Page 1 of Places I've Never Been

Prologue

Nothing lasts forever. Mattie Bellamy learned that lesson for the first time when she was eight years old, when she found out the hard way that parents weren’t invincible. Her mom was dead, and life would never, ever be the same.

The happily-ever-after of fairy tales never actually existed.

So Mattie focused on the fleeting moments of life and tried to capture them in words that she turned into songs that she and her sisters sang. It was her way of making sense of the world.

When her first boyfriend broke her heart, she wrote about it.

When her family sang for the first time on stage, she wrote about it.

When her father died, she wrote about it.

She processed all of her life experiences in notebooks that she carried with her everywhere so that if inspiration struck like a butterfly in spring, she could capture it before it flitted away.

Years later, she and her sisters had taken thosesongs and turned them into a life filled with the things she loved most in the world: travel, family, and music.

Then one day, the now world-famous pop sensations Bellamy Sisters sang the last note of the last encore of their last tour, not that she knew it at the time. Mattie led the way off stage, like she always did, followed by her sisters Piper and Della, still so high on the music that she wanted to laugh and cry at the same time.

Lizzie waited for them backstage with a face full of pride and love and joy. “That last song was perfect. Fantastic job, all of you.”

Mattie threw her arms around her sister and hugged her tight. “Thanks. You inspired it, so of course it is.”

Lizzie rolled her eyes. “I inspired a song about a man magnet?”

Piper laughed. “Pretty sure you’re the exact opposite of that.”

Mattie shook her head. “No, no, it’s her. Just because she’s always behind the scenes doesn’t mean she doesn’t like attention. It just means she doesn’t like certainkindsof attention.”

Della bounced by. “Dibs on the shower!”

Mattie tugged at Lizzie’s hand. “Come on. The wrap-up party is in an hour, and I can’t go smelling like this.”

It took thirty minutes to make it the short distance to the greenroom because people kept stopping them with high-fives, or questions about loading the trucks, or any number of small details.

Lizzie handled the logistics of focusing a small army of roadies the same way she’d handled everything for their family since their mother died. Lizzie was mother hen and cat herder, fixer of problems and cog in their family wheel. The Bellamy Sisters wouldn’t be anything at all without her, because it wasLizzie’s suggestion for them to step onto that first stage when they were kids.

While Lizzie wrangled the end of the tour into shape, Piper met with backstage-pass fans, posed for photos with a long line of autograph hounds, and gave a quick interview to the media about the end of their tour. She felt the most important part of their job happened after the show, behind the scenes. Without Piper, The Bellamy Sisters might be popular, but their fans wouldn’t feel like the extended family they were now.

Mattie and Della waved at the waiting fans and shook hands with roadies along the way to the greenroom. Mattie loved the music, but she found the one-on-one interactions exhausting. Della treated the backstage antics of fans and roadies just like she did everything else in her life—with enthusiasm. She found joy, on or off the stage, simply being around people, but she didn’t feel the need to linger with them the way Piper did.

Della and Mattie managed to make it to the greenroom, shower, and get mostly dressed by the time Lizzie and Piper showed up.

Lizzie flopped down onto the couch with a loud sigh of relief. “Can’t believe the tour is done. I’m going to sleep for a month. Two months maybe.”

“No time for that,” Piper said as she peeled off her sequined vest and tossed it aside. “We have a new album to work on.”

Della bopped back and forth in front of them like an excited Chihuahua. “I have something to tell you.”

Mattie sensed something more than normal post-show excitement in Della’s tone. “What’s going on?”

“Can it wait?” Piper said as she peeled off her skintight stage pants. “Some of us still need showers.”

Mattie gave Lizzie a quizzical look. Lizzie looked as confused as Mattie felt.

“I need to tell you this before I explode.” Della shook out her hands and bounced on her tiptoes. “Come on, it’ll just take a second.”

Piper flicked her hand in a hurry-up gesture.

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