“Shut up,” she said before looking over at her chuckling boyfriend, “You too, and tell my best friend that we are living together!”

“We are,” Shea said before digging into his food.

“See,” Elli said as she sat down across from him with her plate.

“Fine. But it isn’t real until you tell your papa and daddy, though.”

Elli thought that over. Harper was kind of right, not that she would tell her that, “Whatever, so as you were saying, y’all want us to come out and see this house?”

Shea looked up, confused, and Elli shrugged her shoulders.

“Yeah, it’s in Belle Meade. I’ll text you the address, we’re going out there in about an hour or so, depends when Jakob gets done at the physical therapist.”

Elli couldn’t even talk, she was speechless. They were looking at a house in Belle Meade?

“Belle Meade?”

“Yeah, can y’all make it?”

“Y’all are looking at a house in Belle Meade, where Al Gore lives?”

Harper got quiet for a moment, “He lives there?”

“Oh, my god. Yeah, we’ll go.”

“Great! I’ll text you the address.”

“Alright, bye.”

“Bye”

“Where are we going?” Shea asked. He was freshly showered and dressed all sexy looking with his black thermal, and ripped up grey jeans.

“Jakob and Harper are looking at a house in Belle Meade,” Elli explained, “They want us to come and look at it.”

“Why us?”

“We are their best friends? I don’t know. I just can’t believe they are looking at houses.”

“Why? I told you Jakob wants the whole deal: house, marriage, kids. This is totally normal for Jakob.”

“I know, but it’s not for Harper. It’s weird.”

“I guess. So when do we need to be there?”

“In an hour. I’m going to go take a shower,” Elli said, getting up and putting her full plate in the sink.

“You didn’t eat.”

“I’m not hungry,” she answered before heading down the hall.

She had lost her appetite when Harper said Belle Meade. How could Harper want to live there? After everything Elli went through in that neighborhood with Justin. Why would Harper want to live there when she knew Elli would be coming over a lot to see her? Elli was sure Justin still lived in the house that Elli had lived in for a year. Justin loved that house, and would never get rid of it. What if Harper’s house was by Justin’s?

Elli stomach churned at the thought.

Elli had worried over nothing. Harper’s prospected house was nowhere near Justin’s, but they did have to pass it to get to Harper’s. When Shea turned onto Justin’s road, Elli’s stomach dropped. She had traveled down this road so many times, but this time she wouldn’t be pulling into the circular driveway of the 2.5 million dollar, three story high, blue colonial. Nope, she would be driving right on by it. Hell, she might even flip it the bird.

She didn’t, she just pointed and said, “That’s Justin’s house.”

Elli didn’t expect Shea to slam on the brakes, looking out his window at the huge, beautiful house.

“You lived there?”

“I did,” Elli said, looking out the window, too. Justin’s Rolls Royce wasn’t there, so he must have been out.

“It's too nice for a douchebag,” he said before driving off.

“That it is.”

They drove a little more before Shea spoke again, “You know, I was thinking.”

Elli looked over at him, “Yeah?”

“You’ve heard me sing, but I have yet to hear you sing and you sang on damn Broadway.”

Elli smiled shyly over at Shea, out of all the things he could be thinking, he was thinking that?

“You heard me sing at the karaoke bar.”

“That wasn’t real, you were drunk. I want to hear you really sing.”

“Not gonna happen,” she said with a grin.

“Why not?” he asked as the GPS told him to turn again.

“Because I don’t sing in front of people unless I’m drunk.”

“That’s crazy. You were amazing in the movies we watched.”

“I was younger and could actually sing then.”

“I bet you’re still amazing.”

“Too bad you won’t ever find out.”

“Oh, I will,” he challenged just as the GPS said that they had arrived at their destination. Shea pulled into the one level stone home with huge white windows, as Elli grinned at a waving Harper and Jakob. They looked so happy, so much like a couple, that it blew Elli’s mind. Who would have thought that Harper Allen would be living the life that she was?

Elli sure never thought she would be.

“It’s a great house, don’t you think?” Shea asked as they drove back to the condo. They were going to go home to change since they were meeting Harper and Jakob for dinner. They were going out to celebrate, since they put an offer on the house once Shea and Elli saw and liked it.

“I do, it’s great.”

“I thought so, they seem happy with it.”

“Yeah, I’ve never seen Harper so excited about something.”

“Yeah,” Shea agreed, “there are a lot of houses for sale over here.”

“Yeah.”