Well, he could afford to be patient. After all, they now had eternity to play with.
Leila sat on the bed and willed herself to breathe, slowly and carefully. As soon as her thoughts began to jumble again, going in circles like dogs chasing their own tails, she would focus on her breathing once more, do her best to remain calm. It was a mindfulness trick she’d read in a book several years before, and she’d adopted it as best she could, finding that it helped her to stay focused before an audition, to not let panic and the very real urgency to land a decent part get in the way of giving a good script reading. In the past, it had usually worked, but then, she’d never faced a situation like this before. Every time she thought she had a handle on her anxiety, it would come roaring back once mo
