Begin Again novel Chapter 70

Across town, at a family-owned restaurant whose speciality is all things Italian, in a secluded corner booth reserved for very important people like his parents, Liam was just as miserable as the woman he'd kissed on impulse in the printing room earlier in the week.

He was seriously glad his shitty week is finally over. Now he can drink himself to a stupor and forget all the shit with Eden.

He glumly picked at his starter—a hearty minestrone soup— and silently fumed over their latest confrontation in his office.

He'd called her in because he'd wanted to have an open, honest conversation with her about their relationship, and offer her an olive branch of some sort. But the minute Eden put up walls around her again, the same walls that took him over a month to break down, the lengthy apology speech he'd prepared flew right out of the window—

"—Darling, is everything okay?" His mom’s voice cut through his thoughts, and Liam looked up from his soup, startled by the question.

Nothing was okay.

He was confused as fuck by Eden's sudden change of heart.

He thought that things between them were back to normal after their encounter in the supplies room. Well, as normal as they can be, considering their history.

But they were far from it.

Liam blew out a frustrated breath and kneaded the back of his neck gently, annoyed beyond words.

"—Earth to Liam!" Holly, sitting across from him, snapped her fingers to get his attention. "It's my birthday, but you look so miserable!"

"That's exactly why I'm miserable!" Liam frowned at her. "It's your birthday, not mine. But here I am! I don't even know why we had to come out here."

He would have preferred to be home, working through the ever-increasing reports with his eighteen-year-old bottle of bourbon for company.

But both work and a stiff drink were not in his immediate future it seemed, and three hours with Holly and Willow discussing Louis Vuitton's Summer range is not how he wanted to spend his evening.

"Uhh hello? You can't expect me to celebrate my big day at home!" Holly snapped at him as she took a photo of her starter. "Not when you've blocked my use of the jet."

Liam frowned darkly at her, wishing the whole evening could go by quickly. He'd never understand his sisters' fascination with taking pictures of their food; sometimes the whole family wasn't allowed to eat until one or both had a perfect shot.

Willow brought her champagne flute to her crimson lips, adding fuel to the fire with her announcement. "And yet I heard Laura closed a boutique a few weeks ago, and had hair extensions flown from Rio."

"So how come she gets to close—" Holly was about to whine, but Liam shut her up firmly with one look.

"I don't answer to any of you!" He grumbled and waved a waiter over. The soup wasn't cutting it. He needed something strong—Bourbon or whiskey strong.

"Enough, all of you!" Clarke stepped in, the roar of his voice meant to terrify them into obedience sounded more like a bark. He never completely regained his strength after his battle with cancer. The doctors said he's okay, in remission, and they had nothing to worry about. But Liam couldn't help but worry, more so since his father's appetite hasn't returned to normal and he looked like he lost a few kilos every time he saw him.

"Anyway," Holly changed the subject as the waiter returned with Liam's drink and cleared the table for their main course. "I know Fashion Week is still months away, but I have six tickets. Mom, do you want to come?"

Lois smiled and patted her hand, "thank you, darling, but I think I'll sit it out this year. Your father and I might be abroad by then, travelling."

"Liam?" His sister asked. "Do you want a ticket?"

Liam glanced at her with mild irritation and sipped his drink. "Why would I want one?"

"I don't know, maybe because your gold digger girlfriend would like to go?"

"She's an attorney, not a gold digger," Liam massaged his temple, a feeble attempt to drive away the raging headache threatening to crush him.

"An attorney with tons of law school fees to pay off. That's the description of a gold digger. Look it up in the dictionary if you don't believe me!" Holly laughed, pleased with her witty remark.

Before long, the three of them were caught up in a heated debate. His sisters were like a tag team of wild dogs as they brought up all of Laura's past diva-like stunts and numerous flaws.

At some point, Liam gave up trying to fight them off. Laura was no longer his girlfriend. He had no reason to keep defending her.

He sunk low in his seat and ordered his second and third drink.

His parents exchanged worried looks before addressing him.

"Do you want to talk about what's upsetting you so much?" His mom asked.

"Yeah, Son, all you've done is drink," His father added. "You've barely touched your food.

If he had to open up to anyone, it would be his cousins. But both Julian and Matthew had declined the dinner invite; things between them and the rest of Liam's family were still thorny.

"So?" Lois prodded. "What's on your mind?"

A lot. But, Liam knew the source of all his problems was his tantrum over his dietary requirements. If he hadn't lost his shit then and given Eden away to Matthew in a fit of rage, they'd be at a good place right now, and the resulting hostility and tension between them wouldn't exist.

He had to fix that before he could even think about getting in Eden's pants.