Begin Again novel Chapter 78

"Laura Stone is such a media whore," Lydia announced as she held up her phone.

"You searched for her? Why?" Eden asked, wishing she hadn't mentioned the other woman.

"Well knowing you, you weren't going to stalk her!" Lydia smirked and pointed at herself proudly. "So, I— your trusted FBI agent—will do all the internet stalking for you, and dig up every piece of dirt on her. You're welcome!"

"Thanks!" Eden said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. But she took the phone from her friend and scrolled through Laura's gallery on her social media page.

Her heart broke anew when she came across a few photos of the other woman posing with Liam's sisters at various social events.

She sighed sadly as she gave the phone back to Lydia. Laura was clearly close to Liam's family, seeing she's so buddy-buddy with his sisters.

"She's got quite a profile," Cassandra murmured as she looked through her phone. "She's twenty-eight and an attorney at Hayes and Jones."

"Wait, isn't that where Isaac, your Hot Connexions match, works?" Sienna asked.

"It is," Eden replied. "His dad is a senior partner."

"I still maintain there's a very real possibility he's not married," Lydia repeated what she's been saying all along for the past two years.

"No one but you knows about his marriage," Sienna added. "It either doesn't exist, or he's a pro at keeping secrets. And I say that with great admiration because as one of the gossip sniffers of the country's best tabloid, I couldn't find anything on this mystery marriage or wife."

"Even if he's not married, he's in a committed relationship at the very least," Eden said, refusing to accept all the false hope her friends were trying to throw her way.

As painful as it was, she planned to stick to her decision and let Liam go.

"As long as he's not married, there's still hope," Lydia insisted.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore!" Eden snapped as she moved closer to the ledge again to stare at the cars ten stories below.

"Well, honey, you'll have to," Cassandra said in a stern tone. "Especially now that you've met Aiden's other grandparents and they happen to be friends with your folks."

"Don't you think I know that already?"

"So when will you tell him then?" Lydia asked as she reached for another cupcake.

She handed the box to Cassandra who passed it on to Sienna with a horrified look in her eyes. "I'm offended by your offer!"

"It's very good!" Lydia chomped down on her red velvet piece. "If you stopped being a snob long enough to eat one, you'd know this."

"No, thanks!" Cassandra turned up her nose. "I will not ruin my refined palate with junk."

"Junk bought by a billionaire definitely tastes so much better, I promise!" Sienna added her two cents worth as she nibbled on her vanilla cupcake.

"So?" Lydia prodded, bumping Eden's shoulder gently. "When are you going to tell him?"

"Never," she decided. "It will complicate his life. He's happy right now. And I can't ruin that for him. Aiden's mine. I wanted him, remember? Liam never signed up for a baby. It would be unfair to expect him to raise Aiden."

"I bet you he'll want Aiden if he knew about him," Sienna argued.

"Let's not talk about this anymore," Eden shook her head firmly and for a tense minute, could have been more, they all glared at her, their disapproval palpable, but she refused to let them change her mind. She chose this path, and the only way to go now is forward, without Liam.

"Anyway, how did you end up here?" Cassandra asked, changing the subject.

Grateful for the diversion, Eden announced in a strangely calm voice. "My parents are divorcing. They brought me here because they were still under the impression it's my favourite restaurant, and I suppose they were hoping it will lessen the sting somehow."

"Oh Edie," Sienna cried as she pulled her in her arms and held her.

"I'm so sorry," Cassandra touched her hair.

"Welcome to the club," Lydia patted her back while she wailed over Sienna's shoulder. "Now you are truly one of the coolest kids on the block."

"I was always a cool kid," Eden carried on bawling her eyes out.

"Yeah, but now you're way cooler," Lydia insisted.

"Fuck, it hurts so much!" Eden wept. "I didn't think it would hurt so much! I mean it's not my marriage, but I can't help but feel heartbroken for them. All those years they wasted living a lie."

Eden didn't realise she'd asked the question out loud till Sienna replied.

"Now you see why you have to marry him?" Cassandra asked.

If Liam wasn't already, and if she didn't just get a front-row seat to her parents' divorce, she would have gladly married him in a heartbeat.

"Come on, let's get you home!" Lydia hooked their arms, and they made their way back inside the restaurant.

Her friends couldn't stop talking about Liam and his dashing, heroic act during the drive home.

"Guys it's just cupcakes. Stop making it sound like he rescued puppies, or saved the planet. Besides, he told me it's a wellness check. Since I'm his employee, he had to make sure I'm okay."

"Sure." Sienna, sitting beside her in the backseat, gave her a knowing nod. "Joe also does wellness checks with me on Friday nights!"

Joe's Dirt's editor and Sienna's boss. The only thing Eden knew about the man was how his breath smells like onion-rings because that's all Sienna ever complained over when it comes to her otherwise fulfilling job.

"See, at least there's one good thing about Joe," Eden laughed.

"I was being sarcastic." Sienna punched her arm, playfully.

"All I'm saying is you have to send Liam a thank you text," Lydia said as she fiddled with the stereo in search of some heart-thumping, wall-shaking music to get them all in the mood for the weekend.

"Yeah, otherwise you'd just be rude," Cassandra agreed from behind the wheel.

"Fine!" Eden relented just to shut them up.

She had no intention of sending Liam anything. He's her boss; she shouldn't blur the lines of their professional relationship, and since she'd asked him to stay away from her, sending him mixed signals was out of the question.

A 'thank you' text was high up there on the list of mixed signals.

She'd made her choice, and she had to see it through and be okay with it till the bitter end.