Begin Again novel Chapter 110

Liam was already in Linda's office, pacing the room when Eden scrambled in, huffing and puffing from taking the stairs because the public elevators were out, and she didn't think she was entitled to use the service elevator on her own.

"You're late," he snapped as soon as he saw her, grunting inaudibly under his breath as he crashed on the couch.

Eden checked her watch, frowning when she saw it was 12:02 PM.

She didn't think his level of irritation was warranted, considering she was only two minutes late. But late was late, and she had to accept her mistake with grace and humility.

She smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry the elevators are out, and I had to take the stairs."

"If you'd left your date earlier, you wouldn't have been late." The frown on Liam's forehead deepened the longer he glared at the flowers in her hands.

"I'll do better next time Mr Anderson," Eden said, still making no attempt to step inside the room.

There was no other seat other than the couch, and she didn't think Liam would want her near him. Not when he was pissed off with her for whatever reason.

Linda, watching the exchange silently the whole time from the comfort of her armchair, cleared her throat and gawked at the shades on her face. "Are you joining us?"

"Yes, of course." Eden nodded and closed the door before she reluctantly crossed the room and sat down, taking the far end of the sofa, leaving enough room between her and Liam.

"Can you take off your sunglasses?" Linda said as she opened her notebook and flipped to a clean page.

Eden didn't want to, but the look on the therapist's face told her it wasn't exactly a request. So she dutifully slipped them off, ignoring her audible gasp.

"You should see the other guy," she joked in a half-hearted attempt to ease the sudden tension in the room. But she realised the comment was funny the first time she said it to Isaac. Not so much now.

Linda chuckled anyway.

Soon, though, they were once again engulfed by a tense silence.

Eden played with her hands on her lap, Liam stared straight ahead, and Linda watched them closely, her keen eyes taking in every little thing—the long sighs, the exasperated frowns and the unspoken words.

The last time Eden was here, she had broken first and asked them to put her out of her misery because the suspense was too much for her.

Not today.

She was determined to outdo them both with her impassive boredom.

The silence stretched on, the clock on the wall ticking louder with each passing second.

"Do you want to talk about the other guy?" Linda asked, startling Eden out of her head. She was beginning to nod off to sleep.

"What other guy?"

Linda pointed at the mark on her face. "The one who did that to you."

Eden shook her head. She didn't want to talk about it. Didn't even want to think about it.

"There's nothing to talk about." She wrung her hands on her lap.

Linda wrote in her notebook and nodded. "How do you feel?"

"About?" Eden asked.

"This moment. How do you feel at this moment?"

Eden bit her lip thoughtfully, wondering why Linda was asking her all these questions. This wasn't her therapy.

"I think the focus should be on Mr Anderson. This is his therapy."

She felt his sidelong glance on her, but she refused to look at him, choosing instead to focus all her attention on her pale fingers where she was cutting off circulation from wringing her hands so hard.

Now that she had met Laura, she was so tempted to ask Liam about her and demand answers about the exact nature of their relationship. But what right did she have when she'd firmly drawn a line?

"—I like to get a sense of all my patients." Linda finished off, and Eden blinked at her. She'd missed half her explanation and reasons why today's focus was on her.

"I am not your patient," Eden reminded her. "I'm here because Mr Anderson hired me to fix him."

"Have you figured out how to do that?"

Eden shook her head. "If he needs to vent his anger, I'm okay with that. But I'm just not sure what else I can do for him."

Just a rare moment of honesty.

"You've been in your new job for a month now? How has it been?" The therapist interrupted their moment, taking control of the session once more.

"It's been crazy, I guess," Eden admitted. "I'm learning a lot, trying to do a job I know I'm not qualified for as best as I can."

"What are you qualified for?"

"I draw," Eden said absently. "I'm a damn good illustrator."

"Then why did you sign up as an assistant?" Linda asked; the pen had paused and the notebook was closed now.

Eden opened her mouth to say something but quickly shut it.

"It's okay, Eden, this is a safe zone. No judgements." Linda assured her when she saw her hesitate.

"I needed a job," she lied. It was far easier than telling the truth and admitting she had missed him and wanted him to have a relationship with his son. It was so much simpler than admitting she's in love with him even though she knew she never stood any real chance with him.

"Eden?" Linda prodded.

"Yeah," Eden whipped up her head, blinking back her tears.

"Have you been sleeping well?"

"What's that?" She laughed. "I have a nineteen-month old. Sleep is a luxury I don't have."

And she went on to explain that the past few weeks were particularly hard because Aiden had been teething.

Linda nodded and smiled. As a mother of three energetic boys, she understood her struggles.

Eden smiled back, absently playing with the charms on her bracelet and stared at the clock on the wall.

Forty-five minutes.

That's how long she had to keep the conversation going, and then she'd be home free until next week.