READY TO MEET NOAH

    Faith was done for the day. It has been a hectic day for her, she had seen clients since morning. It was her fault because she had rescheduled all her counselling to this day and she had almost forgotten until her assistant called her and had reminded her that she had clients she had to meet, she had hurried home with Ethan and had gotten ready for work. She didn't have the time to check up on Charlotte that morning because she was already late for work, she decided to check up on her in the evening before meeting with Noah. 

    Her last client left around 4:00 P.M. and she almost collapsed with relief. She would just go home, freshen up, have some rest and meet up with Noah by six-thirty. She puffed and checked her schedule and her eyes dilated. She cursed under her breath. It was Charlie's birthday. She has promised to be there for him and she had gone ahead to tell Noah that she was going to meet him tonight. 

       "Oh, shit!" she cursed again as she stood up and packed her belongings from the table. She hadn't even called Charlie to wish him a happy birthday. What a friend she was indeed. She hung her handbag on her shoulder, grabbed her laptop and started to leave her office. 

      She needed to get him at least a cake or something, she needed to text him both an apology and a birthday text. She sighed as she got to the reception. She had said she was going to see Charlie's boyfriend today too. She sighed again and stopped by her assistant's desk. 

       "Do you know any cake shop around?" 

      "I know a perfect one that makes good and tasty cakes." 

        "Right." Faith fumbled in her handbag and took out a card she had written down her address. "Can you place an order for a large cake? 'Happy birthday Charlie' should be inscribed on it and send it to my home address please." 

       Her assistant collected the card with a smile. "Sure." 

       "I'll see you tomorrow then," Faith called as she ran towards the elevator. 

       As she waited for a cab by the sidewalk, she contemplated where to go first. Should she go and see Charlotte at the hospital first or should she go home and get ready? She glanced at her wristwatch, it was almost 4:30 P.M. She only have an hour left to meet up with Noah. She has to meet him because this opportunity might not present itself again. She saw a taxi and flagged it down. 

     She got into the taxi and told the driver her destination. Once the car kicked off, she took out her phone and placed her head on the backrest. The Valium and Alka-Seltzer she took in the morning were wearing off and that nagging headache started again. She tried to compose a text for Charlie, but try as hard as she could, she can't seem to come up with a good one. She just dialled his number. 

       He answered at the third ring and her heart skipped a little as she became totally at a loss of what to say to him. 

       "Faith?" Charlie called. 

        "Happy belated birthday dear friend. I'm so sorry I didn't even call since morning and I haven't texted." 

      "That's not a problem, Faith. I have been busy here too that I gave no thought to who called and who didn't. As long as you will come to my party, it's fine." 

     "About that..." she hesitated and decided to tell him when she goes to give him the cake later. 

        "What's wrong? Can't you make it? You promised."

        "Where are you now?" 

        "I'm at work. I'll be leaving by six." 

        "Alright, I'll come to see you in a few minutes." 

       "Why? Is it...?"

        "See you soon," Faith interrupted and hung up. 

     She got to her neighbourhood and asked the driver to stop, she got out, gave the driver his fare and a tip and almost ran to the entrance of her building. She glanced at her wristwatch, it was a few minutes to five. She had to freshen up, go see Charlie and then move over to see Noah. As she entered the elevator that was taking her to her apartment, she felt guilty for not seeing Charlotte that day. She went into the apartment and went straight into the bathroom. 

      A few minutes later, she was all done having her bath, but the headache didn't seem to reduce, she needed to sleep, Ethan had not allowed her to sleep early last night with his craziness. As she blew dry her hair, she smiled and decided to call him on phone, to apologise to Charlotte for not coming over, but deep down, she wanted to hear his annoying voice. 

     He answered at the first ring. "Did you miss me?" his voice asked from the other end. 

       She smiled. "Don't flatter yourself. Is Charlotte I want to speak to." 

       "If you wanted to speak with her, why didn't you call her phone?" 

       "I didn't want to disturb her if she was asleep. Could you give her the phone and let me speak to her?" 

       "I am her PA now I can take whatever message you want to pass to her since I know that you are secretly happy to hear my voice." 

      Was he a mind reader now? She turned off the dryer and started toward her room. "Don't flatter yourself." She had laid out the clothes she was going to check out. 

        "Well, I'm going to give her the phone because she has requested it I'm just giving you five minutes to pass on the message." 

      Faith walked to her dresser and sat down to look at herself in the mirror. She was beautiful, but she needed to enhance it. She would just book an appointment with a beautician to make her up. Charlotte took the phone. 

      "Hey," Charlotte's weak voice came on the line. 

       "Hey, Charlotte, how are you feeling?" 

       "I'm all good. Where are you? Are you coming tonight?" 

      Faith stood up from the chair and went over to the bed. "About that. I'm sorry, I couldn't come to see you today, I was very busy at the office today and I still have an appointment today, it's Charlie's birthday and I need to be there." 

       "Who is Charlie?" Ethan's voice asked on the phone. 

       "What?" Faith removed the phone from her ear and looked at the screen. "What's wrong with you? Can you give Charlotte back the phone?" 

      "Charlotte, she is sorry that she can't make it, please accept her apology," Ethan said to Charlotte. "Now, tell me all I need to know about Charlie." 

      "I'm hanging up, I don't have time for this." 

        "If you hang up, I'm going to trouble you with my calls and Charlie would be curious about who is calling you like that." 

        "I'll like to see you try." She put her phone on speaker, dropped it on the nightstand and took a red dress that Charlotte has got for her in one of their shopping sprees from the bed. 

      The dress glittered in the light and she decided to wear it. It was going to accentuate her colour and was going to hug her in the right places. If looking sexy was what was bringing Noah back then she need to be drop-dead sexy. 

       "Are you telling me about Charlie or not?" Ethan asked. 

     Faith glanced at the wall clock, it was almost five-thirty she gasped. "I need to go now, I'll play with you later." 

      "Play?" she caught Ethan's word before she hung up. 

     She smiled and went over to her closet and searched for a bag and a shoe to match her outfit. The doorbell rang and for a moment, she wonder who it was. Could it be Ethan? Was he home already? But he has the key to the house. Then she remembered that she had asked her assistant to place an order for a cake with her address. She wore her shoes, grabbed a purse and headed to the door. 

       Like she had fathomed, it was the delivery guy. She took the cake from him, paid and rushed back in. She wore her scent, brushed her hair and set out to meet Charlie. 

        She got to the hospital around a few minutes to six and she started heading towards the reception. Before she got to the entrance, she saw Nora coming out of the reception and she stared at Nora, but Nora was not looking at her, Nora stared ahead like she wasn't there, like she didn't see her. She approached Nora and when they got closer, Nora walked past her. She stopped and looked back, but Nora was not even looking back. She kept staring at Nora. 

        "Are you looking for someone?" Charlie's deep voice asked. 

        She turned and saw Charlie smiling at her. She smiled back. "Happy birthday, big baby." 

       "Thank you. I guess this is my cake." 

        "Oh, yes." She handed him the cake. "Have it." 

        "Thank you." 

     Faith looked back again at Nora's receding figure and Charlie followed her gaze. 

        "Was that not Nora?" he asked peering at her.

     She turned to him. She didn't want to talk to him about their fight, at least not on his birthday. "Nora? No, I don't think so. If not she would have stopped here to hassle me, right?" 

        The look on Charlie's face told her that he didn't believe her. "What happened, Faith? Spill!" 

        She looked at him and crumpled her face.