“Ah,” he said. “Well, I bet you’re a good music teacher.”
“I try to be.”
“We should play together sometime.”
“Maybe,” she said. “Right now, I’m just tinkering. Getting my feet wet again. I’m really enjoying playing for myself.”
“I get it. Let me know if you change your mind. Maybe we could find a place in town that wouldn’t mind giving two former musicians a chance to relive their glory days. I bet they’d even throw in a few bucks if we entertained their clientele.”
“I’ll keep it in mind,” she said.
He rang up her purchases, and on the way home Layla couldn’t stop thinking about how it would feel to perform again and that maybe her insistence that she only wanted to play for herself was complete and total bullshit. The one thing she did know was that if she were to perform again, there would not be a man waiting in the audience this time around.
* * *
Liam slowly won Layla over. Gone were the grand gestures of cold beers on the back of her neck and pizza boxes balanced on his palm. Those had been used to get her attention and now that he had it, he shifted gears. He was always polite and attentive, but he also gave her plenty of freedom. She didn’t feel like he was waiting in the wings to claim her, which was good, because it would have only sent her running. They still had plenty of conversations between the band’s sets, but there were also nights that Liam’s favorite barstool remained empty and Layla wondered where he was.
She thought maybe he’d changed his mind about wanting to date her, but one night after they finished playing, he asked her to go to a diner that was open twenty-four hours and she said yes. They talked until 5:00 A.M. and he was humble and gracious and funny and kind. As he spoke, she realized he was finally showing her the stripped-down, more authentic version of himself. He talked less about his job and more about wanting to succeed in life so that his mom and dad would be proud of him. That was something Layla could relate to, because she feared she was letting her own parents down by continuing to chase the rock-and-roll dreams she wasn’t ready to let go of. The attraction she felt toward Liam and the common ground they shared seemed like a stable foundation on which to build a relationship, and together they began laying the bricks. Liam might have set the hook early on with his pursuit of her, but Layla reeled herself right on in.
They’d been dating for about six months when the band received the inquiry from the booker in Edina. Storm Warning was attracting bigger and bigger crowds at Connie’s and the bouncers had to regularly turn people away at the door or risk violating the fire code by letting anyone else inside. Layla got the sense that they were about to explode in popularity, and the thought of that thrilled her almost as much as performing did. It was time to take it to the next level, and while Edina was no Minneapolis, it was a good place to start.
Liam was the first person she wanted to share the good news with. His face lit up when he opened the door to his apartment, and she blurted it out before he’d even shut the door behind her. “That’s awesome,” he said. “Is this the first time that’s happened?”
“Yes. Scotty’s spent hours cold-calling and emailing different clubs trying to get us on the bill. Before they’ll agree to book us, they want to know that we can bring in the crowds, which isn’t as easy when you’re not a local band. It’s kind of a chicken-egg situation. The more we play a venue, the more we become known. But we can’t become known until we play enough shows. But get this, the booker actually reached out to Scotty. He said he’d heard about us and wanted to come and watch a few sets for himself.”
“I’m really happy for you. Let’s go out tonight and celebrate. Anywhere you want to go.”
Liam loved to wine and dine her. She was more accustomed to the drive-through at McDonald’s, and she felt so grown-up when she and Liam would arrive at a restaurant and the hostess would confirm the reservation Liam had made and lead them to their cozy table for two. Though she often tried to pick up the check if she thought she had enough in her bank account to cover it, he never let her.
The first time she’d spent the night with him, he’d picked her up and tucked her into the passenger seat of a gleaming black sedan that still had that new-car smell. Then he’d taken her out for dinner and to a movie, and when they got back to his place, he’d parked the car in its underground space at the luxury apartment building where he lived.
“This is really nice,” Layla said when he opened the door and ushered her inside. “The budgets of starving artists who are still trying to make it don’t really allow for this level of housing.”
It was furnished with top-of-the-line everything. He also had a closet full of suits and always dressed just a little better than everyone else. His grooming was impeccable, and she’d never seen him overdue for a haircut or with stubble on his face. There were no beer-can pyramids anywhere and he had plenty of toilet paper.
Liam had been in an especially expansive mood for the last couple of months, because once he’d completed his training at work, he’d hit the ground running, positioning himself as the clear front-runner of the inside-sales training class. He’d shown her a few of his commission checks, and Layla had been surprised by the amounts. No wonder he could live so lavishly. Her own tastes weren’t quite so extravagant, but it was nice to date someone who had his shit together and that was something that Layla really liked about him. Sometimes, it seemed that while Liam had actually crossed over and become a grown-up, Layla was still trying to get there. He’d broken free from the pack in the race to successful adulthood, but Layla was closer to last place and in danger of being lapped. Nothing seemed to be happening with her music, which made her feel stuck. Most of the time, she lived paycheck to paycheck, and even those didn’t come in with any guaranteed regularity. She was starting to worry that maybe she should have taken her friends’ and family’s well-meaning advice and done something with her life.
* * *
The band put considerable thought into the sets they played for the booker, showcasing a little bit of everything they had to offer. After the bar closed for the evening, the booker—a guy named Seth—had wanted to do shots of sambuca. Therefore, they all did shots of sambuca.
Liam picked her up at the bar at three in the morning, brought her home, and poured her into his bed. Around noon the next day, he ran out for pancakes and sausages from Layla’s favorite breakfast spot and brought them to her along with a big glass of ice water and a bottle of Motrin.
“You must have an epic hangover,” he said.