Page 37 of Begin Again, Part 1

Eden didn't know how she drove home in her numb state. She couldn't even remember leaving Anderson Logistics, only noticing she was home when a perturbed Brenda ran to the car and opened the door, asking, "Is everything okay? Did you forget something?"

Eden heard her questions, but she couldn't process them. Her mind was too tired to compute, let alone form coherent thoughts, and translate them into spoken words.

"Did something happen? Are you hurt?" Brenda carried on as she pulled her out of the car and flipped her around a few times, checking for any visible signs of trauma, frowning when she couldn't see anything wrong. "Say something. Are you hurt anywhere?"

Eden sighed and touched her chest. Yes, she was hurt. Right there, in that place where her heart used to be. But she gave Brenda her brightest smile, and in an oddly bubbly voice, assured her she was great. Everything was okay. Peachy, even.

But when she stepped inside the house and Aiden looked up from his toys, staring at her with his father's eyes, Eden had to blink several times to banish her tears. She ran to the bathroom, locked herself in there for the better part of the hour, and tried to get a hold of her emotions.

Brenda correctly assumed things had gone wrong on her first day. She gave her some space to work through her turmoil, announcing she was taking Aiden to the playground.

While Eden was still a hot mess on her bathroom floor, Sienna called to check how her first day was going. She immediately knew things had gone up in flames when she heard her shaky voice.

"We'll stop by after work. For now, take a long bath and stuff your face with anything you can find."

Eden took her advice and had a long bubble bath, but skipped the face-stuffing. Hungry as she was, she couldn't bring herself to eat anything, not when her heart was so heavy with sadness.

She paid Brenda when they returned from the playground, promising to call her whenever she needed someone to look after Aiden.

Alone with her son, they played with his toys on the living room floor and read his favourite book over and over until he fell asleep.

The girls stopped by later that evening, and Eden replayed her confrontation with Liam over Chinese takeaway and non-alcoholic wine.

"Oh, Edie, I'm so sorry," Sienna apologised profusely. "This is all my fault. I shouldn't have sent your CV."

"I guess that clears that up," Lydia said as she took a sip from her glass. "I wondered why you'd apply for a job at Anderson Logistics when you were adamant about not seeing Liam until you had your life together."

"Well, I messed up," Sienna confessed.

"It's not your fault," Eden said. "I mean, you were only trying to help."

"I'm such an idiot! And he's such a jerk. What an asshole. A total dickhead!" Sienna fumed and fussed, calling Liam every horrible word she could pull out of her extensive vocabulary.

"But he's a very hot jerk." Lydia was always the voice of reason, and Eden had to agree she wasn't entirely wrong. She left Liam in his glass and chrome castle hours ago, but the butterflies in her tummy still somersaulted at the memory of being in his arms again and how brightly they'd burned in that meeting room. The sparks between them were so intense they could have lit up a thousand wildfires. But no matter how delicious his kisses were, Liam's rage and hatred for her were just as palpable. She couldn't close her eyes without seeing the disgust on his face when he saw Simon's ring on her finger. No matter how hard she tried to banish them, his wild assumptions about Aiden kept playing in her mind like a broken record stuck on repeat.

Every time Eden recalled his words about their night, she had to hold herself tightly because she was so afraid she might lose the fragile grasp she still had on her sanity if she let go. She couldn't fall apart. Not in front of her friends.

"So, what are you going to do?" Cassandra asked, playing with the tips of her freshly cropped locks, and shoved fried rice in her mouth straight out of the carton. They chose to forego plates because none of them liked washing dishes.

"About what?" Eden asked, staring at the new haircut. She still couldn't believe she'd chopped off her gorgeous hair. When she sent a message in the group chat announcing her plans to go radical, they all thought it was a joke. The ash-blonde pixie cut suited her, though. It made her look years younger.

"About the job, of course!" Lydia sighed and rolled her eyes.

"I think it's safe to say it's off the table," Eden replied. She was back to square one and had to double down on her freelance work. No corporate would hire her as a personal assistant with her three-month experience. She should have known something was fishy with the interview at Anderson Logistics, but blinded by foolishness and wild ambition, she ignored all the warning signs.

"Imagine if he finds out about Aiden," Sienna closed her eyes, shuddering. "I can see now why you wanted to be prepared. If he's so furious with you over a hook-up, he'll surely kill you for keeping such a huge secret from him. I can see him waging an all-out war."

"I don't think he'll care," Eden shrugged, blinking back her tears. "He was crystal clear about how much he regrets our night. He called me a mousy librarian and admitted he never would have touched me if he was sober."

Her brave attempt to keep it together failed miserably. She dissolved into gut-wrenching sobs at the memory, and Lydia had to run to the bedroom to get a box of tissues. It was bad enough they didn't have any alcohol—they were still trying to figure out whose bright idea it was to forego real wine—not having tissues nearby would have been catastrophic.

"Do I look like a mousy librarian?" Eden asked over Sienna's shoulder, her eyes moist with tears.

"You do." Cassandra gently patted her head. "But a cute mousy librarian."

"Is it because of my glasses? Should I get contacts?" Eden sighed as Lydia wiped the snot from her nose.

She stared at the soiled tissue in her hands, scrunching her face in disgust. "You've tried contacts; they irritated your eyes, remember?"

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