The last few months had been chaotic. Stressful. But more than just feeling busy, she’d also been feeling…restless. Unsatisfied.
Relaxing, reading, and spending quality time with her daughter on safari would rejuvenate her right when Jana needed it most. And if she was lucky, she’d hear about that job soon after getting home. Everything would fall into place.
When the plane landed, a large safari van was waiting to take them to the hotel. The driver told them that wedding guests had been trickling in all day, including Rohan’s parents and various aunties, uncles, and friends.
It was early evening by then, and the low sun was adding an otherworldly haze to the golden-brown terrain. Imani’s eyes were glued to the window for the dusty drive, hoping to see some animals before they reached the resort. Jana had warned her that it was unlikely—this was just the road to the hotel, but the tour operators would know where to take them to find animals on their game drive scheduled in a couple days.
But suddenly the van slowed. They weren’t near the hotel yet. In fact, they looked to be in the middle of nowhere. Jana checked out the window—why had they stopped?
“Mommy, look!” Imani was positively shaking with excitement, and everyone in the van had leaned over to the left-side windows. Three majestic giraffes were standing near the road. There was nothing else in view—just acres and acres of golden African savanna reaching out to the horizon, broken up by sparse trees, and these three tall giraffes welcoming them to Tanzania. They took Jana’s breath away. She smiled, remembering the Swahili word forgiraffethat her father had taught her.Twiga.
“Giraffe!” Imani yelled, pointing out the window.
“A Giraffe is called a twiga in Swahili,” Anil said to Imani. He was across the aisle from Jana and Imani. “My mother collected giraffes and had them all over the house when I was a kid. Remember from when we visited Dadima and Dadabapa last summer, Mini? Dadima still has a few in their dining room.”
Jana remembered those giraffes from when she’d gone to Anil’s parents’ place for brunch before Imani was born. She, of course, hadn’t seen Anil’s parents since then, but the memory of them being warm and welcoming to Jana that day hadn’t faded. She’d thought they were lovely. Now she felt an emptiness in her stomach when she thought of that day.
Jana looked back out the window at the three majestic giraffes and said a silent thank-you for welcoming her family to Tanzania.
Chapter 6
Kamila and Rohan had picked a bustling, enormous, and luxurious resort in Serengeti National Park for their wedding. The sun had almost set by the time they arrived there. Staff members in vibrant African print clothes stood under the covered entrance built of dark wood and greeted them as they climbed out of the van. They handed them all warm, damp towels to wipe the dust off their faces, and cool glasses of mango juice.
Kamila was grinning ear to ear. “I can’t believe we’re finally here. You all thought I was nuts for wanting to get married on the other side of the world. You didn’t think I’d pull this off, did you?” Kamila was looking directly at her sister, Shelina.
Jana had assumed that Kamila had picked an epic destination partially to upstage her sister, who had married Rohan’s younger brother, Zayan, years ago in a lavish wedding at an estate in Ontario wine country. Jana didn’t understand the point in competition. Both weddings seemed a waste of time and money.
Asha, Kamila’s maid of honor, grinned, holding her glass of juice. “This place is even prettier than the pictures.”
A beautiful woman approached them and introduced herself. “Kamila! I’m Elsie Mbame, the wedding planner.”
“You’re the genius who put this all together for me! I want to hug you!” Kamila did hug Elsie, before introducing her to the rest of the party.
Elsie had luminous dark brown skin, and hair in narrow braids reaching down her back. She was wearing a suit tailored to perfection in the same shade of pink as Kamila’s sweatshirt. She motioned them all inside while porters unloaded the luggage out of the van and piled it all onto carts.
The lobby of the resort took up half of an enormous round room with a thatched straw ceiling. The walls, floor, and furniture were all dark wood, but bright splashes of color were everywhere—not just in the prints the staff were wearing, but also on the plump cushions on the chairs and sofas in the seating area, and in all the tribal wall art. Huge wicker ceiling fans gave the wide-open space a light breeze, and there was a bright tropical flower scent in the air. While Elsie and the front desk attendant sorted out the room assignments, Jana sat on a chair, pulling a sleepy Imani onto her lap. Jet lag was kicking Jana’s ass. She wanted a warm tea and a bed as soon as possible.
“I can’t wait to see my kids,” Shelina said. Shelina’s children had arrived the day before with their paternal grandparents and nanny, having skipped the Amsterdam stopover. “I texted them—they’re all in the dining room. I can’t believe they have 5G out here!” She laughed. “Oh my god, Jana, that picture your mom posted of you in the WhatsApp group is seriously adorable!”
Jana frowned. She avoided WhatsApp like the plague, but it was the social media platform that the aunties and uncles had chosen as their communication channel for this wedding. Why was Mom putting pictures of Jana there without telling her?
Bracing herself, Jana opened the app. After scrolling past countless boomer memes, Jana found the picture. It was from the plane after Imani finally fell asleep. And after Jana had fallen asleep, too. Imani had never been a very contained sleeper, so it wasn’t a surprise that the child was pretty much draped over Jana with her head on Jana’s chest and her knees digging into Jana’s side. Jana had no idea how she could have slept through that. In the picture, Jana had a bright blue sleep mask pulled over her eyes, and she was pressed into the person next to her—Anil. Jana’s head was resting on his shoulder, and he, also asleep, was resting his head on Jana’s. His mouth was open, and he was probably drooling onto her hair.
Jana ran her hand over her head, sick to her stomach. Why the hell had Mom taken this picture? And how could Jana havefallen asleepon Anil? Why had Mom posted the picture for all the aunties and uncles to see? Had Anil seen this?
Fuming, Jana looked up. Her mother was talking animatedly to some aunties and uncles. Anil was with the Groom’s Platoon near the bar on the other side of the big room. She’d have to talk to her mother about this picture. Later, though. When Imani wasn’t asleep on her lap.
Could you delete pictures from WhatsApp?
Ugh. She should probably let it go. It was just a picture. People would gossip more if she made a big deal of it. But she needed to make sure she wasn’t in this situation again—maybe she should avoid Anil Malek as much as possible on this trip.
“Oh, there’s Farzana Aunty,” Shelina said, looking toward the lounge area on the other side of the space. “My goodness—look at her hair. Can you imagine wearing that shade at her age? She’s probably having a midlife crisis. Would explain getting back together with her ex.”
“What does age have to do with hair color?” asked Asha. Her hair was currently her natural black on top, with vibrant purple curls peeking out from underneath.
“Sam Uncle is a total silver fox,” Shelina continued, not seeming to care if anyone was listening. “Can’t say I blame her.”
“Who are these people?” Asha asked.
