She smacked my shoulder as I turned in another circle. “Leave me alone, you brat. I’m old and like nice things now. Close your mouth and let’s start walking to the pool so I can buy you a beer and something with no meat in it.”
“Fine.” I laughed and followed her through the patio leading to the pool. All the way down we saw breathtaking views of the mountains surrounding Addis. The place was gorgeous and so over-the-top. It was hard to reconcile with the fact we’d passed shanties only a few meters from the entrance. Expat life could give you whiplash sometimes. But I was not going to begrudge Saba for treating herself; she certainly deserved it.
When we got to the pool, we found two empty chaises and ordered some drinks and food. After a minute Saba turned to me and grabbed my hand, her face as serious as I’d ever seen it. “Desta dear, you know how much I love your father and your mother.” She waved a dark brown hand in the air above her head. “Of all the people I’ve seen coming through my country to work, help, or whatever they tell themselves they do here, they’re two of the precious few I not only liked, but respected.”
Feeling unprepared for a big and heavy conversation, I tried a bit of teasing. “Did you bring me here to make me cry, Saba Aklilu?”
She gave me a rueful look, but carried on, unfazed. “Don’t tease your Aunt Saba. I’m serious. Fatima is still one of the few people I trust with my deepest and darkest secrets, but she never did know how to manage projecting her grief onto you.” She pursed her lips, a sad but fond smile on her face as she talked about my mother. “Your father was a man who believed in following his dreams. He did what he wanted, and what he felt had value, but mostly he did what made him happy. You’ve got to be happy, konjo.”
And now I was blushing because that word would now forever be connected to Elias and the incredibly hot things he could do with his mouth.
Saba was on a roll, though, and before I could interject, she said the words I hadn’t realized I desperately needed to hear. “If that job isn’t what you want, don’t take it because you think it’s what would make your mom happy.”
I tried to look away, but she pulled my face back gently. “And really, as far as that young man who left you—even though it’s hard to see now, he did you a favor. You didn’t want to invest more time in someone who was so careless with your heart.”
I sighed, thinking the job was a lot harder to grapple with right now than Miguel. Granted, it was probably because I’d already gotten myself involved with someone even more likely to fuck me up, but I didn’t need to go down that sinkhole right now.
Instead, I tried to focus on this moment with Saba. “With Miguel, it’s like I was telling Elias.” I waved a hand as I explained. “He’s the logistics coordinator for the project I’m working on.” She gave me a weird look, since I’d just implied I was talking about my boyfriend troubles with a colleague, but I kept going. “At this point it’s more humiliating than anything else. Like I can’t trust myself to know who really cares for me and who just wants to play me.”
I sat up and looked at the pool while I spoke. I didn’t know how to say the next part. “And about the job, I don’t know, Saba. Mamí would be so hurt. You know that.”
“She may be hurt, but I also know that life goes by in a blur. If you know this work doesn’t fulfill you, find what does and go after it.”
I was grateful for Saba’s encouragement, but I was just not there yet. I grabbed my cold bottle of beer from the little table between us and took a long sip. “Thanks for saying all that, really. For now, I’m happy to be here hanging out with my second favorite old lady.”
She balked and I cracked up. “Naughty boy! I’m going to make you pay for your own beer if you keep calling me old!”
Saba let things go after saying her piece and started telling me a funny story about a coworker. By the time the server came with our food, I was wiping the tears from my eyes. We grabbed our sandwiches and chewed in silence for a few minutes, enjoying the perfect weather and delicious food. I was picking at the fries on my plate when Saba looked over at me. “So, what’s the plan for the next few weeks?”
“Work,” I said, trying hard not to sound too excited about the prospect of a few more weeks with Elias. “We have to run another survey. I think we’ll be out there for another three weeks. I have about ten days on the back end to do some travelling once we’re done. I was hoping to go to the Simien Mountains and Gondar. Elias said he knows of a few good places that plan tours for people travelling alone.”
She nodded, then gave me a look that made me nervous. “Tell me about this Elias. It’s the second time I’ve heard about him in twenty minutes.”
I knew I was blushing again, but the image of Elias on his knees with my cock stretching out his lips was going to have that effect on me for a while.
I cleared my throat and looked at the deep end of the pool, which had suddenly become extremely fascinating. “Umm, he’s part of the team. For this project. In the field. I mean—he’s with Aid.”
“Uh-huh.” Saba was not buying it. “And you’re on very friendly terms, I see.”
I could go with that.
