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Myles didn’t sleep at all that night. Instead, he watched his boss swallow a few pills, and then toss and turn while mostly staring into space—and also not sleep. He let her be. There was nothing either of them could do or say that would make the situation suck any less.
Finally, sometime in the middle of the night, she sat straight up and turned to him. “What would you do if you were me?”
Myles didn’t look her way. “I can’t say. Because I’m not.”
She scoffed. “Improvise.”
He sat up and turned her way. “I guess I’d move on. I mean, what else can you do?”
“I just can’t wrap my head around it. I’ve searched my brain this way and that way… and nothing.” She shrugged and wiped a stray tear. “I never saw this coming.”
Myles swallowed. “It happens.”
She frowned. “I don’t believe him… about the money.”
He studied her face. “You shouldn’t…”
She snapped back and then her expression relaxed. “What do you mean?”
“I just don’t think he’s telling you the whole truth about it… but look, this really isn’t my business.”
“Well, you’re here. So that sort of makes you an accomplice.”
Myles shook his head. “It makes me your employee.”
She inhaled sharply and then let it out slowly. “I see.”
He shouldn’t have said that, he thought as he recalled the way her face fell. It was an asshole thing to say, and he knew it the moment the words danced on the tip of his tongue. But what else could he do? She was getting too close. They couldn’t be friends because Myles didn’t have friends. More importantly, he didn’t want friends.
These thoughts troubled him for the rest of the night. The following morning, he understood his predicament a little better. According to his SEAL training, there were times in life where one had to do what needed to be done—what the situation required, not what one wanted. So, exactly forty-five minutes before their flight was to take off for Nairobi where they would stay over another night and then head back to the States, Myles handed her two Xanax, against his better judgment. This seemed to relax her, but as the plane ascended, Jessica tightly gripped his thigh just above his knee. Every instinct in his body wanted to remove her hand and yet Myles couldn’t make himself do it. He eyed her white knuckles and willed himself not to give in to the fear. Finally, her hand relaxed as she looked up and noticed his face.
Jess laughed. “I’m sorry. Did that hurt?”
He swallowed,
picked up her hand, and placed it back in her own lap.
“Wow. So touchy,” she slurred. And then she perked up. “Myles, I need a favor. I mean… I know you’re here as my employee, not my friend. I’m sorry I let those lines blur. I’ll pay you, of course...”
He raised his brow. It was as though she’d seen right through every ounce of guilt he’d ever had.
“I can borrow from my parents… until this is all sorted out.”
Ouch. She wasn’t the only one who’d blurred the lines. He regained his composure. “Of course, you can.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
He glanced out the window and then back at her. “Nothing. I’m sorry I said it.”
“Well, it’s just that I’m probably never coming back to Africa and this isn’t exactly the memory I want to have of it.”
Myles frowned. “And…?”
“And, I want an adventure…”
“I’d say this has been an adventure.”
She slapped his shoulder. “You know what I mean.”
