Unfortunate timing

Laila and Noah were chatting a bit and Laila was looking for a way to bring the subject of Jake up. She wanted to tell him as soon as possible but she also didn't want to spring that on him the second he comes home from a trip like this. So, she settled for some small talk before approaching the topic. Noah seemed to have the same idea as he too did not talk about what he had discovered during his trip and what more had gone down, despite Laila probably being interested to hear it and despite Laila already knowing a lot of what has gone down. He just wanted to enjoy being home with his wife for a bit before mixing in the serious stuff. That is why Noah was completely fine with Laila not asking about things regarding Harold and sticking to some light topics instead.

But while Noah was happy to have some light, fun-filled moments after returning home and after having been through such crazy days, he was basing these feelings on his own reasons for not wanting to have a more serious conversation, while being blissfully unaware of Laila's reason for doing so. Of course he would find out this reason in time but it would seem that Laila had waited for too long for the right moment as it was stolen from her right before she could grab it.

Noah had just placed a few small items in Maria's suitcase, when a phone started to ring. Both Noah and Laila looked up from what they were doing, which in Laila's case was just laughing about something Noah had said, while Noah did the actual work. Laila looked down at her phone and saw that it was not the culprit of the sound they were hearing, so she said, "It's not mine. I think it is yours." To which Noah responded, "Could you see who it is? It should be on the bed, near by where you're sitting."

Laila looked around and spotted Noah's phone. She grabbed it from the bed for him and said, "It's Joe." Noah walked over to where Laila was sitting and grabbed the phone from her hand. He quickly glanced down at the screen, before he answered the call. "Hey, Joe. How have you been? I am guessing you are calling about the files Anthony sent you."

Although this was an important call, the timing of it had been quite unfortunate for Laila. She had just found the courage to say what she needed to say to Noah and had postponed for too long, but it appeared she would need to hold onto that courage a bit longer because this would not be a call that would be over soon. She let out a soft sigh before she dropped the dress she had folded back onto her lap. She was bummed that Joe stole her moment, the moment she had been waiting for since Noah had arrived, but she knew that in the end it had been her who had waited too long. On the other hand, if she had addressed the subject earlier, they would have probably been interrupted by Joe's call, which was probably even worse than not being able to say things when you want to.

The reason Laila felt this way, was because it was almost certain that Noah would not take the news well at first. He and Jake had never had a very good relationship and the matters from a few weeks ago didn't exactly help the situation. So, she needed his full attention and all the time she could get to make him see her proposition in the best possible light and to get Noah to give it a chance. To give Jake a chance. Getting interrupted in the middle of it and having him talk about Harold, a person who upset him even more, would not help his mood after ending his call nor her power of persuasion. This way he could get one thing out of his system, before talking about the second.

Laila calmly listened to Noah's recap, before he decided to combine the two things he needed to do. He interrupted Joe and said, "Hold on Joe, let me put you on speaker. The only other person here is Laila and she should hear what you have to say as well. I needed to tell her about the current state of things anyways. Since I need to tell you both the same things, and since I will have to repeat your words to her as well if I talk to you alone right now, it makes more sense to let her listen in now and save me the trouble later. I also have some packing to do, which will be a lot easier if I have both hands available instead of using one of them to hold the phone in order to talk to you."

Joe had no problem with that and just said with a chuckle, "Geez, if you give me any more reasons I would think that you were the one going into court to state your case instead of me."