Page 6 of Places I've Never Been

“Hey…” Mattie held out a hand to stop them. “We haven’t been together in a long time. Can we please just try to enjoy it?”

Lizzie’s gaze softened. “I’m sorry, Mattie. You’re right. We’re here to have sister time, not to rehash old wounds.”

“I don’t see how we’ll avoid the rehash, especially if you-know-who is coming,” Piper said in a low, growly voice.

“Voldemort?” Mattie suggested brightly.

Piper stuck her tongue out at her. “Fine. Because I love you both and you asked me to, I’ll sit here and pretend to play nice.”

“That’s mature.” Mattie rolled her eyes.

Della bounced in wearing a flouncy yellow sundress and white flowers in her gold hair. She could have just stepped off stage or maybe a beauty pageant. She beamed at them all and held her arms out wide. “Sisters!”

Piper swore under her breath.

Mattie cringed. She could feel the air thicken with tension.

“Della!” Lizzie sprang up from her chair and wrapped Della in a warm hug.

Mattie heard them whispering but couldn’t make out what they said. She looked at Piper. Her sister’s face had turned into a thundercloud. Piper stared so hard at Della that Mattie wouldn’t have been surprised if Della’s head exploded.

Lizzie and Della finished their conversation and came back to the table. Lizzie sat and gestured to Della.

Della gripped the back of the last empty chair but didn’t sit. Her smile remained sunny, but there were lines of strain in the middle of her forehead. She looked at Mattie first, then her gaze drifted to Piper, where it lingered. “I know this is awkward. I know you weren’t expecting me to be here, and I know what you’re probably thinking, and I just want you to know this isn’t Lizzie’s fault.”

“Of course not,” Piper muttered. “Lizzie actually cares about other people’s feelings.” She drummed her fingers on the table, then looked up to meet Della’s gaze. “Why are you here? What do you want?”

Della’s smile fizzled. “I’m here because I wanted to see you. All of you. I…I miss you.”

Mattie’s heart melted a little. Maybe the separation had been just as hard on Della as it had been on the rest of them. Maybe her little sister was growing up.

Piper threw one arm over the back of her chair like she was in a bar. “Oh really? Why? I hear your solo career is going gangbusters. That tour you’re finishing up must have been a blast, what with all those strangers dancing around your every whim. Why would you need to see us?”

“Piper,” Lizzie snapped. “Let her talk. Please.”

Piper flicked a glance at Lizzie, then at Mattie. “You’re okay with this? You interested in what she has to say?”

Mattie pressed her lips together. It was as if they were right back in the greenroom, and the fight that started so many years ago was still going. Except it wasn’t years ago. It was today. Shewas four years older and wiser, and shehatedfighting. She nodded.

“Fine. For you and Lizzie, I’ll listen.” Piper gestured with one lazy flick of her wrist. “Go ahead. Talk.”

Della flashed her a look of annoyance. “Thanks for your permission, Pipsqueak.”

Lizzie cleared her throat. “Della. Say what you came here to say.”

Della traced the back of the chair. “I came to say the song I wrote, you know, the bonus single? It was for you. All of you. I was hoping…I thought maybe…I mean, did you listen to it?” She bit her lip, the way she used to do as a child when she’d done something wrong.

Piper countered the plea in her sister’s voice with a cold retort. “Is this supposed to be an apology? Because if it is, it sucks.”

Mattie thought about the song. The words that had stuck with her were simple, direct, and filled with raw emotion.

Would you listen, would you hear me

If I said that I was sorry. I was wrong.

Mattie would have known the song was for them even if Lizzie hadn’t sent the backstage recording of Della performing it live. The meaning behind the words was clear to anyone who knew what was going on. It was part of what helped her push past the hurt she’d carried around for years. “It’s a really good song, Della.”

A grateful smile flittered across Della’s lips and vanished. “It’s okay. It would be better if you wrote it. You’re better with words.”

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