Layla smiled. “I don’t mind at all. I liked having him around.”
Kimmy was taking Sasha to the Mall of America to visit the American Girl doll store, and then Josh was taking her to Colorado to introduce her to the slopes in Breckenridge. Two of his brothers and their families went every year, and it was something he and Kimmy had talked about but had never actually gotten around to doing. The cabin his brothers had rented was big enough to hold everyone. If Sasha hated skiing, there would be hot chocolate in the lodge and sledding with her cousins. They were going to fly out on the twenty-ninth and would return on New Year’s Day. Sasha couldn’t stop talking about it. And then, after Josh dropped Sasha off at Kimmy’s, he was going to hop on another plane and meet his brother James in Vegas for a three-day getaway full of gambling, drinking, and whatever else they felt like. Josh had been to Vegas several times in the past—bachelor parties and once with Kimmy for a close friend’s wedding when she was pregnant with Sasha—but it had been a while. It would really help having the option to drop Norton off at Layla’s, where he knew the dog would be comfortable.
A bell rang in the distance and he said, “I better get going. Have a good day. Stay warm.”
“Thanks,” she said. “You too.”
chapter 22
Layla
Thanksgiving passed uneventfully for Layla. She enjoyed spending time with her family, especially when she thought about last year and how Liam had bragged to her dad and brother about how well he was doing at work, which had made Layla cringe. Did he think they’d forgotten about all the other jobs he’d had and the peaks and valleys of his career? Did he think her family was that clueless or that she never confided in them?
This year, Layla laughed a lot more. Her siblings and their families went home after they finished dessert, but Layla stuck around long after the time Liam would have wanted them to leave. She got comfy on the couch, and even though she was thirty-five, she felt a bit like a college student who’d come home for the holiday break as her mother showered her with attention and offered another glass of wine, a different piece of pie. During commercials, her dad asked her how her studio was coming along, and she lit up when she told him it was done and that he needed to come over and see it. She got choked up thinking about how much she loved her parents and the role they had played in her life. Layla felt so much lighter sitting on that couch, and by the time she left to go back to her own house, maybe even a tiny bit hopeful.
* * *
By Saturday, her festive holiday mood had deflated considerably. She cleaned rooms that weren’t dirty, streamed a new comedy that failed to elicit a single laugh, and wished desperately that she had someone to talk to. Mostly, she felt like crying. It happened sometimes, usually on the heels of something good like Thanksgiving. It was as if her life had become a roller coaster and it had recently crested a giant hill and had nowhere to go but down for a while before gathering enough steam to climb again. The only solution she’d found when she felt this way was to leave the house and find something to take her mind off it until she felt better.
Layla went to a bookstore and browsed the new releases, buying the ones she’d been looking forward to the most. She stopped at Target and bought a few of the household items she was low on. While she was inside, snow had started falling, and as she carried her bags to the car she decided to splurge and treat herself to a steaming cup of fancy coffee. At the coffee shop, once she’d paid for her drink, she took it to a cluster of chairs in front of the fireplace. She took a sip and opened her new book, and it was so cozy she couldn’t think of anyplace she’d rather be at that moment.
Layla, whose back had been to the counter, might not have noticed Suzanne at all, but she wanted to throw away her empty coffee cup and when she stood up to look for the garbage can, she spotted a familiar blond head. Suzanne was wearing a fluffy white turtleneck sweater with winter-white jeans and camel-colored over-the-knee boots. She was also wearing a camel-colored wool fedora. Her daughter, who looked about five, was dressed almost identically, right down to the hat, although her boots were, thankfully, a more appropriate length and stopped at the knee. Her toddler son was wearing a white sweater—white!—and red pants and a camel-colored newsboy cap.
Too much, too much, too much, Layla thought.
It was like they’d come to the coffee shop for a photo shoot, but the table was covered with things that would ruin all that white in a heartbeat, so maybe not a photo shoot. Maybe that’s just how they dressed for a casual Saturday coffee shop outing. Then Layla remembered something Liam had said about Suzanne having a fashion blog and how she had hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
Suzanne’s eyes grew big and round when they locked with Layla’s. She started frantically trying to gather up the drinks and cookies on the table, and when that didn’t work she tried to convince her kids to leave the treats behind in an effort to get them out the door as quickly as possible. They wanted nothing to do with that plan and refused to hold on to their mother’s outstretched hands. Suzanne looked terrified while simultaneously appearing as if she would burst into tears at any moment. Layla walked toward them, intending to say that they should stay and that she was on her way out, but Suzanne panicked. She reached out and picked up the younger child, knocking his sister’s hot chocolate off the table and onto the floor in the process. It was so pathetic Layla almost felt sorry for her, and she definitely felt sorry for the children, who had undoubtedly been looking forward to their treats.
“Are you kidding me?” Layla said. “You’re the one running away?”
The little girl started crying. “We will get more,” Suzanne yelled, pulling on her hand and hurrying her toward the door. Heads turned, and Layla was left standing there to deal with the scrutiny.
If the coffee shop hadn’t been so crowded and if there hadn’t been children present, Layla didn’t know if she could have restrained herself the way she did. She wanted to tell Suzanne to grow a pair. To stop acting like a big scaredy-cat at the first hint of conflict and confrontation. To deal with the consequences of her actions like a grown-up.
Running into Suzanne empowered her. Liam might’ve torn her down brick by brick, but she took pride in the fact that she was rebuilding her foundation from the ground up, and this time around, she would be made of much stronger stuff. She threw away her coffee cup, walked out the door, and got into her car.
She no longer felt like crying. Maybe it wasn’t such a cliché after all, because whatever didn’t kill you certainly did make you stronger.
* * *