Page 49 of Begin Again, Part 1

"They're outdated, and as Liam pointed out, they make you look like an old librarian," Lydia countered.

"Well, I like my clothes!" Eden said in a small voice, mortification burning her eyes. She knew she wasn't the prettiest candle in the room, and sometimes her dress sense was a little eccentric. But she was happy with her look. It made her stand out—

"Guys, enough, it doesn't matter," Cassandra said in her fatherly tone as she ran her hand through her hair.

Eden still couldn't believe she'd chopped off all that glorious hair. But it was for a good cause. She'd donated her locks to Hair For Angels, a non-profit organisation that made wigs for children with leukaemia. It was a cause close to her heart; her little sister died from the disease years before they met in high school.

"All I'm saying is, as an executive assistant, she'll need new clothes." Lydia reached for her second cocktail. Their argument was so intense, Eden didn't notice José had already dropped off their second round of drinks.

"Liam has high standards. Those outfits won't fly!" Lydia continued, seemingly determined to piss her off.

"Speak of the devil, and he appears," Sienna announced.

They all followed her line of sight, tracing Liam's movements through the club as he made his way to the VIP area. A gorgeous blonde hung on his arm, and two tall raven-haired men dressed in expensive-looking suits followed behind them.

Eden squinted at the blonde, wondering if she was the same woman. The one she saw with Liam outside Anderson Logistics the day she planned to tell him about her pregnancy. But it was so long ago, and she was so far away, she never saw her face clearly. It could be her with lighter hair. Or blondie over there was the mistress. She wouldn't put it past Liam to have a mistress. A little infidelity was not off the cards for a guy who made his butler get rid of all his hook-ups.

"Are you okay?" Sienna asked.

Eden turned to see worried looks in their eyes. Their sympathy was so palpable, she could almost taste it in her mouth.

"I'm fine!" She downed her second mojito, wishing she'd gone for the alcoholic version. She still didn't understand why she was off alcohol or upset at seeing Liam with another woman. It wasn't like she liked him. And the longer she thought about it, the more convinced she was that Gibby had sold her a tall tale to get her to return. It made no sense that Liam would need her help with his mystery illness when he had a gorgeous wife.

"Excuse me." Eden grabbed her phone and ran from the booth. She was in such a hurry to escape her friends' pity, she tripped over one of the steps. She would have fallen face down if it wasn't for a strong pair of hands gripping her waist in time.

"Are you okay?"

Eden spewed out a string of expletives under her breath at the all too familiar voice. She must have been a terrible person in her previous life to experience so many misfortunes in one night.

"Simon," she said, pressing her lips together as she shrugged off his hands.

When she found out she was pregnant, she lost interest in all things Simon. She never thought of him. Never stalked his social media pages. And never wanted to hear about him. She forgot him the moment she moved to the Blue Mountains.

But now, here he was, in all his Herculean glory, still the handsome devil he was when he sent her a break-up text. He looked happy, healthy, and still very married if the ring on his left hand could be trusted.

"Hi!" Simon waved at her. His mouth curled upward in a blinding smile as if their chance meeting was a much-anticipated reunion when in reality, it was anything but. The steel-grey eyes she'd lost herself in more times than she cared to remember scorched her face now, and she desperately wanted to gouge them out. If she had talons, she would have. Running into her ex was enough motivation to grow her nails and keep them long again.

"Can we talk?" he asked, smiling that same smile she'd fallen in love with when she didn't know he was an asshole. He had no right. No right at all to smile at her like that. Like he didn't leave her broken and bleeding.

Overwhelmed by everything—Lydia and her constant niggling, Liam and his wife or mistress, and now her ex, who suddenly wanted to talk, Eden felt her world spin out of control, like someone had thrown her on a violently moving merry-go-round.

She lost her head, not caring that they were in a public space, and the guests in the other VIP booths, hidden behind the paper-thin screen walls, had front-row seats to a drama two years in the making. "Talk about what, Simon?"

"Us!" Simon looked around them, making sure her banshee screams weren't attracting attention. He never liked drama and hated confrontations. It was one of the reasons her parents had loved him so much. He would have made the perfect son-in-law with his calm, apathetic approach to just about anything, even the most dreadful situations. For years, Eden was like him, a perfect replica of her parents, never allowing emotions to sway her.

As difficult as the last two years were on many fronts for her, they were also the most liberating. She'd learned to speak her mind. And she did exactly that, going nuclear on Simon for a solid few minutes.

"Where were you when I wanted to talk? When I called you like a madwoman and sent you millions of texts bordering on stalking? Where the hell were you when I had to reach out to all our guests and tell them you ran off with one of my close friends? Where in sweet Jesus' name were you when I had to explain to my parents why my intuition was way off the mark when it came to you? Now you want to talk, huh?"

Her friends sprung out of the shadows and tried to defuse a volatile situation.

"Eden, that's enough!" Sienna said and pulled her arm, trying to get her to stop. "People can hear you."

But, like a derailed train, nothing would slow Eden's momentum. She was on a roll tonight. She'd waited a long time to say her piece. There was no way she'd allow anyone to rip this chance from her. The rage she'd held in for so long erupted like a volcano after many years of sleep, spewing lava everywhere.

"Stay out of this!" Eden told her friends and scowled at her ex again, crossing her arms over her chest. "Hear me well, Simon. I got over you. I am over you. You don't need to explain anything to me. In any case, you are two years too late. I sure as hell don't need your sorry now."

"I know I was wrong, but why do you think I went to Olive? Because you were such a prude, that's why!"

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