Ch. 10 – Layla
L ayla stared into the flame of the tapered candle. If the dancing tongue of fire held any answers, she couldn’t find them. Her body ached from lack of sleep and from sitting in the hard, wooden dining room chair for too long. She could have moved to the couch or the leather recliner in the living room, but she simply didn’t have the energy.
Instead, Layla watched the shrunken candle weep its wax tears. The two bowls of primavera pasta sitting on nice cloth placemats had long grown cold, the Caesar salad wilting with the minutes.
Layla picked up her phone. The screen read 7:42 PM. She and Cal had planned dinner for six. Frantic text messages from the Crazy Cat Ladies crowded her screen, along with missed calls from Alanna and her mother. She’d spent the day ignoring them all, but now her thumb moved of its own accord, opening the Crazy Cat Lady message thread.
Everly: Layla!!! How R U? Give us an update. I’ll accept texts, calls, telegrams, & carrier pigeons. Tho not smoke signals. Fire too risky in SoCal. Hugs! [Hug emoji]
Tess: I’ve been thinking of you all day. Please reach out to any of us at any time. We love you. [Heart emoji] [Heart emoji] [Heart emoji]
Willow: Me too. Don’t give up, @Layla!
Alanna: Is Cal still in possession of his balls? Cause I can change that situation. Give me the word. [orange emoji] [orange emoji] [ax emoji] [devil emoji]
Jax: I would egg his house, but that’s Layla’s house 2. @Layla, please tell us that you’ve sent him packing.
Tess: @ Layla take your time. Do what feels best for you.
Alanna: Um, no. Destroy Cal. Let us help. I WILL take a shit in the back seat of his car. No questions asked.
Jax: I’ll hoark into his wine next time he comes by The Rose and Thorn.
Everly: I’ll straight up murder him. I watch Forensic Files all the time! I know exactly what to do… or at least what not to do.
Everly: 2 far?
Everly: Should I have not put that in writing?
Everly: Def shouldn’t have put that in writing.
Everly: Everyone delete this message thread. Destroy your SIM cards, too.
Tess: Let’s just focus on Layla. @Layla, what do you need from us?
“MROW.” Garbo announced her presence loudly before leaping onto the dining room table. The brown tabby seemed to have no notion of her pipsqueak size. She marched boldly around the candle and flopped next to Layla’s pasta bowl.
Cal hated when the cats walked on the table or counters. He’d irritably sweep them off or spritz them with a water bottle he kept handy for just that reason.
But Cal wasn’t here.
Layla set down her phone and reached over to pet the cat. She stroked Garbo’s head, adding in some cheek scritches for good measure. A loud, happy purr revved from the cat’s throat, and she brushed her cheek against Layla’s hand.
The pain sitting like a block of cement in her chest eased just a little. That was the thing about pets. Even without conscious effort, they could whisk away sadness like it was their own personal superpower.
“Garbo, I’m an idiot,” Layla told the cat. Even now, after everything, some small part of her still held onto hope.
Hope for what? That Cal would find some magical incantation of words that could heal the ragged hole in her heart? That he could build a time machine, undo his betrayal, and make everything the way it was? That he would somehow convince her to trust him ever again?
Alanna had always accused her of being hopelessly naive, but Layla hadn’t cared. She’d believed it was better to give people the benefit of the doubt. That behind every cloud was sunshine and a rainbow. Heck, maybe even a double rainbow.
The philosophy hadn’t steered her wrong. When their mother had struggled to keep them afloat by stringing together low-wage jobs, Layla could have resented the shabby apartments or given into despair during those months they lived out of a car. But instead, she’d recognized that her small family had what they really needed.
Love.
She hadn’t minded the free school lunches. She’d giggled under blanket forts with her mother when the heat was shut off. And when all her friends wore the latest labels, she’d created a style all her own from the racks of Goodwill.
Friendship, love, kindness.
Those were the real riches in life, and they’d never cost her a thing.
But her love, her unflagging belief in her future with Cal, hadn’t been enough. And now, for the first time in her life, Layla felt utterly lost.
Suddenly, desperately, she wanted to call Dr. Goldman. She needed to hear his voice. He would know what to do, or at least he’d have a terrible pun handy to make her laugh. But Dr. Goldman was gone. And taking his place was Dr. Dhawan, a cold-hearted man who cared more about profit than doing right by his employees.
Her phone buzzed in her hand with an incoming message.
Cal: Babe SO, SO, SO sorry! [Prayer hands emoji.] I kno we have so much to talk about. Been thinking of u all day! [Heart emoji. Heart emoji.] But we’re 1 car away from hittin our numbers. Bonus is on the line. Jet ski!!! [Sun emoji] [Bathing suit emoji]. Been calling leads all day. 1 guy is coming in after his shift to look at an SUV. I don’t trust my team. I’m the only 1 who can close this deal. Gotta do it! He’ll be here any min. Can’t wait to see u and explain everything. We can make this work. Love u so much!!! [heart emoji] [heart emoji] [heart emoji]
Layla set down her phone, leaned back in the chair, and laughed. The sound came out hoarse, like she’d dragged her vocal cords through gravel.
She looked at Garbo. The cat rolled on her side. Layla pushed back her chair and stood from the table. She reached over and snuffed the candle with her fingers.
In the bedroom, she laid a suitcase on the bed. She opened her closet and ignored all the tight, low-cut, insanely expensive dresses Cal had bought her over the years. Instead, she filled the suitcase with the bright, flowing clothes she had bought for herself from secondhand shops, thrift stores, and local swap meets. She added her toiletries, then a paperback copy of The Billionaire’s Dilemma, which she’d picked up from the local bookstore this afternoon.
After heaving the suitcase into the back of her SUV, she moved mechanically back and forth from the house to the garage, piling litter boxes, cat food, and toys into her car.
Garbo meowed mournfully as Layla eased the cat into a carrier. Garland, quickly wise to her imminent peril, made a kamikaze dash beneath the couch, but Layla nudged her out with a broomstick and eventually dropped the yowling cat into her case.
After belting both carriers into the backseat of the Audi, Layla returned to the bedroom.
“You next,” she said softly, peering into the large plastic enclosure sitting on her dresser. From the other side of the plastic, Cactus put his tiny paws against the wall, his long nose wobbling. Reaching into the enclosure, Layla brushed her fingers across the hedgehog’s spiked back, his quills pricking lightly against her fingertips.
She could still remember the morning three years ago when she’d found the small cardboard box left on the doorstep of the vet clinic. It hadn’t been the first time someone had dropped off unwanted kittens or puppies. Usually, Dr. Goldman would give each squirmy puff a health check before Layla dropped them off at the shelter. On that day, however, she’d unfolded the flaps to find a tiny ball of quills tucked into the corner of the box. The night had been cold enough to put frost on the ground, and Cactus had been so still that she’d feared the worst.
After Dr. Goldman had whisked the juvenile hedgehog onto a heating pad, Layla had checked on the quivering creature so often that Kate had brought the heating pad to the reception desk. Layla had stroked his quills throughout the day, humming to him. Just before closing, she’d glanced over at her charge and gazed for the first time into his black eyes with their endless depths.
She’d been a goner. Cal had been more than a little irritated when she’d brought the hedgehog home in her purse, but Layla had known how to handle the situation. She gave her blessing to the pool table Cal had been eyeing for their second den. A pool table for a hedgehog. Best deal she’d ever made.
“Let’s go,” she whispered now to Cactus.
After securing the hedgehog enclosure into her SUV, Layla returned to the bedroom one last time. Her eyes landed on the massive wedding binder sitting on her nightstand. The binder contained three years’ worth of her hopes and dreams. Another rough laugh escaped her lips.
Hopes and dreams. That’s all it’d ever been.
Layla’s hands moved on their own accord. She twisted the six-carat cushion-cut diamond ring from her finger. It slid stubbornly across her skin as if not wanting to release her. Layla persisted, and the ring finally relented, sliding over her knuckle. With shaking hands, she placed the ring on Cal’s pillow.
Fifteen minutes later, Layla pulled up to a small blue house with a flowered wreath on the door.
Holding the two yowling cat carriers, she made her way up the porch stairs. All Are Welcomed Here! The doormat proclaimed. Juggling the carriers, Layla awkwardly knocked on the door.
After a minute, it swung open.
“Oh, thank God!” Alanna threw her arms around Layla. “I’ve been seriously considering abducting you all day.”
A moment later, Layla felt a second set of arms close around her. “Welcome home, my darling,” her mother said.
Layla closed her eyes. She had no strength left, but her sister and mother held her up.