Page 8 of Begin Again, Part 2

Three

NOT A HOME FOR COWARDS

"What the hell?" Eden snorted as she dumped her phone on the table and picked up her water, unable to believe the last five minutes.

"Is everything okay?" Cassandra asked. They were at Heat, an Asian fusion eatery downtown Rock Castle, celebrating Sienna's birthday.

"Three weeks without a word from him, and when he finally calls, he has the nerve to make demands!" Eden ranted as she replayed her phone conversation. Her friends listened, sipped their saké, and nibbled their sushi.

"Can you believe him?" she asked for the millionth time as she picked up her chopsticks, twirled them in her fingers, and tossed them on the table again.

"What did he want?" Sienna asked.

"To go with him to—" Eden said, stopping herself before she could let the cat out of the bag. They still didn't know about Liam and Linda.

"Go with him where?" Lydia asked, curiosity brightening her dark eyes.

"To an off-site meeting," Eden replied flatly, glad she didn't entirely lie to them.

"Well, that's your job, isn't it? What's the issue?" Cassandra looked as perplexed as she sounded.

Eden shook her head. It was complicated. They wouldn't understand why she was so pissed off. Heck, she didn't even understand it herself. She had no business missing Liam. But the past few weeks when he was out of town were a nightmare for her. She knew he wouldn't call or text, not after the way they left things off, with so many question marks and too many loose ends hanging over their messy relationship. But her feeble heart had held out hope and watched her phone like a hawk. She even took up sketching again to keep herself busy and stop obsessing over the calls and texts that never came. By the end of the second week of Liam's absence, her sketchpad was almost full, with his and Aiden's portraits—

"Why don't you want to go with him?" Lydia prodded, breaking through her thoughts.

Thankfully, she was saved from answering when the waitstaff crowded around them to serenade Sienna with their rendition of the birthday song.

Sienna gushed. "Oh, you guys! You didn't have to do this. You know how I feel about all the attention."

They all rolled their eyes. She thrived on attention and was big on birthdays and any days that called for gifts like Valentine's Day. One year, she tried to con them into getting her gifts for Easter.

As usual, Lydia took dozens of photos and videos for her vlog, and the party broke up shortly after the birthday girl blew out the twenty-six candles on her decadent male stripper cake. It was Lydia's idea, of course, explaining that if their bestie couldn't have a real dick on her birthday because she was single again, she might as well have a gluten-free one.

Eden's evening went from fabulous to disaster when Cassandra turned into her street, and they saw a line of dark luxury cars outside her house.

"Dear God!" she whispered, pure horror etched on her face.

"Is it the president?" Lydia practically leapt in her seat as they pulled into the driveway.

"Are you drunk?" Cassandra glared at her.

"It's Liam, you fool!" Sienna whacked Lydia gently on the head with a rolled-up magazine.

"This is not happening!" Eden said again, refusing to leave the car. Not without a plan, at least.

"Maybe he's just dropping off some work," Lydia suggested helpfully.

But both Cassandra and Sienna shut her up real quick. "At 10:00 PM?"

"Guys, this is a nightmare. I'm done for; I'm finished!" Eden bit her nails and tuned out their bickering.

Sienna reached up and yanked her hand back down. "Stop it! That's a filthy habit."

Eden nodded as though she understood, but she barely registered the words. Her mind was in chaos, racing at unprecedented speeds as she tried to come up with a plan, an explanation, a plausible reason why Liam had to find out about his son this way. But hard as she tried, her mind drew a blank. Sighing, she pushed her car door and said, "I'm going in. Cover me!"

She'd wanted to use that line ever since she heard it on some cop TV show. Now seemed like a good time. A most fitting occasion. She'd need all the covering she could get.

"Right now?" Sienna pulled her back, yanking her by the collar of her dress. "What's the plan?"

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