The Wife Stalker(11)

Leo frowned. “How about a drink? It’s only nine thirty, and I promise I won’t keep you out too late.”

She felt her face flush with pleasure and her stomach seesaw. “Sure. And you can keep me out as late as you like.” Piper wanted to retract the words as soon as she said them, fearing she sounded too forward. But when he looked at her with those warm brown eyes and a grateful smile, she felt relieved.

He put a hand on her back as they walked to the door, and she felt a shiver go up her spine at his touch. “Why don’t we just walk over to The Pointe?”

“Sounds good.”

The night air was cool, and Piper swung her sweater over her shoulders as they walked.

“Cold?” he asked.

“A little.” She pulled the sweater more tightly around herself as Leo took his jacket off and put it on her shoulders. It felt romantic, gallant even.

“Here we are,” Leo said, as they stopped in front of the restaurant and he opened the door for her.

They sat at the bar and ordered two martinis. By the time they’d ordered their second drinks and discussed the plans for Save the Sound, Piper was feeling pretty uninhibited.

“So,” she asked, “what do you do for fun? You know, when you’re not crusading for justice or saving the planet.”

“I hike and swim with my kids, I travel, and I used to fly.”

Piper was surprised. “Fly? As in you were a pilot?”

“Yup. As in I am a pilot. I used to have a single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza that I kept at the airfield. My wife gave me such a hard time about it, though, that I ended up selling it.”

She deflated a little at the mention of his wife. But he was here, after all, with her. “You’re full of surprises.”

They stayed for another round, and Leo insisted on picking up the check. It was after eleven when he ordered an Uber for them since they’d been drinking. They could get their cars in the morning. When the car pulled up to her house, Leo asked the driver to wait, and he escorted her to the door. She unlocked it and turned to him. “I had a wonderful time tonight.”

“I did, too. Thanks again for coming. It was nice getting to know you better,” he said.

She had hoped he might kiss her good night, but he simply smiled and walked back to the car, giving her a wave before the driver pulled away from the curb. She looked forward to the night when his own car would be parked in her driveway until morning.





10

Joanna




I had canceled my appointment with Celeste, because I had forgotten that I’d scheduled a dental checkup for Stelli and Evie at the same time, but now I really needed to talk to her. She didn’t have an opening but had promised to call me in between sessions. As I paced in the kitchen waiting to hear from her, I was in a panic.

When Leo had casually mentioned last week that he’d invited Piper to the Save the Sound meeting, I’d been concerned. It was after eleven when Leo had gotten home from it, and I was pretty sure he and Piper had gone out afterward, since these meetings never went on that late. I’d pretended to be asleep that evening because I wasn’t ready for a confrontation, but now, just a week later, I checked his calendar to see dinner reservations in Greenwich. I called the restaurant to confirm the reservation, to see if maybe it was a surprise for me and the children, but no, he’d made a reservation for two. I had a sneaking suspicion that Piper was on the menu.

“Thanks for calling,” I said after picking up on the first ring.

“Of course,” Celeste reassured me. “I’m sorry my schedule is so jammed this week. What’s going on?”

“I think Leo’s improved mood may have something to do with a woman.” I quickly told her about his Greenwich dinner tonight.

“Joanna, Leo has never given you any reason to doubt him before. You don’t know that he’s having dinner with Piper. It could be a business dinner, couldn’t it?”

“He never goes all the way to Greenwich for a business dinner. I think he wants to go somewhere he won’t be recognized. Besides, there’s something about Piper that worries me. It’s not that I think he would do anything wrong, but . . . I don’t know . . . I think she’s trouble.”

“Have you discussed any of this with Leo?”

“I tried, but he got defensive. I saw a text from her on his phone the other day while he was in the pool with the kids. Something about how she was watching The Godfather and what a good movie it was. I made the mistake of asking Leo about it when he came back in the house.”

“What did he say?”

“He got angry and asked why I was reading his texts. I tried to backpedal, telling him that his phone had been on the counter and I thought it might be an urgent work thing. But he was still irritated. He seems annoyed with me for every little thing lately.”

“Maybe you just need to give him some space. He’s finding his feet again after a really rough patch. Of course he’d lash out at you, being the person closest to him, someone he can be himself around. You might just find you have nothing to fear after all. Why don’t you try to focus on yourself and see what happens?”

She may have been right, but I knew in the pit of my stomach as soon as I’d seen “Oyster House 8:00” in his planner that I had reason to worry. Despite Celeste’s advice, I asked Leo about it later that day.