Page 113 of Places I've Never Been

Piper hesitated. Some small measure of consideration flitted across her face, like maybe he wasn’t the biggest scumbag ever to walk the earth after all. He forced himself to wait in silence for her decision.

He’d spilled his guts and ripped his heart open. If it wasn’t enough he’d have to try something else. He had to make sure Mattie knew that what they had was real, no matter how things had started and no matter how they ended.

Piper pressed her lips together, then finally met his gaze. “Yeah. I can tell her that.”

It was like a judge had just granted him parole. He closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Mattie spent the first three days after she arrived at the hideaway house being fussed over and coddled. It was an overwhelming amount of attention, but she had to admit that she was starting to feel a little better about life in general. She hadn’t cried once today, mostly because she didn’t have her phone. Piper refused to give it back until things settled down, claiming that doom-surfing tweets about herself wasn’t healthy.

She had a feeling it was to keep her from seeing any messages Adam might have sent, but she didn’t argue.

When Kat arrived at the driveway gates, it was a welcome distraction.

“Got a special delivery here,” Kat shouted at the intercom. “Open up.”

Mattie dutifully pressed the button to open the gates, and everyone wandered outside with her to watch Kat lead three delivery vans down the driveway.

“He threatened to keep sending these to my office if Ididn’t let them deliver to you.” Kat scowled at the vans. “My office isn’t that big.”

Three men carried vase after vase filled with pink and white hibiscus into the house.

“How many more?” Mattie asked one in a red delivery cap.

He jerked his chin toward the van. “On the last van now. Probably ’bout fifty left. Whatever he did must have been epic. This delivery paid my rent for the next three months.”

Mattie looked questioningly at Kat. “Adam sent a hundred and fifty vases of flowers?”

Delivery man number two tipped his hat as he passed her on the way out. “More than that. There’s a hundred in each van.”

Della whistled. “I’ve never had anybody send me more than two dozen roses before. Not even the crazy rabid fans. That’s some serious guilt right there.”

Lizzie poked Renic in the arm. “You’re going to have to up your game next time.”

Renic looked affronted. “Who says there’ll be a next time?”

Piper and Lizzie both gave him the patented Bellamy stare.

Renic grinned in the face of their obvious disbelief.

“I say you should throw these flowers out,” Kat muttered. “He’s trying to weaken your resolve.”

Della took a vase from one of the delivery guys. “No way. These are way too pretty to waste. Besides, after what he did this is the least he can do.”

“If you don’t want them, we can have them sent to the children’s hospital,” Lizzie suggested.

“I still don’t see why you sent the Jet Skis back,” Della said. “If the man wants to grovel, let him grovel.Thenkick him to the curb.”

Mattie sighed. “Because I didn’t want him thinking he canbuy my forgiveness. Besides, we don’t need Jet Skis. You live in a city, I don’t go to the beach, and Piper’s too busy.”

“Shame,” Della said. “I loved that cute turtle decal on them.”

“We should have taken them,” Lizzie said. “We could have offered them up for guests to use on the lake, like the kayaks.”

“We would have had to ship them cross country. We can buy new ones ourselves,” Renic said. “That way we can have the Belhurst Castle logo instead of turtles.”

The man with the red hat stopped in front of her and handed Mattie a vase filled with all pink flowers. “I’m s’posed to point out the note on this one.”

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