The Wife Stalker(73)
By the time of his twenty-first birthday, they’d negotiated a tentative peace, and they planned to head to Cahuenga Peak in the Hollywood Hills to see the Wisdom Tree. The three-mile hike would give them time to talk without all the distractions of the city. And the view from the top was supposed to be spectacular. Piper liked the idea of the Wisdom Tree, hoping it would somehow impart some sage guidance to them.
The day started out on a good note. It was beautiful and sunny—not too hot, not too cool. They were both in happy moods, playful and teasing each other. When they reached the top and looked down, she felt like anything was possible and was hopeful for the first time in months. They’d embraced and kissed—a real kiss, not the quick pecks they’d become accustomed to in recent months—and she lingered in his arms for a few moments, enjoying the feel of the sun on her face and the breeze in her hair.
She forced herself to remember the good part of the day, the part where they had reconnected and everything felt good—the part right before he went flying off the mountain to his death. She didn’t like to think about what came after, either. The police. Their suspicious looks as she told them how he had been standing at the edge of the precipice, and that when she called out to him to be careful, he’d given her a mischievous smile and balanced on one leg, then lost his footing. She would never forget the sound of his scream as he fell eighteen hundred feet.
After he was gone, she’d wanted to leave L.A. immediately, but she had to wait until the investigation into his death was closed. Then she quit her job at the restaurant and moved to San Diego. The hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars she’d inherited from his trust fund was enough to help her forge a new life.
Snapping back to reality, Piper sighed, dragged herself out of bed, and threw on her workout clothes. Yoga wouldn’t cut it today. She needed a long run. Something to clear her head and get those endorphins flowing. As she laced up her Nikes, she caught a glimpse of her face in the mirror. Smiling at her reflection, she recited the words she’d spoken to herself every year for the past fourteen years: “You’re not responsible. Don’t let the past drag you down. Life is for the living.”
Standing, she walked briskly from the room, shutting the door behind her and pushing the memory of that day from her mind. She hadn’t hiked since then, but when she’d discovered that Leo had a house in Bar Harbor right near Acadia Park, she’d thought it would be the perfect opportunity to get back on the horse, so to speak. She’d always loved to hike but had stopped after Ethan; it was time to embrace it as a hobby again.
She’d seen pictures, and the house was stunning. Nestled in acres of green, it perched on a cliff overlooking the ocean. The gray-shingle facade was all windows and white trim with decks boasting views of the water from all sides.
She wanted to go the day after Christmas and have a nice holiday break, where they could really start to bond as a family, and had brought it up to Leo back in November.
“It’ll be perfect. A wonderful getaway for our new family to spend some time together bonding. We can play board games with the kids. Go hiking. Just relax. What do you say?”
“It will be too cold to hike in December. Besides, I’ve already booked our trip to St. Barts. The children like to get away somewhere where they can swim and be warm. It’s really much nicer at the Maine house in the spring and summer; we can go there then.”
She’d let the subject drop and resigned herself to heading to St. Barts the day after Christmas. A couple of days before the twenty-fifth, though, she’d checked the forecast for Maine and seen that it was supposed to be unseasonably warm all week—in the fifties. Later that evening, right after she and Leo had made love, she ran a finger lightly up his arm. “I want to talk to you about something.”
“What is it, my love?”
She leaned up on one elbow and looked into his eyes. “It’s something I want for Christmas.”
He smiled. “I’ve already gotten your presents.”
“I’m not talking about presents. You know how much I want for Stelli and Evie to accept me, to think of me as a mother.”
His expression grew serious. “Of course.”
“Well, I think it’s important that we have some quiet time together to reflect and plan our goals for the new year. Going to the islands is your old tradition. The children are still going to see me as an intruder replacing their mother there. I want to start a new tradition. Instead of airports and hotels, let’s finish the holidays in a more old-fashioned way. Board games, popcorn, and movies. And hiking together as a family experience. It’s going to be in the fifties in Bar Harbor all week.”
He sighed. “I can see your point. I can cancel the trip to St. Barts if you really want, but I don’t know about hiking. I worry about Stelli. He’s not great with boundaries, and the trails are so high up. If he fell . . .”
“We’ll watch him. We’ll make sure he’s safe.”
“I’m not so sure about that. He didn’t know better with the slide . . .”
Was he really bringing that up again? “Well, I know better now. We won’t take our eyes off him. I want us to make new memories there. Family memories.”
He got a faraway look and was quiet. “Maybe it would be good. But I know the kids were really looking forward to the island.”