As the white Land Cruiser pulled into the guesthouse, I waved happily at the driver, only to realize it wasn’t him. I let my hand fall at my side, trying to not jump to conclusions.

Elias wouldn’t leave me hanging without at least letting me know, right?

There were a lot of other international staff in this house who worked for Aid. It could be a driver picking up someone else. I knew Sam wasn’t coming to the field until Wednesday, so it wouldn’t be his driver. As I stared at the strange guy parking the car, my phone buzzed with a message. I pulled it out and saw there were a few texts from earlier in the morning.

I signaled to the driver to give me a second and tapped the screen of my phone. One message was from Bonnie, and the other three were all from Elias. The first one was from past midnight.

Sorry for the silence last night, konjo, my father declined after we brought him home yesterday. So we had to take him back to the hospital. When you texted me I was about to drive him there.

The second one was from 4:00 a.m. Had he gotten any sleep in the last two days?

I’m sorry, Desta. I won’t be able to drive you today, I just can’t leave my mom when things are so hectic. I hope to be able to come down midweek. Safe travels, konjo. Zebene will drive you and he’s very good. Better than me!

The disappointment was so complete I actually stumbled as I walked to the car.

I quickly tapped out a message, thanking him for letting me know and telling him I hoped his father recovered quickly. But my fingers felt numb as the words I was typing appeared on the screen. I put my phone back in my pocket before throwing the bag in the back and coming up to the passenger seat. I climbed into the Land Cruiser with a big, fucked-up smile pasted on my face as Zebene started the truck.

He turned to me for a second as he maneuvered us out onto the street. “Good morning, Mr. Walker. I’m Zebene. Elias is taking some leave, so I will be driving you for the next few days.”

I nodded in his direction with what I hoped was a friendly face. “Nice to meet you, Zebene. Please call me Desta, and Elias texted to let me know about the change. Thanks for coming to get me so early.”

Zebene nodded and gave me a warm smile as he drove down the gravel path leading to the main road. “It’s not a problem. Elias is a friend.”