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“Yeah. I had this massive headache when I arrived, and I couldn’t find my luggage, and I ended up missing the bus I was supposed to take to Nairobi. But on the bright side, I got in touch with this great woman I know in the industry, and I got a ride with her sister.”
“No way. You knew someone in the area?”
“Yeah, small world, right? When I met her, she was the manager of this fantastic little beach-side hostel in Mallorca, where I was staying for three weeks. We hit it off and kept in touch over the years.”
“Mallorca… where’s that?”
“It’s a gorgeous island in Spain. Anyway, it was really cool that she put me in touch with her sister. That worked out great. But the safari part of the trip wasn’t that great. The whole thing was a total amateur operation, just starting up. The Jeep only worked half the time, and the guide was young, maybe twenty-three or twenty-four. It was the second day out when we sawthose lions. They were only about that far away.” I point to the juniper tree ahead. “Real low to the ground, slinking along. Terrifying.”
“Sounds it, for sure.”
“I sort of freaked out. I may have screamed. That didn’t make me any friends, I can tell you that.”
He laughs, then looks at me sideways. “Takes guts, traveling around the world like that.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that. Most of the time I laze around on lounge chairs by swimming pools and eat at fancy restaurants.”
“That does sound more your speed.”
“But I guess there’s adventure sprinkled in, too. I get to see cool places, meet tons of people…”
“You got yourself a pretty sweet life.”
“Yeah…” An ache forms in my heart, as I think about my last few trips.
The way I was seeing all these neat, exciting things, and yet something was missing.
In Italy, I visited the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Colosseum. I walked a section of the Appian Way and stuck my toes into the Tyrrhenian Sea. And everywhere around me, I sawcouples.
People in love, sharing experiences.
Giggling over gelato. Kissing between sips of espresso. Sipping red wine together, trading slices of pizza, and pointing to the sights together.
I felt so lonely, watching them.
It’s been there, for my last few big trips—that loneliness.
That’s why I went to see Julienne Reed speak. And why I signed up for her online dating class.
I don’t want to be alone anymore.
I glance sideways at Cole. “It has its ups and downs, you know? Traveling so much makes it mighty hard to have a long-term relationship, for one thing. It’s tough to go on a great first date, then take off for three weeks.”
Then again, when was the last time I even went on a first date? It’s been ages.
I don’t even have a date for Trent and Maggie’s wedding.
As usual, I’ll be flying solo.
I brush my hair back and lift my chin. “Might be time for a change, soon. I think I need to mix things up.”
“Yeah, maybe you’ll get hired for that show. That’d be different alright.”
We reach the tree and Blue wastes no time pulling off a strip of bark. Down the hatch, it goes.
“You’ve never asked me about my travels before,” I say.
“Yeah, you and I don’t talk much, do we?”
