A lucky break

As Laila was telling Olivia all about her made up problems with Maria, the person in question was busy in the kitchen, starting on some preparations for tonight's dinner. Especially the meat she had chosen for the evening, need to stew for a few hours before it was ready. Fortunately for her, Steve didn't notice her leaving from time to time, as he was far too focussed on what was going on in Olivia's house to notice anything else.

So far Laila had only been able to signal him twice of which she had been successful at placing something once. Despite all of Laila's hard work in trying to sell her act of the wife who had to escape her own home because of an unwanted surprise from her husband, neither Olivia nor her staff seemed to leave Laila alone in a room for too long. Maybe it was them not trusting her, maybe it was the strict training she had given her staff regarding leaving a guest unattended or maybe was unintentional but either way, placing the cameras was proving more difficult than they had initially thought. Their only hope was that once Noah would arrive, that their attention would shift to him and give Laila a bit more freedom to do what she had come to do.

A lucky break came when Noah texted Laila that he was almost there. After replying to him, she forwarded the message to Steve so that he knew that he should have a fragment of film ready and waiting for her next move, which would be the placing of a microphone. The moment she sent the second text, Olivia walked in and noticed her on her phone and of course she made a remark.

"Oh, what is that? Are we bored already. I hope you don't consider that phone better company than I am." Though Olivia added one of her signature fake laughs after saying those words, Laila could hear the almost threatening tone behind it. So, she quickly dismissed her worries that were more like accusations and said something that would most likely lighten her mood immediately. "No, it was just Noah texting me to tell me that he is on his way and is almost here." To increase her chance of success, she added a little lie to the mix by saying, "He asked me to let you know."

"Oh, how wonderful! Why didn't you tell me it was Noah from the beginning. I would have not responded like that. How sweet is he? That he would think of informing me that he is almost here? He can come here without any announcement or warning, anytime he wants. There is no need for him to worry about giving me a call in advance. If only he had my number, that way he wouldn't need to send messages for me through you."

Since it was clear for Laila what she was trying to achieve by making a remark like this, she quickly laughed it off and changed the subject, as there was no way that she would allow someone like Olivia to have any private information of Noah. Not even his phone number. "Ha ha ha. Yeah, well it's alright. I always like to know if he is close to home. So, he needed to text me anyways. Now he could combine both messages into one. After all, he knew we were together today. So, why bother typing two individual messages. Besides, in all this time, this is the first time we have been in a situation where he needed to tell you that he was close to arriving since we have never been here before. That reminds me, when Noah is here, we would love to get a tour of your home. What I have seen so far looks wonderful and I am sure that with your impeccable taste, the rest will be an absolute vision to see as well."

With this she had cut down any attempt that Olivia might have for the day to get Noah's number from her and she had found her opening to enter the other rooms of her house and plant the necessary cameras and microphones in there. Luckily for Laila, Olivia loved her compliments and was easily distracted by them. So, before she could get upset at any of the other words Laila had spoken, she had to respond to the praises she had gotten regarding her talent for house decorating.

"Oh yes, of course. If he wants to see it, I'll be glad to give you both a tour. Even if I say so myself, every room in this house is a sight for sore eyes. It will get rid of any tiredness or stress he might be feeling from work. If only you would let me, I am sure I could work wonders on your house as well. Don't you think Noah deserves a nice home to return to? Not just a bed to sleep on and a roof over his head?"

Again Laila smiled and tried to let Olivia's insults slide off of her. Even if Olivia was comparing her house with something that was worse than a garden shed, she just let her remain happy for a little while longer, since she knew that if they were successful that moment of happiness would be one of the few happy moments left for her.