Page 14 of Places I've Never Been

“We did.”

“So, what changed?”

“I think Lizzie hoped we would all talk it out and get past the whole breakup thing.”

Kat took a hit off a cigarette and blew out the smoke. “I can guess what happened next. Piper saw Della, went ballistic, and dishes were thrown.”

Mattie bit her lower lip to ward off the shimmer of shame. “Actually, Piper was pretty low key. I’m the one who went nuts. I didn’t throw anything, but I said plenty.”

“What brought this attack of voice on?” Kat tamped out her mostly unsmoked cigarette.

“She said she wants to get the group back together. Just flipped that right out there like it was no big thing. Drop what you’re doing, be my beck-and-call girl.” Heat crawled up the back of her neck as she thought about it.

Kat looked thoughtful. “What did you say to that?”

“I said no. A lot.” Even three days later, the anger of that moment threatened to overwhelm her again. Leave it to her baby sister to push every button she had.

“Okay. That’s…okay.” Kat glanced down at something, probably her iPad, and frowned. The woman was the queen of multitasking. “How did Lizzie and Piper take it?”

“Piper didn’t really get a chance to react. I started shouting and that stopped everything else.” Why did she feel like she’d been caught doing something wrong? “Anyway, Piper didn’t need to say anything. Everyone knows she’s still mad at Della, though I think if Della would just apologize, Piper would get over it. She follows everything Della does in social media, and she tells us every time anything happens. She misses Della as much as me and Lizzie, she just won’t admit it.”

“And Lizzie? Did she break up the fight or what?”

“Oh, we didn’t fight like that. Mostly Della just stared at me in horror. Nobody expects me to act like that. It’s usually Piper.” Mattie thought back to the day and tried to sort out what she’d seen. During her emotional outburst, she’d caught flashes of Lizzie’s face. “I think Lizzie knew Della wanted to get back together, but I don’t think she was supposed to ask us that day. Lizzie looked surprised, but not shocked.”

They were silent for a moment. Kat gave her space to process, which was one of the things Mattie loved most about her friend and manager. “You know, if we couldreallytalk, just once, I think we’d get past all this. But we never do, you know? Piper keeps herself too busy, Lizzie’s preoccupied with Renic, and Della’s oblivious.”

Kat’s look of understanding was so tender and sincere that Mattie felt like crying again. “That’s family for you. Can’t live with ’em, can’t divorce ’em or sue for alimony. You should see how crazy mine gets around the holidays.”

Mattie thought about the last holiday she’d had with all of her sisters. It was almost five years ago now. The thought made her incredibly sad.

“Hey.” Kat tapped the phone. “Don’t worry. Della’s reaching out, which is a good start. You’ll get through this. You all will.”

“I hope so.” Mattie sniffed and dragged her thoughts back to the subject. “What did you mean before? Who are you trying to sue? For what?”

Kat grimaced. “I guess you haven’t seen it after all.”

“What?”

“Devon Morales tweeted about you all weekend. You haven’t checked?”

“No. Why? What’d he say?” Her creative partnership with Devon had started out pleasant enough. Devon was funny, and charming in a boy-next-door sort of way. They worked on the love song that was currently topping the charts for over six months, which was longer than she usually liked to spend on one project. They had a lot of laughs, and more than a few late nights in the studio.

Then one night he kissed her, which made everything awkward. He was a friend, but she wasn’t attracted to him, and she hated when romance interfered with the music.

“For one thing, he says you broke his heart.”

“Seriously? How?”

“He says you basically dumped him at the altar. Well, not quite, but you get the drift.”

“That’s ridiculous. We’re just friends. We weren’t in a relationship. I mean, sure we went to dinner a few times to workon the song, and we spent a lot of time together in the studio. But that was work, not a date. I didn’t even know he liked me until he tried to kiss me. And I told him I didn’t feel that way about him. We were never a thing.”

“I’m sorry, sweetie.” Kat’s commiserating look didn’t make her feel any better.

“What is it with men? Just because I wrote a love song doesn’t mean I was in love with him.”

“I know.”

---