"Noah."
My eyes scanned the room to find my wife, Martha, standing with her arms raised.
"Hi-di-ho!" she said as she dialled on the doorbell.
"Who's there?"
"It's Martha. I've got some flowers for your room."
"Thank you, sweetheart, come in," I answered.
"How are you doing today?"
"Okay. That's not Martha on the other side of the door."
I walked to the door to find a young man standing on the porch.
"Hi," he thought.
"Can I help you?" I asked.
"Are you Noah? It's me, Conrad. I'm here for the interview."
"Come on in. I'll be right with you," I answered.
After closing the door, Conrad walked to the kitchen, waiting for me. He sat himself down on one of the high bar stools while I made myself a cup of coffee.
"You having one as well?" I asked.
"Sure," he answered, taking a seat.
"Thanks," I replied, pouring myself some too.
"I'm sorry that you lost your job, and that your wife is leaving you like that. Really, I am," he said.
As the words left Conrad's mouth, my stomach filled with bricks. My eyes dropped. A thousand thoughts raced through my mind.
"I'm not leaving him. I just needed to focus on my work. It's been a lot of changes lately, and I needed some time alone just to settle my head. I thought he would understand, but I guess he didn't," Martha said in my head.
When I lifted my head to answer, Martha burst through the door.
"Noah, darling," she sneered, "Conrad has been betraying you with me. You should know that by now. Remember, I told you that I wanted to read your thoughts. I told you that I was dying to know what you were feeling. I've already read his mind, and I wanted to see what your thoughts were. I'm very disappointed in you, Noah," she said, glaring at me.
"Martha, I didn't know. He asked me for a job. He told me that he was going to college and that I could save him. I didn't realise it was to be you. He'd said that his dad had some land. That was all he said. I swear, I didn't know."
"I'm glad that you don't know and that you're happy that I'm going to have his children. You know, I always said that he was the love of my life. I love him more than anything.