Chapter Twenty-Seven
Ethan
I ’d say I’m going to hell if I wasn’t already there.
Keeping my mind on the tasks at hand today hasn’t been easy. This morning at the airport, the anticipation of seeing Sadie again had my heart racing. This afternoon, I was constantly wondering what she was up to.
Her excitement at being in Egypt was rolling off her in waves, making her eyes sparkle and her cheeks pink. You’d have to be blind not to notice the looks she got from the Cambridge boys. And she’s spending all afternoon with them. Good-looking. Intelligent. Funny. Without baggage. Even I couldn’t blame her if she saw some potential in one of them.
When she walks into the foyer, ready for dinner, I nearly swallow my tongue. She’s completely covered. Her dress is thoroughly appropriate and respectful for a Muslim country. She’s even wearing a fine, brightly coloured scarf draped across her head and over one shoulder. But the lack of skin on display does absolutely nothing to reduce how captivating she is. And again, I’m not the only one who has noticed.
Good. Maybe she’ll start something up with one of the guys on the dig. Then she’ll really be off limits, and I can put this obsession behind me.
Fuck that noise. If one of them touches her. Looks at her sideways. They’ll find themselves mummified and buried along with the pharaohs.
Which I’m aware is unfair and unreasonable and irrational, but when it comes to Sadie, all those descriptors apply to how I feel.
“Where are we going?” Sadie asks as we climb onto the bus.
“To one of the best traditional Egyptian restaurants in Cairo,” I reply as Mo takes off at speed, like most Egyptian drivers.
“Oh, wonderful.”
“Just pace yourself. Ethan always orders too much food,” Jeremy says.
“Ha. You’re a lightweight,” I lob back, even though he might be right. I have the Carter metabolism. I can put away more food than just about anyone I know. Other than my brothers.
Sadie laughs. “Noted.”
Dinner is delicious. Both the food and the company. Sadie talks about her afternoon at the Citadel as though none of us have ever been there, and her descriptions are so vivid I almost feel like I’ve never actually seen it before. She tries every dish that’s put in front of her, charming the wait staff into seconds of her favourites with her obvious delight.
All I can hope is her million-watt enthusiasm drops to within normal range in the next couple of days because if she keeps this up, my retinas are going to burn out.
“Hey, Ethan. What’s Sadie’s story?” Simon asks when she excuses herself for the bathroom. “Does she have a boyfriend?”
“Not that I know of,” I grind out between clenched teeth. “But if you make things uncomfortable on the dig, you know what will happen.” Not that I’ve cared about students hooking up in the past. That’s been their business. But I do have a strict no-drama policy. Not that I’ve ever had to enact it.
“Yeah, I know. Straight home.”
“And word to the wise. Don’t mention her father again. They have a difficult relationship. You might’ve noticed that it makes her uncomfortable.”
By the time I’m back in my hotel room, strategically on a different floor from Sadie, I’m wound tight after a night of watching her bewitch the room. The kind of long, hot shower that’s become all too familiar lately is needed if I have any hope of getting some sleep. Spoiler alert. It doesn’t work.
I go to breakfast as soon as the dining room is open the next morning in the hope I’ll miss Sadie. No such luck. There she is, plate in hand, hovering over the freshly laid out offerings. She doesn’t look like someone who’s flown from Australia, toured the Citadel, gone out for a meal and had maybe six hours of sleep. There’s no sign of jetlag. She looks rested and alert and far more luminous than anyone has a right to be. Not telling her that is like an itch in my throat.
“Ooh. Falafels. I love falafels,” she sings as she piles what amounts to a traditional Egyptian breakfast on her plate. Flat bread, labneh, falafels, boiled eggs, cheese and pickles.
It would be rude to sit at another table, since nobody else is around, so I follow her to a table for four near the window, hoping against hope that someone will turn up soon.
“This is delicious,” she mumbles through a mouthful of food.
I love that she didn’t go for the standard European offerings. No cereal and toast for this woman.
I cast about for a neutral topic. Before I find one, Sadie looks around as though checking we won’t be overheard and leans forward. I breathe in a waft of freshly washed hair.
“I’m glad we have a moment,” she starts. My heart rate picks up. I have no idea where this will go, but my imagination takes a wild turn. “I was wondering. Do you know if, well, if my father is in Egypt?”
My heart hurts for her.
“I’m sorry, I don’t. Although, I might know someone who will. I’m off to the Department of Antiquities this morning. I’ll make some enquiries.”
“Thank you. I don’t want to be a pain. I tried to find out myself but hit a brick wall, and I really don’t want to run into him. I know he’s part of a concession at Saqqara …” She trails off, looking heartbroken. Which galvanises me to find out for sure if he’s here.
“Don’t worry, Sadie. You’ll see Saqqara. One way or another.” At her look of relief, I think maybe it’s time to change the subject. Last night, it was decided they’d all spend the day at the Egyptian Museum. That’ll cheer her up.
“Are you looking forward to your day at the museum?”
“Oh, yes. I’ve seen the exhibitions that have come through Sydney, of course, but there’s so much I haven’t seen. A day is not going to be enough.”
“No, it won’t. You really need a solid three or four days to take everything in.”
“Could you recommend some must-sees?”
Half an hour flies by, and I almost forget how beautiful she is because I’m immersed in her questions. I give her some suggestions on what might be of interest to her, and she puts them in her phone notes.
Simon arrives at the table, trailed by a subdued Jeremy.
“You look like the wreck of the Hesperus,” I say with a laugh.
“What does that even mean?” Jeremy groans, propping his head in his hands, elbows on the table.
“I have no idea, to be honest. Just something my granny used to say when we were kids and looked a bit rough.” These two live by the mantra: work hard, play hard. A bit rough is how they look most mornings. I don’t know how they put in a full day on a dig sometimes.
I spot Ashraf waiting patiently by the door. It’s time for me to leave. There’s still a few things to organise for the dig, and now I have an additional mission.
But it’s hard to drag myself away from Sadie. Especially when it means leaving her with Simon and Jeremy. They’re both much more suitable partners for her than I am. Hangovers notwithstanding.
And the way they’re looking at her gives me pause. Is she looking back? I’m so out of practice, I don’t know. But she’s smiling and laughing with them—or, more correctly, at them and their sore heads—as they sit at the table.
I can’t sit and watch her flirt with them. And I can’t be having these feelings. Damnit.
“Well, I need to get moving. Have a great day, people.” I stalk out, my relaxed mood of a few minutes ago evaporating fast.
“Where’s the bacon? Did I miss the bacon?” I hear Riley, who I thankfully haven’t seen since she arrived at the end of the briefing, ask the confused server. There’s one on every dig. The student who doesn’t get it. Seems like this time, it will be Riley. Big shock.
“Oh, good morning, Ethan. How did you sleep?” she calls in a chirpy tone. I don’t slow down. I don’t even acknowledge her. I just keep moving.
It’s not until Ashraf and I are climbing into the taxi, having left Mo and the bus for the students today, that I notice his expression.
“What?” I ask. I speak passable Egyptian Arabic, but mostly, we communicate in English since Ashraf says he prefers not to hear me mangle his language.
“Miss Sadie is very pretty.” One thick black eyebrow lifts to the bottom of his turban.
“I suppose she is.” I busy myself with the seatbelt, unwilling to look him in the eye. It seems to me that many Egyptians have the second sight. Ashraf is one of them.
“Like a princess. Amira.” There’s weight in his tone.
“Spit it out, Ash.”
“She would be a worthy partner for you, my friend.”
I’m aware Ashraf, like almost everyone I know, has been worried about me, but I had no idea he was thinking along those lines. Or that I’m so transparent. I just hope the other students haven’t noticed.
“You have too much imagination, old man.” I soften my somewhat harsh words with a pat on his shoulder.
He huffs out a laugh.
“We shall see. Inshallah .”
I must remember never to introduce Ashraf to Ben. Individually, they’re dangerous. Together, they’d be a nightmare.
I have a long day of chores and meetings with the Department of Antiquities, which inevitably turns into dinner with my contacts. Rubbing their proverbial tummies and keeping them happy is an important part of a successful dig. If anything goes wrong, I need to know I can call them, and they’ll help us out of a bind. So, it’s nearly midnight by the time I get back to the hotel.
At least I was able to get an answer to Sadie’s question. Derek Montgomery is not due to arrive in Cairo until Friday. The very day we sail for Amarna. Not only will Sadie be free to visit Saqqara without looking over her shoulder, but she won’t run into him on the streets of Cairo.
Bart, Simon and Jeremy are still at the bar. Those guys could get a PhD in holding their alcohol without even having to try.
“Evening, gentlemen. How was the day at the museum?” I ask, signalling for a whisky.
“To use a sporting metaphor, it was a game of two halves.” Jeremy laughs.
“How so?” I settle on a stool next to them and take a sip. They know me at this hotel, and I’m happy they remember my preferred drink.
“Riley spent most of the afternoon in the gift shop and cafeteria. She was too tired and bored, and her feet hurt. I’m not sure what she’s even doing here, to be honest. But Sadie. Bloody hell, the woman is like a sponge. We had to take it in relays because she didn’t stop. In the end, we were in danger of getting locked in. And then she wanted to go to the Khan el Khalili. We practically had to drag her back here by the hair.”
I spray the bar with the whisky I’d just sipped at the mental image his words create. Then the dominoes of my memories begin to fall. Holding her hair while she was on her knees on my verandah. Grabbing fistfuls of it in the shower in Bangalay. Brushing it off her face as she slept so soundly that I had to put my hand on her chest to make sure she was breathing.
I’ll be buggered if any of these boys ever gets to savour the same kinds of memories.
It’s a good thing I’m wearing baggy trousers tonight because my standard response to thoughts of Sadie isn’t at all tempered by my tiredness or the amount of alcohol I’ve consumed.
“It was brilliant. I felt like I was seeing it all again for the first time.” Simon shakes his head, inadvertently echoing my sentiments of last night, and I can see the hearts in his eyes.
“I’m surprised you’re still up then.”
“We’ve only been back for half an hour. Sadie insisted we find somewhere to eat, so we took her to that little place near the market and she people watched for hours. Bart lost rock paper scissors, so he brought Riley and Garret back and they ate in the hotel. I think Garret’s scared to eat out in case he gets Egyptian belly. Little does he know, there’s no escaping it if it wants to get you.” Jeremy, who gets Egyptian belly every trip, chuckles darkly.
“I’ll take over tomorrow, guys. You can have the day off if you want.”
“Day off? Hell no. I wouldn’t miss watching Sadie see the Pyramids for the first time for all the camels at the camel markets.” Simon leaps off his stool, polishing off the last of his beer. Bart and Jeremy reluctantly follow suit, Bart gazing longingly at the beers in the fridge behind the bar. Can't say I blame him if he spent the evening entertaining Riley.
I gulp the rest of my whisky and stand.
“We’d better get some sleep, then. Sounds like it’s going to be a busy day.”
The next six weeks are going to be even more hellish than I imagined. Because I suspect the sweat and the dust, and the sand and the exhaustion are only going to make Sadie more attractive. Not less, like I’d almost convinced myself.
And now I have a not-so-small something to take care of before I can even think about sleep.