I stared at the phone for a few seconds and saw the three dots pop up as if he was typing a message, but then they disappeared. After another minute, no message came.
My heart sank. Disappointment made my limbs heavy. But what did I expect? Elias had a lot going on right now, and answering my needy texts was surely not at a priority. He was probably caring for his hospitalized father. I had to find something else to focus on, because Elias didn’t need my drama.
I got myself together and walked to the parking lot with the plan of asking one of the guards to call me a cab. Just as I was headed to the security gate, I saw Bonnie getting into her car. She frantically waved me over, and when I attempted to walk past her and play dumb, she yelled at me, “Where are you off to looking so damn grumpy?”
I stopped and veered in her direction, feeling bad for ignoring her when she was just trying to be friendly. I could at least not be so fucking rude to someone who’d been nothing but nice to me. I jogged up to her car as she rolled down her window. “What are you up to tonight, Ms. Watts?”
She did have the most amazing laugh. “Getting the hell out of here before I get stuck doing more work for my boss. He’s still in there.” She jerked her thumb over at the building we’d just left. “That man thinks taking the weekend off is optional.” That was said with an epic eye roll. “I’m about to meet some friends for dinner and drinks.” She patted the passenger seat, then pointed at me. “You’re welcome to come. Unless you’ve got other plans, of course.”
I took my phone out and saw Elias had still not answered, then shoved it back in my pocket and gave her a nod. “Sounds great, actually,” I told her as I started moving toward the passenger side.
She leaned over to unlock the door for me. “Come on then! It’s past six and there’s a glass of wine with my name on it.”
I jumped in, happy to have found a distraction, but I felt like an asshole too. I’d been so caught up with Elias, I’d made no effort to get to know Bonnie or anyone else from the office. It was about damn time I did.
Once we were on the road, she turned and gave me an assessing glance before returning her attention to the cluster of cars on the roundabout we were navigating. “Sam seems to have toned down his attitude.” She sighed, but I kept my mouth shut. “I heard what happened with the woreda official and I reamed him out for it.”
I wondered if she’d just invited me out to check-in about Sam’s assholic behavior. “I’m sorry I didn’t say anything.”
She shook her head without looking at me, but she didn’t seem too pissed. “He learned his lesson. And he’s well aware y’all saved his ass.”
“Sam, unfortunately, is not an anomaly in this line of work. On every job, there’s always a Sam. I’m perfectly capable of putting him in his place.” I thought of how Elias had to confront him. “What I don’t like is how he treats some of our Ethiopian colleagues.”
“Yeah, that I won’t tolerate.” She pursed her mouth at that as she drove through the city. When we passed the gigantic black Lion of Judah sculpture, she pointed at it. “Have you seen this yet?”
I leaned to get a closer look and shook my head. “No. I’d only seen it in pictures,” I said, taking in the impressive monument, happy to change the subject.
“It was made in honor of the emperor’s jubilee,” she said with admiration.
I assumed she was talking about Haile Selassie, the last monarch of Ethiopia. “This place is sort of mind blowing.”
She clicked her tongue at that. “It is, and hard to leave. I came here for a year and just closed in on a decade.” We both laughed at that, but before I had time to talk, she went back to Sam. “Just so you know, I would never let him do or say anything that gets any of the local staff in trouble. We are guests here, and this work we do is a service. I believe that and expect every person who comes here to work to abide by it. I know Elias and Tsehay can stand up for themselves, but they shouldn’t have to. If anything else happens out there, let me know. Okay?”
I nodded at how grave she looked. It was good to know that she took all of this seriously. “Thanks, Bonnie. I will.” I sighed, looking out the window, my mind once again on Elias and wondering how he was doing.
“Elias is a great guy, you know? The best.” The way she said that seemed far from casual, and I squirmed in my seat, wondering if people had been talking about the two of us.
“Umm, yeah, he is,” I said cautiously, scrutinizing her face for any evidence that she was aware of what was going on with Elias and me, but she just kept driving in silence, wearing a neutral expression.
The restaurant was fantastic. The owner had been an executive for one of those high-end burger franchises in the States and had come back to Addis Ababa to start her own business with a similar model. They had three kinds of burgers, fries, wine, and beer. Simple menu, but everything was delicious and had something of the local flavors mixed in.
I had a veggie burger topped with ayeb, a local cheese that resembled a chevre, with berbere fries, and loved it. I put another one in my mouth and moaned as Bonnie laughed at me. “Good, huh?”
“Oh my god, these are amazing. Tossing them in berbere is genius!”
