The Wife Stalker

Evie giggled and pointed to where Stelli was partially visible behind a chair.

“I think he must be using his powers of invisibility, Evie. I need to find him and put this magic lotion on him before he disappears forever.”

“If you don’t do it soon, we’ll never see him again,” Evie said, playing along.

“That would be so sad. Then I couldn’t see him to give him the special Spider-Man comic book I just got him.”

“Here I am!” Stelli jumped out from behind the chair.

I pretended to look around. “Where? I can’t see you.”

He ran to me and threw his arms around my legs. “Here. Put the lotion on so you can see me.”

As I rubbed it on, Evie and I pretended to watch him appear one area at a time. By the time I finished, we were all laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Leo said as he came into the kitchen.

Stelli ran up to him. “We were putting my magic lotion on.” Leo smiled, looking over at me.

“Good thing. I’d hate for you to disappear.”

By four o’clock, there were over a hundred guests roaming the property, and I began to make the rounds, greeting everyone and making sure all was going well. I was standing at the bar by the pool, the summer heat making me wilt, and wishing I’d chosen something cooler than linen capris and the long-sleeved cotton shirt I’d picked only because it hid my jiggling upper arms. It was while I was chatting with Annette Morris, one of Leo’s partners’ assistants, that I noticed a stunning blonde in shorts and a tank top walk over to Leo. She didn’t work at the firm, and she wasn’t a neighbor, and something about the way they were talking to each other sent alarm signals through me.

“Who’s that?” Annette asked.

“I’ve never seen her before. Maybe she’s a guest of someone else from the firm.” I tried to sound nonchalant. “Well, have fun. I’m going to mingle a bit.”

As I made my way over to Leo and the mystery woman, I was stopped several times by people thanking me and telling me what a wonderful party it was, but Leo and the blonde were still talking when I finally reached them. It took a minute before they seemed to register my presence, and he turned and looked at me.

“Joanna, this is Piper Reynard from the recovery center, the one who tried valiantly to persuade me not to give up on meditation.” They both laughed.

“To no avail,” Piper said, giving Leo a conspiratorial look, suddenly making me feel as though I’d intruded on a private joke.

Leo went on. “She’s new in town, so I thought this would be a good way for her to meet some folks.”

I was surprised and a little stung that he hadn’t mentioned inviting her to me. She was gorgeous, with chiseled cheekbones, luminous blue eyes, and a fine straight nose. She had a face to rival any actress’s. Why had I insisted he go to that damn class? I smiled at her, hoping she couldn’t sense how dumpy I felt next to her, and reached out a hand. “Welcome. So nice to meet you. I’ve been meaning to check out the Phoenix Recovery Center.”

“You should come by. I’d love to offer you a complimentary class.”

“Thanks. That sounds great,” I said, trying to sound sincere, but I wasn’t a fan of yoga. And her ease around Leo—not to mention her striking looks—was making me uncomfortable. “How long have you been in Westport?”

“I moved here in January, but I’ve been so busy with the business, I haven’t had time to make many friends.”

“Oh, where did you move here from?”

She hesitated for a second. “The West Coast. But I’ve moved around a lot. It’s been hard for me to put down roots. It’s so beautiful here that I’m hoping I finally can. Have you always lived in the area?”

“Yes, I was born in Connecticut. Pretty unadventurous, huh?” I said.

“Adventure can take many forms. You can take a journey without traveling a mile.”

“That is so true,” Leo said, looking at her as though she’d just solved the riddle of the Sphinx. He was normally so pragmatic.

I forced a smile again. “Well, nice to meet you. There’s plenty of food and drink, so I hope you’ll dig in,” I said, even though it looked like she didn’t eat at all. She had to be a size two or zero in those little tan shorts, her long legs shapely, without an ounce of cellulite, and arms as buff as they could be. I turned deliberately to Leo.

“Leo, I think Stelli wanted you to see his lion face. He just had it painted.” I looked at Piper. “Stelli loves his daddy so much—they’re like two peas in a pod.”

“Well, I’d better go check on my boy. Enjoy yourself,” Leo said as he walked away.

As he moved through the guests, Piper’s eyes never left him. I wasn’t surprised. Women had always been attracted to Leo, some even making it clear they didn’t mind that he was married. There was one thing I knew about Leo, though, and that was that he had integrity. He’d always been a loyal and faithful husband. Still … there was something about this woman that made my antennae go up.

The rest of the party went by in a blur. I was continually on the lookout for her and watching Leo, trying to see whether they spoke again, but she didn’t seem to have a hard time meeting others. Before she left, she walked up to Leo and put a hand on his arm. They talked for a moment, then he gave her a hug. By the time the last guest drove off, it was after nine. The kids were exhausted, so I put them to bed and then joined Leo in the den.

He sat in the red armchair texting, and when he saw me enter the room, he quickly put his phone away. I bit my tongue and didn’t ask who he’d been texting. Leo didn’t like to be questioned. “Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, don’t you think?”

“I do. It was another great party. You did a good job.”

“Thank you. I hope you’re glad we went ahead with it.”

He smiled. “I am. You were right.”

I cleared my throat. “Piper seemed nice.”

“She’s very nice. Smart, too.”

I felt the heat start at my neck and spread to my face. I had to be careful. If I said anything negative about her, it would only make him come to her defense. “She came alone, so I assume she’s not married.”

“She’s a widow, actually. Her husband died last year.” He answered so quickly and with such assurance that I immediately knew that they’d talked about it.

I dropped it, but as soon as Leo went up to bed, I googled “Piper Reynard” on my laptop, but the only hit that came up was the Phoenix Recovery Center, whose main page featured loads of pictures of the space and the programs and none of her. I clicked on the About Us tab on her website, then her name.

Piper Reynard specializes in grief and recovery work. She is the owner of Phoenix Recovery Center, an oasis for all who seek to find mental clarity, spiritual awareness, and emotional healing.

Not much of a bio, and there was no photo of her on that page, which seemed odd. I put her name back into the Google search bar and scanned all the entries. As I scrolled down, I did a double take: Reynard the Trickster. I pulled up a reference page that gave me the background on a medieval character named Reynard the Fox:

Though Reynard is sly, amoral, cowardly, and self-seeking, he is still a sympathetic hero, whose cunning is a necessity for survival.

I sat still, staring at the description. Was Reynard even her real name? Maybe the reason I couldn’t find anything from her past is that she’d changed her name. And if she had, had she deliberately chosen “Reynard” because of its disquieting meaning?

But that was crazy. Certainly, it was just a coincidence. I’d just never met a woman so beautiful who didn’t have at least a flattering headshot somewhere online these days, especially if she had her own business. Had she found a way to erase herself online? And if so, why? What was she hiding?

| 9 |

PIPER

Piper rushed home after her five o’clock yoga class, grabbed a quick snack of yogurt with fresh blueberries, and went upstairs to shower. She pulled on jeans, slipped into a pair of black sandals, and moved to the full-length mirror. She didn’t like the way the jeans looked with the shoes, so she kicked them off, put on her white canvas boat shoes, and checked herself out again. Perfect. She’d been surprised and pleased when Leo had responded to her text with an invitation to his Memorial Day party last week. But to her disappointment, he had been busy with his duties as host most of the time. Then when he’d finally turned his attention to her, Joanna had cut their conversation short.

It was a short drive to the Town Hall, an imposing yellow building with tall white columns, and once inside, Piper was surprised to see how crowded it was—not one empty seat in the first ten rows. She scanned the room but saw no sign of Leo. Her stomach sank, and for a moment, she thought of leaving. Suddenly, she felt someone take the seat next to hers. His lips parted in a wide smile as he met her eyes.

“You made it,” he whispered.

She nodded. “I’ve been looking forward to it.”

Before they could talk any further, a man walked to the podium, introduced himself, and reviewed the agenda for the meeting. That was followed by a series of boring monologues, mostly the reading of minutes from meetings with state officials, which Piper thought would never end. When the meeting finally came to a close, Leo and Piper both rose, and she stood back as several people clustered around him. One woman was going on and on about a petition she wanted to circulate at her country club, all the while fawning over him. It didn’t look like he’d be free anytime soon, so Piper picked up her purse and slung it over her shoulder as she headed toward the exit. Before she’d taken more than five steps, though, she stopped. What was she thinking? She’d waited for this all week, and now she was going to just turn and run? No way. She walked back to where he was and put a hand on his arm.

“Just wanted to say good night,” she said to him, hoping he’d take the hint and extricate himself from the woman.

He held up a finger to Piper, turned to the country club woman, and handed her a card. “I’m afraid I have to call it a night, but please feel free to call or email me about any other concerns you have, okay?”

As they left, Leo turned back to her. “Thanks for sticking around.”

“Well,” she said, “it was an interesting meeting. Thanks for inviting me. I’m going to get going.”

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.

“I didn’t know you’d made a reservation at the Oyster House,” I said, hoping against hope that he’d tell me it was for the two of us.

He gave me a hard look. “Are you checking up on me?”

“Of course not,” I lied. “They called here to confirm the reservation.”

“It’s a business dinner.”

“For Fred Grainger’s case?”

“Yes. I’m meeting Piper there.”

My stomach was churning. “I thought you said you’d gotten everything you needed from Fred’s counselor. Why do you need to have dinner with Piper?”

“I just want some more background on the center.”

“Do you think that’s a good idea? It won’t look good if anyone recognizes you. You shouldn’t be seen in public with anyone associated with the witnesses you’re calling for his defense.”

His mouth was set in a hard line. “I’ve told you, Joanna, I don’t need you to monitor my every move. I need my space. I appreciate how much you’ve done to support me and everything you’ve had to take on these past few months, but I’m better now. Stop hovering and checking up on me all the time. And you don’t need to lecture me on legal protocol: I’m the lawyer.”

“I’m not trying to lecture you. I’m just trying to help.” His reminding me that I didn’t have a law degree was a cheap shot. He knew how much I regretted not finishing school. And besides, we’d always talked about work, until recently.

He shook his head. “It would be helpful if you would drop it.” I didn’t understand what he was getting so defensive about if he had nothing to hide, but Celeste had warned me that people coming out of a depressive episode can get easily irritated, as they were suddenly dealing with an influx of more emotion. I worried that I was beginning to sound like my mother—her suspicion and constant questioning. That hadn’t done her any good with my father, and it certainly wouldn’t endear me to Leo.

I put my hands up in supplication. “Consider it dropped.”

But of course, I couldn’t drop it. I hired a sitter and borrowed my mother’s car, confident he wouldn’t recognize it, then drove to the restaurant and found a spot on the street. Watching the entrance in the rearview mirror, I waited. At precisely eight, I saw two people walking toward the door and felt a knot in my stomach when Piper came into view. She was dressed in a body-hugging navy-blue dress, her shiny blond hair looking as though it had just been professionally blown out. Given my dark hair and brown eyes, Piper and I were polar opposites, I realized, and I wondered if that’s what had attracted Leo to her.

He put his hand on her back and guided her in. I felt my cheeks burn, my hands clench into fists. Breathing in and out, I forced myself to calm down. He was either lying right to my face, or he was lying to himself—if they talked about the case at all, I’d be shocked. But this all seemed so outside of his personality—at least, his old personality. I was worried that this was more the doing of Piper, this stranger with no Internet history, than his.

My next move needed to be calculated. I sat there for a long while, trying to decide what to do. Finally, I realized that I wanted to be with the children, to remind myself of everything I had at home. But first I had to return my mother’s car.

When I pulled into her driveway, I saw that the lights were still on. She was sitting at the card table working on her jigsaw puzzle while a rerun of The Golden Girls blared from the large television in the corner. Her hearing was getting worse, I realized, and made a mental note to make an appointment for her with the audiologist. She clicked the remote, and the TV went silent.

“Those girls have the right idea. Everything would be so much better if I lived in a nice house in Florida with some good friends. Look at all the fun they have. My life is the pits,” she grumbled, taking a long swallow from the glass of wine on the table next to her. I sighed. Mom wasn’t supposed to drink with her condition.

“Thanks for lending me your car,” I said as I put her keys on the table.

“You’re welcome. What’s wrong with your car? Couldn’t that big shot Leo let you use his?” She’d never thought much of Leo. She didn’t think much of any man, really, not after what my father had done. There was no way I was going to tell her about his dinner. I knew what she’d say. All men are liars. You can’t trust any of them.

“I’m low on oil,” I lied. “I had an appointment and didn’t have time to stop. I’ll swing by a gas station now.”

“Make sure you do. You don’t want your engine to burn out.”

I nodded absently. “How are you feeling today?”

She shrugged. “Not great. I think I need to go back to the doctor this week, see if he can give me something for these headaches. Can you take me if I get an appointment?” She gave me a pitiful look. “I’m sorry to be such a burden.”

I walked over to her and put my hands on her shoulders. “You’re not a burden, Mom. Of course I’ll take you. But … the doctor did tell you that alcohol can exacerbate the headaches.” I looked at the glass of wine again.

She gave me a sheepish look. “I only have it sometimes. I’m lonely, and you’re always so busy. If your father hadn’t up and left—”

“It’s okay.” I didn’t want to hear her rage against my father right now. He’d left years ago, as in over twenty of them, and I had other things on my mind. “I understand. Just let me know, and I’ll be happy to take you. I’ll stop by and check on you tomorrow.”

“Thanks, dear.” She unmuted the TV and went back to her show.

• • •

He got home before the sun rose but not much before. I was waiting for him when he walked in, and he was clearly startled to see me there, pacing in the hallway. I didn’t wait for him to speak.

“I was worried. Do you realize how late it is?” My voice was shaking. “I couldn’t sleep.”

He put a hand up, looking at me as though I’d lost my mind. “Whoa. I got a call while I was at dinner. One of the firm’s clients was arrested, and they lost his paperwork. I’ve been at the jail all night. His attorney’s in the hospital, so I had to go. It’s been a hell of a night.”

Then I noticed his disheveled appearance, the tie askew, his usually perfect, thick, black hair out of place. He did look like he’d been up with a client all night, and certainly he had been many times before. This whole thing with Piper was making me overreact. “I’m sorry. You know how I worry.” I took a deep breath. “Why don’t you try and get some sleep? I could certainly use some.”

He shook his head. “I need to get to the office early today. I’m just going to take a shower and get going.”

In spite of my restless night, the morning went off like any other. I got the kids ready for the day, made coffee, gave instructions to the maid service, and took care of all the little minutiae that comprised my life—our lives. As I did so, I told myself that I had nothing to worry about. After all, Leo had been a loyal and devoted family man for years. But was I underestimating how his depression might have changed him? He may not have been looking for anything, but I had a feeling she was.

I went to the computer and pulled up his Outlook. When I saw her name in the sender line, I clicked on it. I suppose it didn’t occur to her that I’d have access to his work in-box. The message was from a few days ago.

You’re never going to believe what happened today. I was at the dentist, in the waiting room, flipping through a People, when I came across an article about YOU! It was about the case you won two years ago, the woman accused of killing her in-laws. A whole spread. The woman sitting next to me glanced over (a bit nosily) at the picture of you and said, “Oh, my, he’s a handsome one.” I told her you were even better-looking in person.

Even when I try not to think of you … it’s impossible.

Have a wonderful day and do remember to take a break from your desk. Use the app I showed you and remember the quote from Anatole France: “If the path be beautiful, let us not ask where it leads.” Xo P

I felt like my entire body was on fire.

One thing was for sure: Piper was interested in much more than court cases and conservation, whether Leo realized it or not.

| 11 |

PIPER