Page 115 of He's The Reason Why

Chapter Nineteen

Piper wandered down the stairs of Belhurst Castle Christmas Eve in a dark-green shirt covered in bright ribbons and bows and Ride Me Sleigh Boy written across the front in red glitter.

It was the ugliest shirt she’d been able to find on the internet. She felt like she’d stepped foot out of a bad holiday movie.

Lizzie’s idea to have an ugly sweater contest was silly, but in a family-bonding kind of way. Piper suspected her sister wanted to distract everyone from the fact that it was the first time all four of them had been together for Christmas since the breakup.

The idea that The Bellamy Sisters would reform if only Piper would say yes was a pile of dog crap in the middle of every conversation. Everyone knew it was there, but nobody wanted to clean it up, so they just stepped around it.

Piper had to give it to Della, she was definitely growing up. She could remember a time when Della wouldn’t have been able to stop herself from pushing her agenda, but it had been two weeks and she hadn’t even hinted at it. Instead, Della had focusedher energy on helping Lizzie, learning how to bake cookies with Carrie, and flirting with Mark.

Della also seemed determined to make sure Piper wasn’t mad at her anymore. She brought Piper late-night snacks, played her favorite Christmas songs, and did her best to make Piper laugh just like she did when they were kids.

Funny thing was, the past few months had given Piper a whole new perspective on, well, everything. The past was the past. It was over, and she was ready to move on. The last of her anger at Della had vanished.

It was time to tell her that. It was time to tell her whole family how she really felt. She wanted to get back together as badly as they did.

Christmas Eve was magical at Belhurst Castle. Lizzie and Renic had transformed the inn into something out of a fairytale. The foyer and front rooms were filled with small trees covered in lights. Poinsettias marched up the stairs and graced every shelf. Garland entwined with berries and flowers dripped from the arched doorways. Santa Claus would have been jealous of the Belhurst.

Piper couldn’t imagine any setting more perfect for a big announcement.

Still, she kept thinking about Blake.

They’d been texting back and forth about movie logistics, contracts, ideas for set design, and holiday plans. A penthouse suite on the Vegas Strip didn’t sound like much of a Christmas, but at least his mom was with him.

It would have been nicer if he were here in winter wonderland, though.

Piper ventured into the kitchen, lured there by the smell of baking cookies and voices.

Carrie, the chef and Lizzie’s best friend, peered at the oven with one hand on her hip and a floured hand print on her butt.

Piper giggled. “You’ll never be able to commit a crime. You leave evidence all over the place.”

Carrie glanced at her. “Huh?”

Piper pointed at her butt.

“Oh.” She chuckled and wiped it away with a towel. “Never trust a neat cook.”

Lizzie hovered over the second oven. She looked over her shoulder and smiled. “Hey, Pipsqueak. I like the shirt.”

“Thanks.” Piper wandered over to where Renic and Mark, Carrie’s nephew and part owner of the Belhurst, stood at the end of the island. Renic wore a red sweater with green garland and real ornaments attached to it in swooping layers shaped like a tree.

Mark wore a black sweater with rows of green and yellow reindeer with All I Want for Christmas Is You written on it in red, except the word you had been crossed out and replaced with wine.

“I think Renic has you beat, Mark,” Piper said with a fond smile.

Lizzie had become so happily entrenched here that Renic, Mark, and Mark’s younger brother, Carter, all felt like part of the family.

Renic gave her a thumbs-up. “I hope the garland stays on long enough. It’s drooping already.”

“I’m not really into this whole ugly sweater thing,” Mark said. “I should have been the judge.”

“It’s my party. I get to judge,” Lizzie said.

“Is there hot chocolate to go with those cookies?” Piper asked as she sat on a stool by the marble island.

A timer went off, and Carrie immediately opened the oven door to pull out the tray of cookies. “Of course. What kind of cook do you take me for?”

---