“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.