Begin Again novel Chapter 55

They left Linda's office with Liam promising to see her at the same time the following week.

Eden wanted no part of this screaming match again. She couldn't sit through another round of accusations and blame.

Sure, she broke him more than she could have imagined when she left without a word. But, he wasn't the only one whose life changed after that night. She was still dealing with the emotional fallout of her pregnancy. His rage was a little misplaced in her opinion.

She skulked to the furthest corner from Liam in the elevator and pressed her back to the cool metal wall, wishing she could melt into it and disappear.

"Relax; I won't bite you!" He quickly put her out of her misery, barely glancing at her, his attention on the phone in his hand.

"I didn't think you were," Eden replied, raising her chin stubbornly. "I don't want to come back here again."

"You don't have to," Liam murmured, his mouth curved into a small smile. "Now that I've confronted you, I can finally get you out of my system."

Before she could ask him to explain what he meant, the elevator doors dinged open. Liam stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked ahead, not pausing to check if she's following.

Outside, they were greeted by the warm afternoon sunlight, and Eden suddenly had an uncontrollable urge to go for a walk.

She felt bruised and bloody—two emotions she never wanted to feel again after Simon.

The circumstances of her breakup with her ex and whatever this was between her and Liam were very different, but the sound of her heart-shattering in her chest was the same.

She needed a minute, a second, an hour, anything, to be alone with her heartbreak, to pick up the shattered remains of her heart.

She needed a moment to patch herself together again.

Yes, a walk would do her a lot of a good.

"Mr Anderson," Eden said from behind him, blinking away her tears.

"What is it?" Liam asked, but his focus was on his watch as he checked the time.

"I think I'll walk back to the office; it's not far from here."

"Why?" He demanded as he held the passenger door for her. "The car's already here."

"I need a minute," she whispered, praying he doesn't ask too many questions and lets her go without a fuss.

But he didn't. "What for?"

"It's a such a nice day," she smiled, squinting up at the sky, her vision momentarily blurred by the sunrays and her tears. "It's a good day for a walk."

And to get over you, she added silently.

Liam stared at her for the longest minute of her life, a multitude of emotions flitting across his face before he took off his blazer and tie and threw them in the backseat and closed the door.

"Okay, let's go."

"No, sir," Eden shook her head and stepped back. This was her walk. Her time. Her sanity. She didn't want company. "I want to be alone."

"Eden—"

She inched away from him, her heart aching anew at the sound of her name on his lips.

Eden graciously accepted both.

"Thank you," she murmured as she blew her nose, grateful to have someone hold her up in her moment of total devastation in the middle of a crowded sidewalk.

"You'll be okay," he patted her hand gently before the sea of people ebbing and flowing all over the place, to and away from private hells of their making, swept him away.

"Fool!" She yelled at herself as she ruffled up her already tangled hair, and cleaned her glasses, completely oblivious to the luxury sedan with tinted windows following alongside her on the road.

Now that she'd had a good cry, Eden didn't feel so unhinged anymore, and she was hungry as fuck; something sugary and sweet would hit the spot.

She stopped at the Corner Bakery of 3rd Street and bought a dozen chocolate croissants and a chai latte.

Not ready to head to the office just yet, she sat on the bench outside the bakery and stuffed her face while she sipped her tea as she watched life carry on, absently thinking about all the hearts just like hers, broken and barely hanging on.

At last, content and calm, Eden patted her slightly bloated tummy, convinced that hunger was the only reason for her unexpected breakdown.

It had to be.

She's not an emotional person. Rarely cried, even when she hurt. Her parents had taught her well to keep it in and hold it together.

"Okay, let's do this!" She psyched herself up as she finished her tea and dumped the cup in the bin, her box of deadly goodies tucked safely under her arm.

A few blocks down, she stopped for ice-cream and candy floss.

When she finally returned to the office, forty-five minutes late for a marketing meeting, she was buzzing from all the sugar.