Page 129 of Places I've Never Been

“You’re house hunting here?” Piper considered having her baby sister as a next-door neighbor and shuddered. Where Della went, crowds followed, and they had eyes only for their star. Della cast a long, long shadow, but LA was far enoughaway from NYC that Piper had gotten used to being in the sun for a change.

Della carried her coffee to the table and sat down. “Maybe. I don’t know. I mean, you’re here, and Mattie’s here. It would be cool to be closer to you guys. It’s a long way from Lizzie, though. Hey, maybe she’ll move out here someday.”

“There’s no way Lizzie is ever leaving upstate New York on any kind of permanent basis. She loves that inn. I don’t blame her. It’s so peaceful.” Piper drained the rest of her now cold coffee. “And Beverly Hills is nowhere near Day Dreams Studios.”

“Can’t I do something nice for you without you thinking I’m up to something? Come on.” Della sounded hurt, but it was a lie. They both knew it.

“You could, but not this early in the morning. You haven’t seen a sunrise since you were twelve. Why are you really here?” She needed to push this along. Traffic on the 10 was murder this time of day.

“I just wanted to talk to you.” Della sounded unsure now, which was a sign they were getting close to the actual point of the conversation.

“About?” Piper leaned against the counter and gave her little sister her full attention.

Della took a sip of her coffee, grimaced, and set it down. “Nasty. We should get Starbucks on the way.”

“We should get to the point,” Piper said with what she hoped sounded like patience.

Della bit her lip, then nodded. “Okay. You’re right. I do want to ask you something. Just please,pleaselisten to the whole thing before you say anything?”

“Okay, I’ll try my best.”

“Really? Because you don’t look like you mean that. Youlook like you’re about to say no and you don’t even know what I’m going to say.”

Piper hated the way her stomach tightened into knots whenever this subject was brought up. She’d worked hard over the years to let it go, but her body apparently hadn’t gotten the memo. “I know what you want, Della. Hell, people on the space station know what you want because you’re as subtle as the Great Wall of China if it was set on fire. So go ahead. Ask and get it over with. This hemming and hawing is painful for both of us, and I have to get going.”

Della huffed an impatient sound. “You’re not even going to listen.”

“I’m listening. Believe me.” Piper couldn’t stop the growl of irritation. Della could trigger her every nerve despite Piper’s best efforts to stay calm. “It’s pretty hard to avoid this particular topic, actually, because the rumor is all over Twitter and Facebook and every gossip rag from here to Hong Kong. You really shouldn’t use social media to manipulate me. You know it just makes me mad.”

Della looked genuinely confused. “What do you mean by that? I haven’t posted anything on social media about this.”

“You haven’t?” Piper frowned. She’d seen a ton of posts about The Bellamy Sisters getting back together. She’d assumed they were started by Della, but she had to admit she hadn’t examined them too closely.

“Nope. Not me.” Della stared out the back window.

Was she looking for inspiration or escape? It was hard to tell.

“Oh.” After a few awkward seconds of silence, Piper added, “Sorry.”

Della shrugged. “It’s okay. It sounds like something I would have done. You know, before.”

“Della—”

“Okay, here it is.” Della faced her. “I came here to tell you I’m sorry. What I did was self-centered, and selfish, and unbelievably naive. I thought I was a victim when I was the luckiest girl who ever lived. I hurt the people who mean the most to me, and by the time I figured that out, I was too ashamed to undo it.”

Piper swallowed hard.

She hadn’t expected to hear the words I’m sorry from Della and have her actually mean them.

She’d expected Della to leap right over the past and on to the future by asking Piper to go along with her scheme to reform The Bellamy Sisters. It was all Della had talked about for the last year—to everyone except Piper.

“If I were you, I’d never forgive me for it either.” Tears glistened in Della’s eyes. “But I hope you can. Someday. Because I really miss my best friend.”

Piper’s chest squeezed so tight she almost couldn’t breathe. Tears poked at her eyes, and prickles of heat filled her belly. She’d imagined a dozen different scenarios and how she’d respond, but she hadn’t planned on this.

Things between her and Della had eased a lot since they’d all come together to help Mattie after nude photos of her had surfaced online. Della had arranged the private jet that brought Mattie home, along with a hideout to keep her away from the media. She’d shown a maturity Piper hadn’t known she possessed, and it impressed her so much she couldn’t help but soften her own attitude. Maybe her little sister was finally growing up.

They’d met for lunch several times since then, and Della called or texted every other day to check in. The fact that Della was still here on the West Coast instead of at her home in New York City seemed more than a little strange in hindsight.

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