Page 2 of He's The Reason Why

Della studied her cup as if something might leap out of it. “This doesn’t look right.”

“Why are you really here, Dell?”

She sniffed the coffee. “I want some sister time. Let me give you a ride to the studios.”

“I have a car, and I know how to drive.”

Her sister was up to something, and Piper had a feeling she knew what. It was no secret that Della wanted to get their group back together. She’d already talked their other two sisters into it.

Della hadn’t asked Piper directly since the disastrous brunch five months ago when Mattie had had a meltdown. The topic still hung in the air between Della and Piper every time they got together, but neither one of them mentioned it out loud.

Della rolled her eyes. “I’m just trying to be nice. I have to go that way anyway. I’m heading to an open house in Beverly Hills.”

“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 enough away 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 wantto 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. You look 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.”

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