up at the sky. “I couldn’t sleep. When I drive all day, my body takes some time to slow down. I like to take a walk before bed.”
“Well, we can keep each other company while we try to summon the sleep gods.”
The sleep gods? Who the hell talked like that?
He just smiled and kept walking with me as I hurried to make small talk. “I assume going for a run in the morning won’t be an issue?” I asked with a smirk, expecting him to make some comment about Ethiopian runners and their greatness.
“Of course. There’ll be people out there starting at dawn. We’re serious about our running in this part of the world.” He winked, and a swell of butterflies swerved inside my chest. “It’s easier to run here too; the air isn’t as thin as Addis’s.”
I nodded at his statement. Not being up seven thousand feet would make it less treacherous to go for a run.
Elias lifted his hand as he gave me directions. “You just make a left when you get out to the road and keep going until the roundabout, then come back. The whole loop is about three miles. I run that way when I’m here.”
“Perfect.” I wanted to ask if he’d go with me, but I just thanked him instead, and kept walking at his side.
Elias seemed so at peace. Unhurried. So unlike my own approach to life. But wasn’t that what I was looking for here? To take stock, to find a new way to coexist with myself that didn’t involve erasing my needs and wants to keep those around me happy?
Usually when I met someone I couldn’t stop talking, trying to impress them, or sound smart or knowledgeable. But with Elias I felt it would be pointless. Like he’d know it was just noise.
“I might see you out there.” His rough voice in the silent night brought me back from my wayward thoughts.
“Sure, sounds good,” I answered, trying not to sound too eager.
“I have to get the vehicle ready first thing since we’ll be driving rough for a good part of the day. But if I get up early enough, I’ll have time for a short run.” When I looked up, I was greeted with that warm smile he always seemed to have for me.
But when I got closer, I realized he looked tired. “Do you need help getting the car ready? I can skip the run and help out.”
He looked surprised by that. “Thank you for offering, but the other drivers can help. It will be a long day, but you’ll get to see some very nice parts of Gedeo, at least.”
I rubbed my hands together, feeling excited for the work ahead. “I’m looking forward to it—it’s been a while since I’ve actually done field work. These days I mostly go the main country offices to do my stuff.”
For this job, we were collecting data to assess a nutrition program for children in rural areas who were under the age of five. Aid USA had been running it in partnership with the Ethiopian government. We’d be in the field most of the time.
“Rain has been over for a few months, so it shouldn’t be too hard to get to the more remote villages,” Elias said as we walked.
“That’s good,” I answered, lost in thought over the conditions we’d find.
Many families in the rural areas of the country still relied on subsistence farming, so if there was a bad year in the fields, there was just not enough food to go around. A lot of people depended on this program, and with the current political environment in the States, Aid USA officials were feeling the pressure to justify a few more years of funding. Our job was to collect information they’d use to make their case.
We made our way through the hotel grounds until we came to an enclosed patio, and Elias pointed at a semi-hidden bench by a hedge of jasmine. When we sat, I could feel Elias’s body heat even from a couple of inches away. I glanced down, trying to focus on anything other than how close we were. When I looked at his feet, I
