Imani beamed. “Can I go?” She looked at Jana.
“I’ll be with her,” Kamila said.
“Okay. But don’t get in anyone’s way.”
Imani jumped out of her seat in half a second and took Kamila’s hand. “Can we put the elephant on Mommy’s table? It’s her favorite.”
“I already picked out the best elephant for her.”
Hand in hand, Kamila and Imani left the dining room. Which left Jana alone with Anil. Awkward.
“Do you think they all left us on purpose?” Anil asked.
Yes, Jana did think that. But she dipped a mandazi into her chai instead of answering.
“You still love mandazi,” Anil said, more a statement than a question.
She raised a brow. When had she ever eaten mandazi with him?
He chuckled. “You don’t remember. Not surprised. When we went to my mom’s for brunch, she made them fresh. I think you ate a dozen. Seems like a lifetime ago now.”
Jana blinked. Was he…reminiscingabout those weeks? Neither of themeverbrought up the two weeks they were together. It was always like the giant elephant in the room whenever they spoke.
But maybe now that they were in Tanzania, Anil assumed elephants were fair game. Jana tried not to think about their affair. She remembered the sex—because as hard as she tried, she couldn’t seem to wipe that from her mind. Probably because she’d had so little sex since then.
“That reminds me,” he said. “Someone on the Toronto Aim High board had to step down. Would you be interested in coming back as a board member?”
Jana exhaled. More memories. Back in Tajikistan, they’d talked about their work at dinner one night and excitedly put together a business plan for Aim High, a nonprofit in the US for helping refugees start small businesses. It was invigorating, collaborative work, and Jana had been amazed at how Anil was completely on the same page as she was for the best way to build up communities.
But when she broke up with him, he launched Aim High in Toronto instead of D.C. Jana had told him he could do whatever he wanted with the business plan, but she’d still been bitter when his magic touch made it happen so easily. She’d worked with Aim High for a short time but left before Imani was even a year old. Partially because she found it too painful to be around Anil while everyone gushed over him. But also because she wanted to get back to her calling—development work in the global south. But then the job she left Aim High for fired her when that donor decided he didn’t want to give any more money to a project led by a home-wrecker.
“Probably not.” Jana needed to move this conversation to more comfortable ground. “So are you thinking we’ll betogetherfor all the game drives on safari?” There would be several vehicles; they didn’t have to always be in the same one.
Anil rolled his eyes. “No. Don’t do that, Jana. You always do that.”
She crossed her arms in front of her. “Do what?”
“Make things more complicated than they need to be. I’m not the devil, you know. We can be in a car together.”
Jana shook her head. “When did I say we couldn’t?”
“You didn’t have to say it. It’s all over your face.”
Jana’s nose wrinkled. She was off to a terrible start. Anil could see right through her attempts at pretending to tolerate him.
“Look, I know this is strange,” Anil continued, “but we’re here for Imani, and for Rohan and Kamila. Let’s not make this more stressful than it needs to be for anyone. I know you’d prefer I weren’t here, but I am.”
“I never said that.”
“Yeah, but you’re thinking it. We can be a team for once and make this a memorable trip for Imani.”
There was that word again—team. Jana’s lips pursed. She didn’t growl angrily at him, because she had some restraint. But she wanted to. They had already been ateamfor the last four years, hadn’t they? They’d been flexible when either of them needed to change their time with Imani. They’d easily agreed on which daycare, babysitter, and activities for Imani. They’d never argued about money. Just because Jana hadn’t wanted to be around the man didn’t mean she hadn’t cooperated.
This was why she avoided him. He made it seem like shewantedto be miserable.
“Fine,” Jana said. She speared a piece of pineapple and popped it in her mouth.
“Fine what?”
