The Wife Stalker(47)
Piper frowned and followed him into the foyer. “Is something wrong?” she asked in a low voice.
“No. I was just thinking we could all meet for dinner. Stelli’s feeling left out, and I thought maybe you could pick him up from school and take him back to Phoenix with you. That way they’ll both have had a ‘work’ day. Then you can meet Evie and me for dinner at Fat Cat Pie Company. A special treat. What do you think?”
“Sure. But I don’t know whether Stelli will really want to, since I just asked him and he wasn’t interested in coming with me.”
“That’s just because he was disappointed that he can’t come with me. I think after he’s had some time to cool off, it will be good.”
“Okay. I’ll let Rebecca know that I’ll be picking him up. What time shall we meet?”
“Early. Say five thirty?”
She nodded, and Leo leaned in to kiss her just as Evie came into the hall. “I’m ready, Daddy.”
He grabbed his briefcase with one hand and Evie’s hand with the other. “Let’s go, then. We’re going to have a great day.”
Piper went back to the kitchen to find Stelli looking even more miserable than before.
“I have a great idea.” Piper tried to put some excitement in her voice. “How about if I pick you up from school and you can come to work with me for a few hours? You can help me, and then we’ll go meet your daddy and Evie for some pizza at Fat Cat’s. We can even get some ice cream afterward. What do you think?”
He looked at her with big, sad eyes and shrugged. “I guess.”
It wasn’t a very enthusiastic response, but at least he hadn’t thrown food at her or crashed a toy car into her leg. She kept telling herself that eventually she would win him over, but sometimes it seemed futile—after all, it had never happened with Mia.
She didn’t need to pick Stelli up until three, so she went home around noon to meet with the designer she’d hired to redo their bedroom. This time she had cleared it with Leo, who had agreed that it was unreasonable to expect her to sleep in a room his former wife had decorated. When they finished, she saw that Rebecca had brought in the mail and left it on the counter. Things had remained strained between them since their clash, until Rebecca had apologized and Piper had told her it was water under the bridge. Truthfully, though, Rebecca was still on probation in her mind, but for Leo’s sake she was willing to try to make things work. Glancing through the mail, she froze when she saw an envelope for Stelli and Evie written in a sprawling handwriting and with no return address. She grabbed it and opened it, her hands shaking. Sinking down on a chair, she read it and felt her heartbeat increase. She folded the letter and put it in her purse. The children were finally coming to accept that Joanna was gone, and Piper intended for it to stay that way. She grabbed her bag and left to pick Stelli up from school.
The line of cars wound around the parking lot, and Piper checked her email while waiting for school dismissal. Soon, the first graders would be marched outside and escorted to their waiting parents or caregivers. She recognized some of the mothers from the back-to-school night she’d attended. They’d been friendly enough, but distant. No one had made an effort to engage her in conversation or get to know her. It had been awkward for her, although she had put on a good show of looking relaxed and as if she belonged. She’d been grateful that at least these mothers were not hostile, like the mothers at the school Mia had attended. There, she had truly felt like an outsider, and she’d known it was a result of Ava’s constantly bad-mouthing her to the other moms. Evidently that wasn’t happening here.
She caught sight of Stelli and inched the car up slowly as the line moved forward. He ran to the car, jumped into the back, and buckled his seat belt.
Piper turned to look at him before driving off. “Hi, Stelli. Did you have a good day?”
“It was okay.” He looked out the window and remained silent all the way to the center.
Piper had cleared her afternoon and had spent part of the morning running around to toy stores for something interesting that would keep him busy, finally opting for a set of sound-activated light blocks. To her utter surprise, she’d hit the jackpot. Stelli loved them and played with them on the floor of her office all afternoon. When it came time to leave for dinner, Piper sensed a definite thaw in him.
“What do you say we clean up the blocks and put them in this special box? I’ll keep them in a secret place so no one else will play with them. They’ll be only for you whenever you come to the center with me.”
His eyes lit up. “You promise you won’t let anyone else play with them? Not even Evie?”
Piper made an X on her chest and held her hand up. “Cross my heart.” She was encouraged by his change toward her. She wanted Stelli to accept her. More than that—to like her. If his antagonism continued, it would only hurt her relationship with Leo.
Leo and Evie were already seated at the restaurant when Piper and Stelli arrived. It was noisy, and the smell of dough baking in the brick ovens permeated the crowded room.
“Have you been here long?” Piper asked, sliding into the booth after Stelli and facing Evie and Leo.
“Just ten minutes or so. I ordered you a water with lemon.” He indicated the glass in front of her. “And a Coke for you, buddy,” he said, smiling at Stelli. “Now what does everyone want? I’m thinking maybe a big, big cheese pizza with lots of pepperoni. What do you say?” He looked back and forth from one kid to the other.