April Showers

8|intruder

Waking up the next morning it was time for Noah to go back to work. He used to be excited about going to work. He loved what he did but his motivation to do it was always trying to make his mother proud.

Now with his mother gone the motivation was different. "Rise and shine." Anna said from the curtains as she pulled them open to reveal the sun. Noah groaned, his motivation was giving him a rude awakening.

"Yuh eva knock?" He grumbled out pushing back his covers and heading to the bathroom. Anna went about tidying his room like she always did. He was such a mess. Clothes everywhere, clean and dirty she had no idea how he told them apart sometimes.

"Aaron get up!" she called to the adjacent room. The boy would sleep forever if you let him but once he was up sleeping was not an option. Aaron grumbled just like Noah had and Anna grinned. Her boys were so much alike. Her boys.

She was finished with packing away their laundry and was in the middle of plating their breakfast when the boys made an entrance. The both looked tired and unwilling. They did their hand shake routine or whatever before they sat at the table.

Mumbling their thanks they went ahead and ate. This was Anna's cue to check on her garden. Noah would bring Aaron to school and that would be that. Aaron was adamant not to be babied and was okay with showering and getting ready for school all on his own.

Anna would help him occasionally but not without protests from the little boy. By ten in the morning Anna was finished with her weeding and cutting. She was about to go inside when a man approached her.

Noah felt uncomfortable. He was in the middle of a meeting with a client however, he couldn't help but think that he had forgotten something.

Are you listening Mr. Andrews?" a Mr. Duare asked as he ran through their conversation since the appointment started. The younger man was definitely not listening to him.

He was probably thinking about his girlfriend. Kids these days had no sense of priority.

"Yes Mr. Duare you were speaking on the arrangement of rooms and the number of each that you would like. You had also said that you like works with granite." Noah stated. He was distracted however, he knew everything the man said.

He wondered what Anna was doing. Probably more laundry. He smiled at that thought. She did so much for him he would have to do something for her too. Hopefully she liked surprises.

Anna was baffled. There was nothing she could say, nothing she could do about the information she had received or the situation she was in now. She had to call him. Had to tell him.

"Thank you for trusting us with this project Mr. Duare. I assure you my team and I will do our best to meet your expectations." Mr. Duare knew Noah was being modest. He had seen the younger man's work and knew that his guest house was in capable hands.

Shaking hands with his new client Noah bid the balding man farewell. His phone was vibrating on his desk, he was getting a call. The display picture was of Anna and Aaron in the couch at home. They were watching cartoons and hadn't noticed when he took the picture.

Why was Anna calling? She could be missing him. That was unlikely and even if she was there was no way she would admit that to him. "Island Dairies Distributors Ltd. How may I help you?" Noah answered in his most girly tone.

The laughter bubbling through the phone was worth the blow to his manhood. He realized however that there was an edge to the laugh he knew so well. Something was wrong. He crossed his fingers and prayed Aaron was fine. He was still adjusting to having lost his mother, he would hate to lose someone else.

Someone he obviously loved.

"What's wrong Anna?" he sounded serious now, his earlier humor long forgotten and she swallowed hard. She couldn't tell him over the phone and she couldn't have him come home before his workday was even half way through.

"What time do you get home today?" Anna asked trying to sound as normal as possible. She would make him feel that the call was due to her missing him. She needed him to relax. This could wait, after all it had waited so long.

"About 4:30, why?" he was not buying whatever she was selling. Something was wrong and she might have called him on impulse but he would rectify the situation.

"Okay um am just calling to um wish you a good day. Yes, I didn't get to do that this morning and I always do that." She was chewing for things to say.

"You never do that." Noah deadpanned and she was stuttering for words. "Try I should totally do that then I mean as of today I will wish you a good day every day. Starting right now, Good day." She hung up quickly and exhaled with her whole body.

Noah would be home faster than a mongoose with its tail on fire and when he got here she had to have something to tell him. She face palmed herself, she was so dead.

Noah worked through his day as fast as he could and was out of the office at 4:29:59. He was determined to find out what the weird call was about as well as have some good home cooked food. She might not wish him a good day all the time however, she did pack him lunches. Her cooking was godly and she never cooked boring food.

Noah was silent going into the house. Aaron was probably home already and playing football with the other kids. First thing first Noah took a shower. He was tired, curious and hungry so he made his way to the kitchen.

When he got there someone other than Aaron was there. Unless Aaron grew to the size of a 70 year old man between the hours of seven in the morning and six thirty in the afternoon. Anna was unaware of his presence engrossed in talking about potato puddings and June plum ice-cream.

The older gentleman was the first to notice Noah, and stood up to greet him. Noah took several steps back as he looked between the man and a startled Anna.

Someone needed to start talking and Noah was sorry if that someone was Anna.

"I can explain." Anna began speaking but was cut off with a sharp look from Noah, she had no idea what she would say anyway.

She certainly couldn't say "Hey Noah, this is your father Marlon Andrews; who left you and your mother with nothing and you thought was dead. Oh and by the way I told him he could stay."