Page 135 of Begin Again, Part 2

"Well, I don't know how that stuff works, but I think all contraceptives come with an itsy-bitsy disclaimer."

Feeling sick to her stomach again, Eden shook her head, her face flushed with denial. "There's no way I'm pregnant."

She'd barely survived giving birth to one, so what was she supposed to do with a second baby?

She gently banged her head on the wall. "Can someone wake me up and tell me this is just a bad dream?"

If she was looking for comfort and a false sense of hope, Clara wasn't the go-to person. Her friend doused her with a healthy dose of reality instead. "You need to make a doctor's appointment ASAP. If you are pregnant and have that implant thingamajig, you might want to take it out pronto. You don't know what it's doing to the—"

Eden placed her index finger on Clara's lips to hush her up when the restroom door squeaked to life.

"Okay, I'm heading back, and I got rid of the mince pies, so it's safe to come back," Clara said and tiptoed her way out of the cubicle.

Alone again, Eden screamed silently in her hands while she paced the small space.

Silent screams didn't work as well as full-on screams. But she felt a little less on edge and ready to think like an adult and possibly start making adult decisions when she left the stall.

"Okay, don't panic. This is just a major scare," she told herself in front of the mirror as she washed her hands and held them under the dryer.

Yes, that was exactly what it was. A false alarm and a much-needed wake-up call for Liam to start wrapping up if they didn't want an 'oopsie'.

As Clara had promised, there were no signs of the offending pastries anywhere when Eden returned to the boardroom. She took her seat again and doodled all her plans in her journal, a doctor's appointment high on her priority list.

She could go to the GP in their building. But there were too many eyes at Anderson Logistics, and since she hated hospitals, driving to the Medi Clinic in Glen Eagles was out of the question. So, Dr Waylon it was.

Eden wondered if he was still on the 4th floor of Van Holt Industries—

"Great job, everyone!" Sarah laid it on thick in the front, pulling Eden away from her plans. She gathered up her laptop and journal, and was one of the first few people to bolt out of the room as soon as the meeting adjourned.

In her office, Eden looked through her phone and made her first adult decision for the day. She called Dr Waylon. The receptionist was happy to slot her in for 2:00 PM.

Eden didn't think she could wait that long. She needed to know if she should start saving for onesies and diapers now or never. But the receptionist politely told her she could either take the 2:00 PM or she'd happily book her in next Tuesday at the earliest.

"What if it's an emergency?" Eden argued.

"Then you'd go to the ER!"

Fair enough, Eden conceded and took the appointment, dreading the next two hours. How was she supposed to focus on her reports when there was a one-percent chance she was now a mom of two?

Goodness, she cursed under her breath, properly pissed off with herself for trusting modern science.

While she drank her now cold chai tea from Rise, courtesy of Liam shortly after they came in this morning, Eden typed up her resignation letter and sent it to HR.

Sometime after Liam's executive committee catch-up, just before lunchtime, an email from Sarah popped up in Eden's inbox. The marketing head wanted to see her.

Eden figured she'd already heard the news of her resignation. The group chats were still closed, but her imminent departure had spread like wildfire on chain emails, and the gossip mill was already swirling with rumoured reasons for her exit.

She would have preferred to stay in her office and hide behind her drawn blinds until she had all her ducks in a row. But whatever Sarah wanted, likely her continuity plan for Lydia's onboarding, sounded urgent, so Eden reluctantly made her way to the marketing area.

When she walked into Sarah's office, Eden didn't expect to find Zara there, and she certainly wasn't expecting another job offer. But that was exactly what she got, and she was mind-blown.

"We have an opening for a freelance illustrator slash graphic designer, and we think you'll be a perfect fit for our area."

Stunned as she was, Eden liked the sound of freelancing. It would give her time to pursue all her other side projects, get back into painting, and finish Aiden's book. But this whole thing reeked of Liam. She narrowed her eyes at the two women. "Did Mr Anderson ask you to offer me this job?"

Both ladies were baffled by her question.

"Why would he do that?" Sarah asked. "Matthew put your name forward months ago when you first joined his area, but we didn't offer you the role because it's a contract position."

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