Page 56 of Trouble Walked In

Della put her mug down. “Why isn’t anybody hearing what I’m saying? I’ve been pretty damn clear.”

Renic gestured to the long table that would be the focal point for the room. “Grab that end, will you?”

Della had the same stubborn look he’d seen on Lizzie’s face many times, but she did as he asked. That meant she was still listening, for now.

He spoke while they maneuvered the long table into place. “When we first partnered up, you told me that music filled your soul the way nothing else on earth could do, and that you couldn’t imagine a day without it. Remember?”

“So? Ugh, this is heavy.” Della said. “I don’t need a stage to feel that. Music is always with me.”

They set the long table in place, then Renic pulled at another round table until he had it in position. “Yes, but it wasn’tjustthe music, was it. It was the crowd, too. Think back on that first time you walked out on stage. It wasn’t the song that filled you. It was the applause. Can you walk away from that? Will the grapevines and the inn fill you with the same kind of joy?”

He added another two tables to the formation. He had to get to the point of this conversation before they were all in place.

“Going on tour for you isn’t going to give me that joy either.” Della moved a chair to the table he'd just placed, then went for more.

“Why not?” Table number four took longer to move because it was tangled with some chairs. “When you first went solo you couldn’t stop talking about how exciting it was. You finally felt like you were an adult standing on your own two feet. Remember?”

Della carried a chair past him and pointedly didn't answer the question.

“What changed?” He moved table five near the center, but it didn't look right. He went back to check the map. “When did the adventure end, Della?”

Della shoved a chair into place. “I don’t know. It just did.”

It wasn’t much of an answer, but it was the first real one she’d given him since the night she’d walked out. “Come on, Della. Youknow. It’s okay to say it out loud. Whatever it is, we can handle it together.”

She gripped a chair so hard her knuckles turned white. “There’s nothing to handle, Renic. It’s done.”

Frustration pushed him in a new direction. “Help me understand this, because I really don’t get it. I don’t get how you can walk away from all the people who depend on you. I don’t get how you can walk away from commitments you agreed to. And I really,reallydon’t get how you can walk away from something that brings you, and everyone who listens to you, so much joy. How can you do that?”

Della shoved the chair away. “What’s there to get? I’m tired of everyone wanting something from me. Expecting something. I’m just some cash cow to you. To everybody. The only person who gives a rat’s ass about me is Lizzie.”

Her voice grew louder until it cracked at the end of her rant.

Anger flared bright and hot and punched a hole through his self-control.

“That’s bullshit, Della. Pure bullshit. Youknowit's not true. You’re lying to yourself if you think that.” His voice reverberated through the ballroom loud enough that she flinched. “You came tome, remember? You begged me.Begged. I need to get out on my own, you said. They all want to keep me that little girl forever and I’m sick of it. I need to grow up, and I can’t do that tied to the past. Remember?”

Della’s eyes flashed. “I remember what I said. You don’thave to throw my words back at me like I’m some kind of idiot.”

He pointed at her. “I told you then that Piper would be angry and Mattie would be hurt. You said they’d get over it, but they didn’t, did they? Then Lizzie stormed off to do battle with me and you realized what would happen if we actually talked and you panicked.”

“I didn’t…”

He shoved a chair into place so hard the table shifted. "Remember the phone call? The one where you could barely speak through the tears? Because I sure as hell do. I wasnotthe bad guy of the story, Della. Stop playing the victim with me, because we both know you've never been that.”

Della looked away, but not before he caught the glint of tears in her eyes. “Did you tell her?”

He stared at her. “I should have. She thinks I'm the worst kind of asshole but no, I didn’t tell her. I keep my promises. But you should. Own your choices and your mistakes, Della.”

Della glared at him. “What do you care what Lizzie thinks? She’s not your sister. You haven’t seen her in years.”

“What do I care?” He huffed out a harsh laugh. She was so naive. She still had no idea what she'd done. What she'd pushedhimto do. He hadn't told her what it had cost all those years ago, but the stubborn set of her chin, the rebellious look in her eyes, and the unfair accusations she'd just made sent him right over the edge of sense and reason. “I loved her. I’minlove with her. But I let her go because she was married, and I knew you didn’t want to lose her too. Even after she got divorced, I stayed away. For you.”

As he said the words, he realized they were true. He’d pushed any thought of a life with Lizzie out of his head for years because if he’d really considered the loss he might not beable to go on breathing. But now that he was here in her house, in herhome, he couldn’t ignore it anymore.

Della looked as startled by his declaration as he felt. She stared at him with wide eyes, her mouth open.

The realization was both liberating and frustrating, and the two emotions were a sucker punch to his heart. “I let what might have been the best thing to ever happen to me walk right out the door so that she wouldn’t look atyouthe way she looks at me. And I’ve put up with the consequences of that decision from that day to this. That’s what adults do, Della. They put other people first.”

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