Page 29 of The Road Sometimes Taken

The Bestie: He’s married to his job. But whenever he gets the chance to put that aside and give his heart some attention, the girl he finds will be lucky. He’s one of a kind.

The Bestie: Well two of a kind. Gus is pretty good too.

The Badass: Sounds like your parents raised all three of you right, huh?

Me: Allie’s mom is the best. We love her.

Me: OMG! We’re almost to The Wilds. I’ll send pics later.

“Hellooo?! Cara, where did you get the idea that I have a girlfriend?” Manny asks, turning left onto the road that will lead us to our destination.

“Something Allie said—that you weren’t single. I was just worried, I don’t know, that I was overstepping, maybe?” I ask in full-blown run-on sentence mode.

“Overstepping with what? Spending time with me? Because other than sharing the bed that one night, nothing has happened. We’re friends, right?” he asks, looking at me for a split second and then waiting for my response.

We sure are.“Yup, we are. A girlfriend wouldn’t want you sharing a bed with another girl though, regardless if you’re friends or not,” I add.

“And I wouldn’t have done that if Ididhave one, but I don’t, so move on.” He looks back to the road and when I do the same, I see The Wilds.

“Aaaaah!!!” I scream, clapping my hands and pulling my phone out to record. The road winds through undulating hills, giving glimpses of expansive meadows and green areas that go beyond what I can see. I lower the window and I can smell the scent of the earth and greenery. I hear birds in the distance, making an ever-changing soundtrack. Even with the noise of the bus, I can hear the sounds of nature. I can feel it too. I stick my head out the window, closing my eyes and feeling it all.

We drive through the rustic wooden gate near the entrance,following the paved road that leads to a gravel path for the visitor center. I unbuckle my seat belt and get ready to leap out of my seat the minute Manny pulls up to a parking spot. As soon as the van comes to a stop, I’m leaping out of it and on the move.

“Look at the giraffes!”I shout, as we wait on the safari tram, not so patiently, for them to come near. “Do you know what a group of giraffes is called?” I ask Manny.

“No, but I’m sure I’m about to find out. Since you’ve taught me about all the other animals we’ve seen today,” Manny replies.

“A journey or a tower. So that’s a pretty big tower of giraffes,” I add, giggling like the dork I am. I had a student a few years ago who was obsessed with the group names of animals. He learned a new one every week and all he wanted to do was to quiz me to see if I could remember them. Now it’s my jam, too.

The tour guide announces that the giraffes will start sticking their heads in the tram’s windows for us to feed them. I grab the leaves he passed around earlier and get up like a flash of lightning, knocking a bag onto the ground.

“Oh, no! I’m so sorry,” I exclaim, picking the bag up and smiling at the woman who has been a trooper dealing with my excitement all afternoon. She smiles back but then her face turns into complete horror at the same time that I feel something pulling my hair.

“Don’t move,” Manny commands, moving his leaves into the air as he helps me up.

“What was that?!” I ask, shaking my body like that could remove whatever just happened.

“Oh nothing; just a little giraffe trying to eat your hair because you’re so close to those leaves,” he says, pointing to my leaves. They’re on top of the seat and apparently, my hair was too close to them.

I laugh loudly and Manny flashes me a big smile.

“Come on, Cara, you’ll miss yourtowerif you don’t feed them now.”

“Eeek!” I squeal, grabbing the rest of the leaves and feeding the smallest giraffe. I grab my phone and pose to snap a picture of this moment to post later in my stories.

“I’m out of leaves,” I hear a little voice whine. I turn to find Lila, the only little girl in our group, who I was geeking over animals with earlier. She has the saddest frown I’ve seen in a while. I hear her mom telling her they’re also out of leaves and it breaks my heart to see her so sad. I grab the leaves I have left and walk toward her, trying to avoid the hungry giraffes.

“Here, I’m all done feeding them, you can have mine,” I offer and immediately her face lights up.

“Thank you so much,” she says.

“You didn’t have to do that. You already entertained her enough at the beginning of the safari,” her mom adds.

“It’s not a big deal, really. She can have them,” I insist and walk back to my seat.

“That was very kind, Cara,” Manny says with an emotion in his eyes I can’t pinpoint. Like he wasn’t expecting me to do something like that.

“Are you surprised I’m nice to children, Manuel?” I ask.

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