Layla

Layla has come back to Franklin, Tennessee, with Leeds, and they have spent the last two months having sex, learning about each other’s lives, and talking about Leeds’s music career. He still hasn’t left his band, but, with Layla’s support and encouragement, he is becoming more confident about writing and playing original music. She is also helping him build a social media presence, and he is gaining followers.

Leeds’s band is going to Miami to play at a music festival, and Layla is helping him pack. They are discussing books, and she asks if he remembered to pack things like a phone charger and toothbrush. They have been focused on each other all day, and he has not looked at his phone since the night before, when he posted a picture of himself with Layla to Instagram. He sees that he has gotten a lot of reactions and comments about the picture, some of them unkind toward Layla. He worries whether it was a bad idea to post the picture and if she will be safe while he’s gone.

There is a knock on his door. He thinks it might be his bandmate, Garrett, and Layla goes to answer it. He hears two gunshots and finds Layla on the floor with blood pooling around her. He says, “Everything after that is a blur. A nightmare” (43).

Leeds returns to the interview with UndercoverInc. He confirms that it was Sable who shot Layla and that Layla survived, but he does not want to give more details and excuses himself to check on Layla. Layla again begs him to untie her. He makes her a sandwich and agrees to untie her while she eats. When she is finished, he applies ointment and bandages to her wrists where she has rubbed them raw against the rope. Then he re-ties her to the bed and goes back downstairs to continue the interview. He is not looking forward to telling UndercoverInc about the months that followed the shooting.

He continues the story of the shooting, explaining that he called 911. He was shot as well; he and Layla had to have surgery, but her injuries were more severe than his. He had to call her family and tell her that she’d been shot, and he spent hours being interrogated about the incident. She was eventually released from the hospital, and they came back home. When her doctor gave them the OK, they left Tennessee for a while. They rented the bed-and-breakfast where they first met.

Leeds and Layla are flying to the bed-and-breakfast for two weeks of relaxation; the destination is a surprise for Layla. After they board the plane, Layla takes pictures of Leeds for his social media account, which she manages. She has a panic attack on the plane. Leeds takes her to the restroom to help her calm down, and she suggests they have sex. He rebuffs her and then feels guilty about it. When Leeds tells her they are going to Corazón del País, she doesn’t seem to remember that was where they met. They rent a car to drive from the airport to the bed-and-breakfast. Leeds notices that Layla is bleeding from the wound where she was shot; she often picks at the scabs so that it hasn’t healed like his wound has. They stop to clean the wound and end up having sex in the bathroom of the gas station as a response to the incident on the plane when Leeds turned her down.

They arrive at the bed-and-breakfast, and Leeds wanders through the house, noticing what has remained the same and what has changed since they were there a year ago. Leeds is glad to see that the piano is still in the grand room, where he and Layla spent much of their first night. He intends to write music in addition to helping Layla return to her previous self. He is hopeful that a couple of weeks here will get them back on track.

Layla, on the other hand, is not happy to be there. She doesn’t seem to remember where certain rooms are. She complains that it is cold and she has a headache; she wants to take a nap when they arrive.

When she goes into the restroom, Leeds hears her scream and rushes in to see that the bathroom mirror has shattered. Layla tells him that it broke spontaneously, but she has blood on her knuckles and the mirror looks like someone punched it. Leeds tends to the cuts and worries that her memory loss and anxiety have escalated to new heights.

The first evening at the bed-and-breakfast, Leeds is making soup for dinner while Layla takes a nap. He remembers what life was like after Layla’s hospital stay. Her mother and sister often stayed with them in the small one-bedroom apartment Leeds was renting. It was difficult for them to have so little space, but Leeds liked her family. He reveals that he bought an engagement ring, hoping to propose when the moment is right.

He checks on Layla and is watching her sleep when a crash comes from the kitchen. He rushes back and finds the pot of soup splattered everywhere, the stove turned off, and the faucet running over a burnt rag. He doesn’t understand how that could have happened. He tells Layla that it was his fault so as not to scare her, but he is shocked and perplexed.