Page 99 of Trouble Walked In

When I said that I was sorry, I was wrong,

I should have told you what was really going on

Because I miss you

Tears welled upin Lizzie’s eyes. She held the phone aloft in one hand while she pressed the other over her heart and mouthed, “I love you.”

Della mouthed back, “I love you more.” Then she strode to the front of the stage in time for the next verse.

Ain’t it funny when you think

you’re all grown up it seems and then

you trip and fall just like a fool?

Della turned her back on the audience to point at Lizzie.

If I could do it all again,

I’d stay right next to you.

Lizzie shook with suppressed tears but tried her best to hold the phone still. This song was for all of them, and she wanted to make sure Piper and Mattie got the message.

On the outside I was fine,

all you can see is shine

And maybe that’s the problem

Glimpses can be so deceiving

Let’s go back in time and

Try to change the lies and

Maybe we would see that

We belonged together all along

Lizzie stopped recording after the last note died away. Tears in her eyes made it hard to see the screen, but she managed to tap out a quick group text to Mattie and Piper.You need to hear this.

She attached the recording and hit “Send.”

Piper’s reply was short and, if not sweet, at least not hostile.Damn.

Mattie’s reply was longer and more encouraging.Wow. She wrote that? Give her a hug from me ok?

Two encores later, Della ran off the stage and plopped down next to Lizzie looking tired but jubilant, as she always was after a show. “What did you think?”

Lizzie hid her phone so Della couldn’t see the screen. “It’s perfect. Absolutely perfect.”

It tookthem over an hour to get to the after-party because Della insisted on stopping by her apartment to change clothes. She now wore jeans and a cropped red top.

After a lot of negotiation, Lizzie wore what her sister called a “make them drool” outfit. It consisted of a short, dark green dress, boots, and a cape as a nod to the chilly Novemberweather. Her hair was fluffed and spilled around her shoulders, and she wore too much makeup in her opinion, but Della had insisted it was as much a part of the outfit as the boots.

Lizzie carried a little black purse that was entirely too small, but she was able to shove her checkbook in it along with her lipstick and wallet.

The second they stepped off the elevator into the Self Evident Records lobby, she was overwhelmed by music and laughter and the smell of liquor.

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