A taunting woman

Laila answered her phone and started her promised videocall with Noah. After their helloes were exchanged Noah asked, "I am not interrupting anything, am I? Because I did say that you could ignore my call if you girls were having fun." Laila shook her head. "No, we just finished dinner and we didn't have anything planned for the evening yet. So, I am free to call."

Noah nodded and he appeared in a clearly better mood than when they had talked earlier during the day. "Good. Where is Maria now? Did you tell her 'hi' from me?" Laila chuckled as she heard what Noah could actually concern himself about. "She is right across from me in the kitchen, just doing the dishes from our dinner. So, you can say 'hi' to her yourself.", Laila responded as she got off the couch and walked to where Maria was, before turning her phone so her friend and husband could see each other as they exchanged some pleasantries.

After some back and forth, where the teasing Maria could see clearly that Noah was counting the seconds till he could return his attention back to Laila, Maria finally showed some mercy. She made one more teasing remark before she said, "Okay, enough flirting with your wife's best friend. I am surprised she allowed you to take matters this far. Especially in font of her. So, I will do the right thing and let you get back to talking with her."

Though Noah didn't agree with her being Laila's best friend as he still considered himself to be the one who held that position in Laila's life, he knew that Maria was simply baiting him in responding and he indeed wanted to get back to his loving wife instead of talking to this taunting woman. Despite calling her taunting, he did not dislike Maria. He knew she was a good friend to Laila and always has been. She always looked out for Laila and by doing that, she also helped him. In fact, he considered her his own friend as well. Though he would probably never admit that to her. That one thing would have to remain an unspoken truth between the two of them because he knew that if he actually told her, she would never let him hear the end of it.

When the phone was finally returned to the owner and the camera showed Laila's bright, smiling, face, Noah's face followed suit. Laila returned to the couch and snuggled up in one of the corners. After she was sitting good and comfortable, they continued talking. Noah asked her, "So, what did you girls do today?" Laila told Noah about their visit to town and how everything looked just as she remembered and how it had felt like she had never left at all. She decided to not tell him about her feelings and reaction at seeing the mansion where she and Jake used to live, since that would mean telling him about her previous timeline and she wasn't ready for that talk just yet.

Plus, he deserved to hear about that in person, not over the phone. But although she couldn't tell him about that part yet, she could tell him about the rumours she had been told about Jake. Since he would come up at some point during their talk anyways and she really wanted to tell him about it. To hear what he thought and so that he could see that Jake was no threat to him in any way, shape or form, if he didn't know that already.

Without saying a word, Maria quietly left the room after she had finished washing the dishes. She wanted to give the two of them some privacy, since she had stolen Laila away for the week and felt that Noah deserved at least some kind of alone time with Laila during that one phone call a day he had asked for. This act of consideration from her couldn't have come a moment sooner. When Laila noticed that her friend had left the room, her time had come to talk about the things she had avoided until now since she didn't think it was right to talk about them with Maria present.

Though it wasn't a problem that Maria was there during their call. After all, it was her house. But Laila felt that some matters between couples, should be discussed behind closed doors so to speak. Even if she herself wouldn't have minded saying the things she needed to say in front of Maria, she wasn't sure if Noah would feel the same . For that reason alone, she needed to talk to him about Olivia and the matters regarding Jake once they were in private. But she also didn't know he would react to what she was going to tell him. So, out of respect for him, she felt it best if no one else was in the room when she told him. For this reason, she would have waited until bedtime to call Noah once more and discuss matters then, if Maria hadn't left the room just now.