Page 36 of The Wife Stalker

Piper gave her a sympathetic smile. “Of course. We’ll do one of you together and one of each of you alone. Okay?” It was obvious that Evie was missing her mom even more than usual today.

Evie nodded and bit her lip, while Stelli stared at his sister, his lip trembling. “I want Mommy!”

Piper gave Rebecca a helpless look, but Rebecca pointedlyignored her. She probably wanted to see how Piper planned to handle this.

She got up and crouched down by Stelli’s chair. “I know you want your mommy, Stelli. But remember what we were just talking about, how your dad told you that she’s in heaven? Mommy is watching you from up there, I promise. She’ll always be with you.” Piper looked at her watch. “Can you finish up now? We have to leave in ten minutes, and we need time for the pictures.”

Stelli pushed his plate away, his bacon untouched and only three bites taken from his waffle. “I’m not hungry anyway.”

“How about some green drink?” She took it out of the refrigerator.

“Yuck. It has grass in it.”

She poured it into a glass and held it out to him. “Here, taste it. There’s no grass, Stelli. It has yummy fruit like bananas and blueberries.”

He looked at her with suspicion. “I saw you put grass in it.”

“No. You saw me put in kale and spinach.”

“Gross.” He slid his chair out and picked up his backpack. “I bet you put awful stuff in my lunch,” he mumbled as he walked out of the room and into the foyer.

“Stelli doesn’t mean it, Piper. He’s just sad,” Evie said.

All of the anger drained out of her. “I know, sweetie. I know. Come on. Let’s go take some pictures.”

Evie nodded.

“Where shall we do it? Here in the hallway?” Piper asked her.

“Outside on the steps. That’s where we always take them,” Evie directed.

“All right. Let’s go,” Piper said, and they trooped out the door together and stopped at the bottom of the stairs, where Stelli was waiting. Piper straightened his pajama top and moved back,focusing on them with her iPhone camera. “Okay. Say ‘platypus.’” She took several pictures and then moved next to them, holding the camera for a selfie. “Let’s take one all together.” And she clicked the camera button again.

As they drove to school, Piper felt better. Breakfast hadn’t been great, but the pictures hadn’t gone badly. It wasn’t until she’d dropped them off and swiped through the photos that she saw Stelli’s face in the selfie. His eyes were scrunched up, and he’d stuck out his tongue. So much for progress. She’d have to be a little more creative going forward, or maybe a little more forceful.

26

Joanna

I landed at San Diego International Airport at eleven in the morning and had a few hours to rent a car, check into my hotel, freshen up, and grab a bite before I met Ava at her home at three. I had hoped to connect with her in person before Leo married Piper, but that hadn’t worked with her schedule. But when I spoke to Leo’s mother, she told me that they had gotten married three weeks ago. I unpacked my suitcase, changed into a linen pantsuit, and pulled out of the Hyatt on Park Boulevard after punching in Ava’s address in Del Mar Mesa, thirty minutes away. When I arrived, I saw that her house sat on a slight rise with a wide stone-paved driveway leading up to it. It was a long and meandering Spanish-looking home, imposing and grand. Back in Connecticut, I’d looked up the address and seen the value of the house—$4.6 million. Almost reasonable, when you compared it to the $20 million to $50 million homes dotting the landscape.

I parked in front of the house and walked through a lovely courtyard with exotic trees and beautiful landscaping to the front door, noticing the graceful arches and ornamental ironwork on the windows and lanterns. Ava answered the door herself, and I was a bit taken aback. I’d seen attractive photographs of her online, but in person, she looked like she was made of plastic, with the skin on her face taut, her eyes squinty from too much filler, and her lips a little too large. Trying to hide my reaction, I smiledand said, “Hello, Ava. I’m Joanna. Thank you so much for making the time to see me.”

“I wouldn’t have missed this,” she said, shaking my hand and opening the door wide. “Please, come in.”

It felt like I had entered a foreign world as I followed her through the house. The arched hallway with wooden ceiling beams and earthy terra-cotta tile was so very different from the formal East Coast aesthetic I was used to. We passed a wide, curving stairway with hand-painted tiles on the stair risers and Ava turned to me. “I thought we’d sit outside by the pool. Unless you’d rather be inside?”

“That sounds lovely,” I said.

As we went by the kitchen, Ava stuck her head in. “Juliet, will you bring us out some cold drinks?” We continued through the sunken living room, whose wall-to-wall glass doors were opened wide to the outdoors.

I gasped as we stepped outside to a private paradise of waterfalls gliding over stonework into a huge swimming pool of the brightest turquoise blue. Luscious tropical plants and trees surrounded the entire patio area, and giant ceramic pots held flowers of purple, blood red, and periwinkle. The effect was enchanting.

“Have a seat.” Ava indicated a lounge chair with a soft orange cushion, and just as we sat, Juliet arrived with a pitcher of lemonade and two crystal glasses. She placed the tray on the round mosaic table between us, poured the drinks, and retreated.

I took a long swallow, but Ava ignored her lemonade. “So... tell me more about this new identity Pamela has created for herself.”

“As I told you on the phone, she moved to Westport earlier this year. She bought a big house on the water and a small businessthat was . . . I guess what could be described as a cross between a meditation and health center. She expanded it and added all kinds of alternative therapies. My husband met her because of a client, but then I stupidly encouraged him to take one of her classes, which was how she got her hooks into him.” I knew she’d gone through something similar, but nonetheless I was embarrassed to talk about it with a stranger. “I wasn’t even out of the house. I don’t know how she did it, but it’s been less than six months, and they’re already married.”

---