Page 97 of Begin Again, Part 1

"I'm sure," Eden nodded. "Now, what did you want to discuss with me?"

Her parents shared a look, and an uneasy silence settled over the room.

"What's going on?"

Steve cleared his throat and announced, "your mom and I have decided to separate."

Astounded by their announcement, Eden could only stare at them. Weren't they too old to separate? What did it even mean?

"You mean like a divorce?" she asked in an alien voice. There was no way this thin trill sound belonged to her.

"Yes, honey." Erica reached for her hand to give it a reassuring squeeze.

Eden snatched it away before she could. In that awfully thin voice she barely recognised, she asked, "but why?"

"We don't love each other," Erica said, and dabbed her lips with her napkin before discarding it on the table next to her half-finished pasta.

Eden laughed derisively. "Don't love each other? Of course, you do. You've been married for twenty-six years. If that isn't love, I don't know what is."

Sure, her parents were not shining examples of romance. But they were married for twenty-six years. Two decades and then some. Wasn't that love?

"Marriage doesn't always mean love, honey." Steve set down his fork long enough to clarify the economics of relationships for her. "Sometimes, it's a necessary, mutually beneficial partnership. You both set your goals and decide how best to meet them, while satisfying the other party."

"Whoa!" Eden yelled and pushed her glass away. "What the hell does that even mean?"

"Mind the language, dear!" Erica threw an anxious look over her shoulder. Even when her marriage was on its dying breath, she still wanted to keep up appearances and hang on to her well-constructed illusion of a perfect family.

"What does this mean? What does it all mean? You don't love each other anymore? Is that it?" Eden asked in a small voice, crushed by sadness. As cold as they were to her, she believed they were in love. Their marriage taught her there were all kinds of love in the world, and someday she'd find her own love. It may not be perfect, but it would be a lasting love like theirs. But now...

"We haven't for a while," Steve admitted.

Eden fell silent, trying to process the past few minutes. But nothing made sense. She felt completely blindsided by their announcement, like someone had pulled the rug from under her feet. So she looked around the room, searching for anyone, an adult, to come and fix this mess. But they were in a private room reserved for important people, like her parents, who had heart-wrenching news to share or some backdoor deals to make. The only other two adults in the room had decided to dismantle everything she'd believed in her whole life and turn her world upside down.

Feeling like she could handle more earth-shattering news, she asked, "how long is a while?"

They exchanged another look as if they were trying to decide if she could handle any more shocking revelations. Steve shook his head, refusing to answer her question. But Erica had more faith in her. She picked up her glass, took a long, slow sip, and said, "since the beginning. I fell pregnant, and wanted to go at it alone, but your father wanted to do the right thing. So we did."

"The right thing? For whom?" Eden demanded.

"For you, sweetheart. You deserved to be in a loving home with both parents." Steve jumped in as he wiped the sweat on his bald patch with his handkerchief. His two plates of pasta had warmed him up good.

"No!" Eden shook her head. "I deserved to be in two loving homes with honest, happy parents. Twenty-six years of duty, responsibility and honour. But not a single one of love? Was that it?"

"It's a different kind of love, Edie."

"No, Dad!" She gritted her teeth. "Love and duty are not the same things. Love is a choice. Duty isn't."

"Eden, stop it!" Erica snapped. "You are acting like a child right now."

"A child with hopes and dreams," Eden ripped her napkin from her lap and dumped it on the table. "And you have no idea how you've just shattered those dreams, Mom. Was everything a lie?"

All those memories, family holidays, trips abroad, birthday celebrations and milestones. Were they all a lie? Was any of it real?

"I'm sorry," Steve said.

"No, Dad, I'm the sorry one in all this. I wish you hadn't done that. I wish you hadn't married Mom out of some misguided sense of duty."

"It doesn't change how we feel about you."

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