Page 6 of Worlds Apart
“So the park is owned by the local people?”
“Yes, and the safari camps pay them rent to use the land. They can’t own it or build permanently, but you’re going to see. The camp is so luxurious. It’s like a dream.”
Sunny smiled. “Aren’t you the one who teased me in college about camping for vacation?”
“I will never understand Americans leaving perfectly nice houses and hotels to exist unbathed in the woods for weeks on end and sleep on the ground.” Alice closed her eyes and shook her head. “I like my tent with a full size bed and a bathroom, please. The owner of the camp is the son of a very prominent hotel owner. He knows how to make camping tolerable.”
Sunny leaned back, closed her eyes, and breathed in the fresh air and the sunshine. “Alice, this is heaven.”
“It’s the closest you’re going to get on earth.” She patted Sunny’s knee. “I can’t wait for you to meet everyone.”
* * *
Martin’s iPad was missing.Again.
“Dammit, Alice.” He regularly let the camp manager use the iPad when she needed to make a quick change to the schedule. Since they were all linked through his main account, it made the most sense.
The problem was, Alice wasn’t the best at putting things back where she found them.
Martin was in the large reception tent where the group visiting area, the fire pit, and the bar were all located. He walked behind the bar and looked through the shelves and drawers.
“Alice, where did you put it?”
They had guests coming and he wanted to be out of the way before the chaos of new people complicated the search. He couldn’t call her, she was already on her way to the airport to pick up her school friend.
“Hello?”
Martin popped his head over the bar and saw a dark-haired woman spinning in circles, taking it all in. “Hello.”
She turned toward him and raised her sunglasses. “Oh. Hi. Alice said there was a bar, I didn’t realize it was right here. She said I could wait here while they got my luggage sorted out, but I didn’t know anyone would be around.” She pushed her hand forward. “Sorry, I’m Sunny. I don’t travel much.”
Martin smiled and shook her hand. “I’m Martin. You must be—”
“Is it too early to get a gin and tonic?”
He put a hand on his chest. “Actually I don’t—”
“My mother said they’re medicinal.” She smiled and it transformed her face. “Pretty sure she’s just saying that though. She drinks a lot of them when she’s golfing.”
The smile struck Martin dumb for a moment. The way that a simple expression could transform a pleasant looking woman into someone… incandescent.
He reached for a glass. “Any preference on gin?”
“Oh no, I’m not picky.” Her eyes were wide and blue as the sky. Her neck had to be sore from the way she was swinging her head around, trying to take everything in.
Martin decided to tease her a little. “So do you come to this bar often?”
The woman burst into a nervous laugh. “I can’t believe I’m here. This is like… I don’t know, a movie or something. I didn’t know places like this really existed.”
“You mean the camp?” He worked hard to make sure his “safari camp” was nothing close to rugged. Coming from a high-end hotel background, he wanted guests to sleep in luxury while they explored the outdoors and experienced the Mara. “Or the countryside?”
“The camp, the country, everything.” She looked out the open side of the reception tent, which was a broad shade cover on a raised platform that overlooked the savannah. “I’m drinking at a bar and there are zebras grazing.” She pointed over her shoulder. “Like… right there.”
Martin smiled. “Welcome to the Mara.” He poured two fingers of gin, squeezed a lime over the ice, and filled the rest of the glass with tonic water. “Your gin and tonic, miss.”
“Thanks.” She gave him that smile again. “The trip from the air strip was the most beautiful drive I’ve ever taken in my life.”
Martin remembered the first time he came to this place, twelve years old and finally old enough to travel with his father for work. His father had never been content with the leased cooperative idea that the Maasai were developing. If John Karanja built a hotel, he wanted to own the land it sat on.
