I sighed as I recited my address for the driver. I felt the car turn around as the streets started to become familiar. I stalked up the steps to my apartment and walked in, listening to the lonely sound of my heels clicking against the dusty floor.
I threw my stuff to the side and went to my laptop. I opened it up and typed in my password, then pulled up the offer email. I read it over and over as a smile crossed my cheeks. Even though my heart was breaking and even though tears were sliding down my skin, I managed to type the two words that would seal my fate.
I accept.
Fifteen
Natasha
“These?” Emma asked.
“Yes,” I said.
“What about these?”
“No.”
“Or these?”
“Nu-uh.”
“Oh come on. You have to take these,” she said.
“No, Emma. Look, the place I’m going to be staying at in Africa is the equivalent of my own little mud hut. I can’t take much with me. Most of this is going back in storage,” I said.
“Speaking of storage, what are you sleeping on if all of your furniture is gone?”
“I have to get used to sleeping on a harder ground again. I’ll have a cot, but it won’t be much.”
“You're sleeping on the hardwood floor, Natasha?”
“This was how I prepared for Africa for the first time, so this time is no different,” I said.
“So what are we packing your stuff for Africa in?” she asked.
“My backpack.”
“And…?”
“That’s it,” I said.
“That’s it? A backpack!? Where will your hair dryer go?”
“In storage,” I said.
“What about your mousse?”
“In storage,” I said.
“You ha
ve to take your mousse. Your hair will be everywhere all the time,” she said.
“Not if it’s up all the time. It’s hot in Africa, Emma. I’m not wearing my hair down and going to a bonfire.”
“At least they have bonfires,” she said.
“Look, my clothes are lightweight in order to keep me cool and I have a special way of folding them. When I took my backpack last time, I could fit fifteen outfits, a jacket for the cold nights if they happened, ten pairs of socks, three pairs of shoes, my brush, several hair ties, my laptop and its charger, and the small bottles of all the essential toiletries.”