About That Night...

“It’s nearly six o’clock. You’d better get ready. I thought you might want to shower.”

She pushed herself up the bed. “Have you left any hot water?”

He shrugged. “You know what they say—if you’re not fast, you’re last.”

A pillow sailed from the bed and caught him on the side of his head. “Hey!”

Her head turned to the side, taking in the table where he’d been sitting. The papers and documentation had spilled over onto the other chair and across half the floor.

“Did you kill half a tree while I was sleeping?” She walked over and picked up some of the paperwork. “Do we really need to read all this?”

He shook his head. “You don’t. I do. You only need to read around half.”

She seemed to gulp. “Wow.”

She gave her eyes a little rub. “I think I will shower.” She tipped her case over and opened it up.

She hadn’t been joking. She really did have everything—despite having had some things removed at the airport. But what was more interesting was how everything was packed. Rolled-up tiny items, all in blocks of color. Nothing like the flat-folded items in his case. She even had her toiletries stuffed into her shoes.

She unrolled a light yellow dress, some white underwear and pulled some shampoo from a shoe. “I’ll only be five minutes.”

And she was. Her hair was still wet but pulled back into a braid that fell straight down her back.

It really was disarming how pretty she could look without even trying.

She picked up a notebook with purple flowers on the front. He squinted. “Are those violets?”

She nodded and smiled. “I have a whole boxful of these at home. Pretty, aren’t they? At least no one can steal my signature notebook.” The smile reached all the way up to her eyes.

It was nice to see a genuine smile. The past few weeks she’d had a permanent scowl on her face. But maybe that was especially for him. He liked her better this way.

“Did you buy them?”

“No. Sawyer did.”

How to break a moment. It was like someone had just thrown a bucket of ice over him.

He just couldn’t get past the connection.

He’d been the team leader. The one responsible for all members of staff.

And Sawyer’s wife, Helen, had died on that mission. Stuck out in the middle of nowhere with an ectopic pregnancy. By the time they’d recognized what was wrong it had been too late for her.

He blamed Sawyer. He must have known his wife was pregnant and yet he had let her go on that mission.

But Evan also had reason to blame himself, and six years on he still couldn’t get the guilt out of his head. Six years on he still hadn’t managed to shake the feeling that he was living a life his colleague wasn’t. It didn’t seem fair. It wasn’t as if he was short of offers. Sure, he dated. But the first time he even felt a flicker of something toward the woman of the moment, they had to go. Because why should he get to live, love and procreate when his colleague didn’t?

The sensation of guilt was a hideous, never-ending cycle. Sometimes it faded a little, only to flicker back into life as soon as something sparked a memory.

Violet was ready now, her eyes quizzical as if she had been reading his secret thoughts, her hand on the doorhandle. “Let’s go,” she said quietly.

He followed her to the elevators and down to the conference room. It was impressive. One wall was covered in maps of the states of Nigeria. Another had organizational charts of the team members. Another had immunization targets and notifications.

Everything they needed was right before their eyes.

“Welcome, Evan. Welcome, Violet. I’m Frank Barns, director of DPA’s Nigeria office.” He gestured to the walls. “Welcome to the operations center.”

He shook their hands and led them over to the nearest wall where the maps were displayed. “I finished a briefing for the other new staff earlier. You’ve probably realized we’re at a real tipping point with polio eradication. If immunity is not raised in the three remaining countries to levels necessary to stop poliovirus transmission, then polio eradication will fail. Nigeria is the only polio-endemic country remaining in Africa. There are several high-risk states and I’ve decided to send you to Natumba state. We’ve had sixty-two cases of wild poliovirus this year—more than half of them notified from Natumba. One third of all children there remain under-immunized.”

He gave them a little nod of his head. “You’ll have your work cut out for you there. The DPA works in conjunction with The Global Children’s Support Organization and the Healthy World Federation. But there are several issues for our workers.” His expression was deadly serious. “There have been bomb threats, killings and kidnappings. We have to make security a priority for our staff. You don’t go anywhere unescorted. While in Lagos you stay with a local guide, and the same applies when you reach Natumba.”

Evan could see Violet’s face pale. Was she frightened? Maybe she hadn’t been expecting this. He moved next to her and placed his hand over hers. Frank was still talking, outlining the things they should or shouldn’t do. He almost expected Violet to snatch her hand away. But she didn’t.

Instead she twined her fingers with his, while keeping her breathing slow and steady. She was scared.

And it scared him too. He was going to be team leader again. He was going to be out in the field, with a whole host of unknowns. A whole host of things he might not be able to predict or control.

What if something happened to one of his team again?

The guilt had almost destroyed him last time. What if something happened to Violet? It almost didn’t bear thinking about.

He pressed his fingers closer to hers and gave her a little smile while Frank continued with the briefing.

He would keep her safe. He had to.

He couldn’t think beyond that.

“Wow. What did you think of all that?”

It was an hour later and they were sitting in the dining room in the HWF building.

“So much for having a last supper before starting on the job.” She glanced around at her surroundings. They’d been advised not to leave the building at night, and neither of them had wanted to ignore the security brief.

“It’s probably for the best. We’ve got an early start tomorrow with the flight to Natumba.”

He was pushing his food around the plate, his mind obviously on other things.

“So, how do you feel about it?” She felt as if something was caught in her throat. Would he feel the same way she did? Sick with nerves? She hadn’t expected this. She hadn’t planned for it.

His eyes met hers. And she could almost see the shutters go down. It was apparent he wasn’t going to tell her how he was feeling about it all. After all, he hadn’t even wanted to come here, had he? He’d been more or less pushed into this.

She’d chosen to come here. She should have been better prepared for what she was getting into. The briefing today had knocked her for six. Would she even sleep tonight?

Sleep. That other issue.

“Did you manage to get the sleeping arrangements sorted out?” Evan had said he would try and talk to someone about finding another room.

He looked up from his plate, a smile dancing across his lips. “Yes and no.”