Page 71 of Begin Again, Part 2

As Eden ate her starter—a suspicious-looking dish resembling a cactus or some other equally frightening plant— she kept checking the time on her phone, wishing she was back at the office already. She still had a presentation to finish, and if she was lucky, she could squeeze in a hair appointment with Franco.

"So, did you hear about Ron from the finance area and Sarah, the head of marketing?" Clara asked over their drinks. Eden hadn't. But she knew she was about to. And for twenty minutes, she heard all about her colleagues' sexcapades in the men's bathroom on the 22nd floor.

"Weirdly enough, Liam didn't care," Clara wrapped up her juicy story. "I thought he'd push for their dismissal because, you know, banging at work is a dismissible offence. But he told HR to let them off with a warning. He's not such a dragon after all."

Eden smiled and forced herself to chew her food, almost choking on her cosmo when Clara suddenly changed the topic.

"What the hell went down between you two? Since Fashion Week, the tension between you guys is so thick I can cut it with my nails," she said, making a slicing motion with her very long nails for effect.

"Nothing happened," Eden lied. There was no way she'd tell her friend about their bitter custody negotiations.

She still hadn't heard from Liam's lawyers and hadn't spoken to him about anything other than work since their meeting, not for the lack of trying on his part. He'd called numerous times after hours, but she'd ignored every one of his attempts. The less they spoke, the better.

"It can't be nothing," Clara picked up her wine glass and twirled it in her hand. "Liam's been like a bear with a sore head since he returned from his unplanned leave, taking out his anger on everyone. We can't even scratch ourselves without him barking at us."

"I don't want to talk about it!" Eden snapped at last.

"Okay," Clara held up her hands apologetically. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry. I just thought that maybe—Never mind."

Feeling awful for acting like a total bitch, Eden took her hand and squeezed it. "No. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped at you. But the stuff with Liam, honestly, I can't talk about it."

"I understand," Clara said, but the wary look in her eyes didn't go away. "We should head back."

Eden's phone rang as they left the restaurant and took a leisurely walk back to the office.

It was Isaac. He wanted to know if they were still on for drinks later. He had something important to tell her.

"I'm sorry, I have a thing tomorrow evening, and I want to spend some time with Aiden tonight. Can I take a rain check?" Eden asked.

"No sweat," Isaac assured her. "I also have a thing tomorrow night."

They both laughed and chatted for a bit, promising to see each other over the weekend before they hung up.

"So the lawyer's still in the picture?" Clara nodded knowingly.

"Don't start." Eden rolled her eyes.

"Well, he's hot. I'd bang him if I were you," Clara smiled wickedly. "But then again, I don't think the Dragon would like that, not when you have a baby Dragon with him."

"His name is Aiden, and quit calling Liam that."

"Right." Clara laughed and strutted on, her stilettos clicking loudly on the glistening floor. "I'm just saying, it's great to have options."

"Isaac is a good friend," Eden said, hoping to shut her up.

"A good friend who keeps sending you flowers. He clearly wants to be more than just a good friend."

She was right, and since Eden had nothing else to add to this line of conversation, she kept her mouth shut.

They parted ways on their floor. Clara dashed to an afternoon meeting, and Eden returned to her office to finish her presentation.

There was an impressive flower arrangement of baby's breath and eight peach roses on her desk when she walked in. She fumed as she read the note, 'One for every day you were not in my arms. Let's talk tonight after the Charity Benefit. LA.'

The nerve of him, Eden seethed as she tore up the note and threw it in the bin. She picked up the bouquet and dumped it at the reception on their floor.

"You can't do that. Mr Anderson asked me to arrange those flowers for you," their receptionist said. "I'll get fired."

"Not if you tell him I gave them to you." Eden smiled sweetly and returned to her office to grab her handbag, laptop, and car keys, thoughts of finishing her presentation forgotten.

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