Stiletto Safari by Kate Metz Read Free Book Online Page B

bit out of place. While it had been great seeing Nick, my mood had been materially flattened and I no longer felt like partying. I wished things hadn’t had to change and get so complicated.
    Still, Emi had gone to so much trouble; I owed it to her to at least try to have a good time.
    As if sensing my mood, Craig jumped off the couch. “Ah, the girl I’ve been waiting to dance with all night.” With that, he grabbed me by the arm and started swinging me around the room. It worked and I started to giggle as we came perilously close to crashing into one of Emi’s tables. Eventually I managed to wriggle free and joined Sal on the couch.
    “Zara, you need to get me out of here. I’ve had way too many drinks and my already lousy judgment is seriously impaired. If I don’t go home right now, I’ll probably wind up leaving with your friend, and that would be a huge mistake.”
    Craig was heading our way carrying three Zartinis. His wavy blond hair was dangling in his eyes and the glasses were pitched at a precarious angle.
    “Martinis!” He squished his muscular body between the two of us.
    Glancing across at Sal, I purposefully said, “One last drink, absolutely. After that we’ve got to fly, quite literally in my case. Sal is coming back to my place to help me finish packing and for some last-minute girl talk.”
    Craig looked disappointed by this last remark, but masked it well by saying, “I’ve never understood why it takes girls so long to pack. When I go surfing I’m packed in fifteen minutes, tops. What is there to take, after all?”
    “Ah, Craig, if only you knew,” Sal said, giving me a conspiratorial wink.
    Thirty minutes later, Sal and I were on our way back to my apartment. Emi and I had exchanged a tearful goodbye and the promise to e-mail lots. I was going to miss Emi like crazy.

Chapter 10
    S
    al and I stayed up chatting on the couch until sunrise. It made me realize how much I was going to miss Sal and Emi. I didn’t usually go two days without seeing one of them. I’d set up a mailing list so I could keep in regular contact with my closest friends (Sal, Emi, nice work Clare, Laura, Steph and Bec), but I wasn’t sure what my Internet access was going to be like in Namibia. Not that good, I suspected. This thought made me realize that I could be in for a really lonely six months.
    As we sat there chatting, Sal admitted that she was at a bit of a crossroads in her life. She loved her job, but didn’t feel that she was being recognized for all her hard work. The girl basically lived in the office, was an absolute superstar, and yet had been told at her recent performance review that she was only average and had to get her billings up. How demoralizing when you’re already pulling over one-hundred-hour weeks! Law firms really know how to make you feel undervalued.
    “Since you haven’t been around, Zara, work has totally sucked; it’s like my sanity has gone. I mean, I get in at 9:00 a.m. and work my butt off until at least midnight and then go home to an empty apartment. Not being able to at least catch up with you for coffee or dinner just makes the day really long and boring. Maybe I need a change, like going in-house? Who knows, maybe I’ll even find a nice guy…”
    I was stunned to hear that Sal, Miss Career Girl Extraordinaire, was having such doubts. I suspected the doubts had more to do with a lack of relationship, but I kept these thoughts to myself.
    “Sal, there’s always Emi to drag you to yoga,” I said trying to lighten her mood.
    “Don’t remind me,” Sal rolled her green eyes. “Emi and Henri already pestered me into going this week. Have you noticed how totally annoying those two are together? They’re just so perfect it’s nauseating. Can’t you imagine Henri at yoga: ‘Sallee, just try a petit bit ‘arder to bend.’”
    At this thought we both cracked up. Sal was without question the most uncoordinated person I knew, and she was horrible at yoga.
    Once our