The phone rang a few times before Lydia picked up, and seconds later, her face filled the screen.
Dressed in a white bathrobe and her dark hair extensions piled high in a messy bun, she looked flawless as usual. Her face was still bare, though; they'd caught her in the middle of her routine.
"St Eden! This had better be good. What the heck is going on? I haven't even put on my face yet!"
And that's what earned her the 'Darling' award from the women in the room.
The guys too went wild for her.
"Hush now, and behave yourself. I'm at work," Eden groaned, hiding her face in her hands.
"So what's up?" She asked. "What can I do you for—Oh, hi Liam!"
Eden wished the floor would open and swallow her up then. She shook her head frantically at the screen, silently pleading with Lydia to behave herself and not say shit that can blow her cover wide open.
Liam barely noticed the silent exchange, though. If he did, he did a great job of ignoring them as he returned Lydia's excitement with a quick wave of his hand and a polite nod, "Ms Edwards."
"Call me Lydia, I mean we're practically fam—"
"Okay, that's it," Eden jumped in before Lydia could go way off the mark. "The guys are researching influencers; they'd like to ask you a couple of questions. Are we good?"
"Okay, shoot, is it like a Q&A thing?"
But before she could even brief her, the marketing team was already firing questions at her at a frightening pace.
With things under control for the moment, Eden returned to her seat, her mind still racing.
She'd escaped.
Just barely though.
Next time she might not be so lucky.
She had to come to a decision soon about Liam and Aiden.
Sure he hates her, and might not even want to co-parent with her, not to mention a love child would likely ruin his marriage and possibly his whole life. But she had to tell him; it was better than him finding out about his son from a blog—
"Eden?" Matthew pulled her attention back to the room. "Any questions for Lydia?"
She looked up, bewildered she'd spaced out the entire Q&A and missed Lydia's impromptu makeup tutorial.
"I'm good; I know everything about her." She replied, putting on her biggest smile. A few more of these and she'll be a pro at pretending to be present in meetings when in fact her mind is miles away.
"Bitch, I can still surprise you," Lydia yelled on the screen, and the team broke into peals of laughter.
"The language Lydia!" Eden groaned, slapping her forehead with her palm.
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