Now he probably thought I was pissed at him, on top of the stress of what was going on with his dad. I needed to behave like an adult and not act out with someone who had enough to deal with.

“Take care of yourself too. You owe me a hike!” I congratulated myself on the little bit of cheerfulness I was able to manage, and the knot in my chest loosened somewhat when I heard Elias’s laugh.

“Eshi, konjo. Have a good Sunday. We’ll talk soon.”

I ended the call feeling out of sorts and annoyed at myself. I wasn’t in Ethiopia to pursue complicated relationships, no matter how amazing Elias was. I was here to think about my future and to get some closure around my father’s death. Instead I’d been running around thirsting after a man who had hard enough decisions to make without me pushing myself into his life.

Chapter 17

It was 6:00 p.m. on a Sunday and I was sitting at my cubicle in the Aid USA office. After spending a good part of the morning exploring Piazza and the huge open-air market in Addis, I took a taxi up to the office, hoping to do some work while the place was empty. I wasn’t surprised to find it half full of people with the same idea.

It was a common scene in the Aid USA offices I’d worked in. Expat life sometimes felt like summer camp. Balance could be elusive when personal and work lives melded this much. If I were honest, I’d been relieved to not have to spend the day in my own company. I ended up working on some of the adjustments to the surveys we’d need for the next round in the field, and even had time to send some emails out.

As I started packing up my stuff, I looked around and noticed a few others still around, including Bonnie and Sam. I was about to walk out when Bonnie came over and popped her head over my cubicle wall.

“We’re good for tomorrow’s trip. The data that came in from the first survey looks great, so thanks for that, both of you.” She looked over at Sam, who was now standing and listening in on the conversation. “The way we ran the teams went so well, I think we should just go with that same strategy for this one.”

I was tempted to ask if she had added a keeper for Sam in case he decided to harass any more government partners, but I refrained. He had been on his best behavior since we had to save his ass.

“Sam, you’ll go with Nati, Solomon and Abe. Tsehay will be with her own team, and Desta, you can go with Elias and the two surveyors who rode with you before.”