The Wife Stalker(62)

She looked a bit surprised. “I’m not sure how that’s relevant.”

“I was just curious.”

Celeste rubbed her hand across her chin. “Would it be accurate to say that both your father and Leo abandoned you and gave their affection and resources to someone else in your place? And that perhaps, in Leo, you chose someone with the same character traits as your father?”

Please don’t pull any punches for my sake, I thought. “No, I don’t think that’s accurate,” I said, crossing my arms.

My father was a liar, a cowardly liar, I thought to myself. Leo was an honorable man who’d already been dealing with depression and feelings of inadequacy when he got caught in a web of someone else’s deceit—someone who was out to hurt my family. Was he responsible for his actions? Of course. But you could only blame the person for inviting the vampire into your home—you couldn’t blame them for falling victim to the bloodsucker’s thrall.





41

Piper




“We’re going to have a family game night,” Piper called out to the children, who were coming downstairs with Rebecca, fresh from their baths.

“Fun!” Evie said.

Piper had already set up the board for Sorry in the family room. As they took their seats, Rebecca brought in a plate of store-bought brownies.

The kids each grabbed one, as did Leo, who stuck his right in his mouth. “These are good!”

This woman really was getting on her nerves. Piper would have to talk to her again about all the sugar.

Stelli looked inside the Sorry box. “I want red. What color do you want, Dad?”

Leo shrugged. “You pick.”

“You can be yellow. Evie’s blue. You’re green, Rebecca.”

There was an uncomfortable silence for a long moment, then Rebecca spoke. “No, sweetie, the four of you are playing.”

“This whole idea was Piper’s, remember, pal?” Leo said, ruffling Stelli’s hair.

“Yeah,” Stelli mumbled.

Piper knew her face had flushed. “I guess I’m green.” She forced a cheerful tone into her voice. “Stelli, why don’t you go first?”

He picked a card. “Three!” He moved his pawn onto the board.

As they started to play, Rebecca withdrew from the room, and Piper felt the tension in the room dissolving.

“Are you looking forward to the long weekend?” Leo asked. “You get to skip a day of school.”

“I am,” Evie said. “I got a new Nancy Drew book, and I’m going to read all weekend.”

Piper smiled. “I have a surprise for you.”

“What?”

“I found all my old Nancy Drew books in a box I’d put in the attic. I took them with me when I left home. The whole series. They’re yours if you want them.”

Evie jumped up and down. “Really? Yes, thank you, Piper.”

Leo gave her a warm smile and reached out to squeeze her hand.

“Are we playing or talking?” Stelli interjected.

Leo laughed. “My little man. Soon you’ll be ready for poker.”

Stelli bit his lip as he picked up his card, then a grin transformed his face. He lifted his pawn and brought it down hard on one of Piper’s, knocking it from the board. “Sorrrrryyyy!” he yelled with glee.

“Geez, Stelli, you knocked her piece off the board,” Evie said.

“It’s okay,” Piper said, leaning to retrieve it from under the table, where she could grit her teeth without being seen. She sat back up again. “Good move, Stel.”

“It’s Stelli,” he corrected her.

Even Leo was starting to look annoyed. “Stelli, be nice.”

The boy looked at his father, then burst into tears. “I don’t want her here! I want my mommy!” He ran from the room, and Leo jumped up and ran after him.

Piper looked over at Evie, whose eyes were filling. So much for game night.

“Are you okay?” Piper asked.

Evie looked down at the table and shrugged. “I miss her, too, but I know she’s not coming back. Stelli doesn’t understand. He thinks she’d come back if you weren’t here.”

“I wish there were some way I could help him,” Piper said.

Evie pushed her chair back from the table. “I’m gonna go see how he’s doing. Mommy told me that I have to look out for him.”

Piper shook her head as Evie walked away. This was getting out of hand. She took her wine, grabbed a fleece, and went outside to sit. Things were not going as planned. She hadn’t realized when she married Leo that Stelli was going to be such a thorn in her side. When she’d gotten together with Matthew, she’d anticipated that Mia might be difficult—after all, she was the spoiled preteen daughter of a mother who hated Piper. But Stelli and Evie were so young and adorable, she really thought they’d accept her and the four of them could be a family—especially without the influence of a mother poisoning them against her.

But Stelli just couldn’t let his mother go. She stayed outside for another half hour, stewing, until she saw a shadow moving through the house and, looking, saw that Leo had returned to the first floor. The screen door opened, and he came out and took a seat in the rocker across from her.