Page 7 of Worlds Apart
“I was twelve the first time I visited this place,” he said. “I still remember how awe-struck I was.”
“Where are you from?”
“Nairobi,” he said. “City boy. You?”
“Same. Well, citygirl. I grew up in the Washington, DC area.”
“Is your father in government?”
“Oh no, thank God. He’s… He works in banking. Kind of boring.”
“Ah.” Martin leaned on the bar and watched her. “Do you work in banking as well? You’re Alice’s friend, correct?”
“I am. And yes, kind of. I don’t work for the same bank as my dad, but I’m an actuary and I work for an investment fund. I analyze data and numbers to quantify the risk potential for different businesses.”
“That sounds interesting.”
“It’s not.” Her smile turned nervous again. “I mean, it’s interesting to me, but usually when I describe what I do, I notice people’s eyes glazing over.” She sipped her gin and tonic. “Most people don’t like numbers that much.”
“Do you like them?”
She blinked. “I don’t think anyone has ever asked me that before.”
“If you like your job?”
“No, if I like numbers.” The smile began to creep out again. “I like my job as much as I like any job, but I really like numbers.”
“Why?”
She relaxed onto the stool and let out a thoughtful sigh. “They’re beautiful and elegant. They’re like this beautiful language that you don’t have to speak aloud.”
Her cheeks reddened a little bit and Martin felt a punch of satisfaction. He liked making this woman blush. He liked seeing her smile. He liked her laugh and he really wanted to see her long hair down. It was braided sensibly down her back, but wild feathers of it had pulled away from the braid, probably from the wind.
“And they’re easy to understand.” She was still talking about numbers. “People can be really…”
Attractive. Intriguing. Unexpected.
“Complicated?” He poured himself two fingers of scotch and mixed a little water in.
“Tiring.” There were the red cheeks again. “Not you. You’re a lifesaver. But sometimes I’ll be talking to someone—and I am terrible about remembering faces and names—so I’ll be talking with someone at one of my parents’ parties or something and I’ll think they’re one person but they’re really another person and then I’ll say something completely inappropriate and make a fool of myself.”
“I doubt that.”
“No, trust me. I can be really awkward.” She nodded and finished her drink. “My sister is brilliant with people. So…confident. And I don’t have any reasonnotto be confident, but I still struggle with it. I think it drives my mother crazy, but I don’t know how to turn that anxiety off.” She blinked. “I can’t believe I’m telling you all of this. I guess what they say about bartenders being therapists is true, huh? You probably hear the most private things from the guests here, don’t you?”
“Actually, I’m not usually—”
“Sunny?” Alice called from the pathway. “Oh, you met Martin already. Wonderful.” She jogged over and put her arm around her friend. “Sunny, this is my boss, Martin Karanja.”
Sunny’s eyes went wide. “Martin… Karanja? As in Karanja Safaris?”
“Of course! My boss. Martin, this is Sunny.” She frowned. “And what are you doing here? I thought you were working on payroll this afternoon.”
“I’m looking for my iPad.”
Sunny was blinking and her cheeks were red again, but this time there was no smile accompanying the flush.
“I left your iPad in the office,” Alice said. “Did you look under the payroll folder? I put both of them right on the top of your desk.”
