Page 118 of Places I've Never Been

“Please. He’s probably lying,” Della scoffed. “It’s just pretty words to soften you up so you give him what he wants.”

“Really?” Mattie sniffed. There was unacknowledged pain behind those words. “Has that happened to you?”

“Sure, lots of times.” Della shrugged. “Everybody says stuff like that at parties so they don’t have to spend the night alone. Then they all head out in the morning, on to the next gig and the next bed. Adam’s no different.”

Mattie’s instincts rejected that idea. Adam wasn’t the type to go around saying I love you as a party favor. He was the type to save it for someone who really mattered.

“What the hell kind of parties do you go to?” Piper’s face twisted up with confusion.

“Ladies,” Lizzie interrupted, “we’re not here to talk about Della’s social life. Piper, tell her the rest of it.”

Mattie looked at Piper. “There’s more?”

“He told me to tell you that you shouldn’t give up on forever, and that you deserve to be happy even if it’s not with him.”

Mattie blinked at the tears in her eyes, but they fell anyway. This time, though, they were tears of hope.

“Mattie,” Lizzie said softly. She put her hand over Mattie’s and squeezed. “I know this isn’t the same thing, but I know what it’s like to have a misunderstanding screw up a relationship. Learn from my mistakes. Talk to him. Just talk. If you still want to walk away after that, then do it. We’ll help you. But at least get the full story first.”

Della put a soft hand on Mattie’s arm. “What doyouwant, Mattie? I’ll back whatever you say.”

Mattie’s heart was full of the love her sisters shared with her. This moment was everything she’d lost, everything she’d missed from that horrible day in the greenroom until now. Della was putting Mattie’s needs first, Piper had Mattie’s best interests at heart, and Lizzie made sure they never lost sight of each other.

“I love you. All of you.”

Piper pulled out Mattie’s phone and handed it to her. “Guess it’s time to give this back to you.”

Mattie brushed tears away while she waited for the phone to start up. There were three hundred thirty-three unread text messages from Adam. She skipped past them to Kat’s message string and typed,Tell Adam I’ll be there Saturday.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

“Dad,” Adam said with exasperation. “Would you get away from the window?”

His dad grunted, but he kept the curtain pulled back so he could see out anyway. “Just checking to be sure. You don’t want to leave Mattie Bellamy hanging out on the front lawn, do ya?”

“John, come help me with the tea,” his mother said.

His dad snorted. “We ain’t tea people.”

“Mattie is.” His mom said. “She’s Southern.”

“Dad. You’re killing me.” Adam thought seriously about texting Mattie to change the location of their meeting.

His dad finally turned and gave him a look of smug superiority. “Aren’t you glad we haven’t moved, son? If we’d done what you wanted, all that so-called evidence you got stashed up there in that room would be gone.”

His dad tapped the side of his head. “That should teach ya to use what you got upstairs for something besides playing around in that band.”

“Yeah, but if you’d taken me up on my idea I wouldn’t havehad to bring her here. I would have all that stuff in a box somewhere less embarrassing.”

“It’s not embarrassing.” His mom patted his cheek. “It’s a piece of history that I bet you anything she’ll appreciate. A girl likes to know where her man comes from. Gives her insight she’ll need in the future.”

His dad barked a laugh. “Better set fire to it now, son.”

Adam couldn’t believe he was having this conversation. “I don’t need to set it on fire. This house is going to fall down around your ears soon. Why won’t you let me make your life a little more comfortable? Name the place, I’ll get it for you. Anywhere. You pick.”

His mother gave him a kind smile. “Honey, your dad and I don’t want to move. We’ve spent longer than you’ve been alive in this house. We built a life together here. We loved each other, we made memories, we had you and Brandon. This is home.”

Adam started to protest, but she held up a hand to stop him.

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