Page 39 of The Wife Stalker

“Easy. I’m thankful for you little rascals,” he said, ruffling Stelli’s hair. “Your turn, Stel.”

Stelli tapped his fork against the plate and looked up at the ceiling for a few seconds. “I’m thankful for my Lego Explorer.”

“Okay, good. My turn. I’m grateful for my new family.” Her smile froze when she saw that Stelli had rolled his eyes. Ignoring him, she continued. “Now, this is a little harder. I want you to sit and be very quiet. It will help if you close your eyes.” Piper let her words sink in and closed her own eyes. “Everyone’s eyes closed?”

There was a murmur of yeses around the table. “Okay. Now pay attention to what you’re feeling right now. And remember, there are no right or wrong feelings. Just whatever you’re feeling right this moment.”

She heard Leo clear his throat, but otherwise, there was only silence. After a minute, Piper opened her eyes. “Okay, now open your eyes and let’s talk about what we felt.”

“Piper—” Leo said, but he was interrupted by Evie.

“I felt really sad. Today when Jennifer came back to school, some of the kids were really mean to her and they made fun of her ’cause the medicine made all her hair fall out. I wanted to yell at them and tell them to leave her alone, but I didn’t say anything. I was scared.”

Leo and Piper exchanged looks. She’d had no idea that Evie’s friend was seriously ill.

“Come here and sit on my lap, pumpkin,” Leo said to his daughter.

She rose from the table and went to sit on his knee, and he put his arm around her. “Sometimes it’s very hard to stand up to kids who are being mean and nasty. If that happens again, I want you to talk to your teacher. It’s not your job to stop them. It’s hers. Your job is to be Jennifer’s friend.”

Piper smiled and nodded her head at him. “What about you, Stelli? How were you feeling?”

“This is stupid.”

“Stelli, tell Piper you’re sorry.”

Stelli threw his fork across the table and flipped his plate over, spilling spaghetti all over the place mat. “Why do I always have to tell her I’m sorry? Why is she such a big baby?” He jumped up from his chair.

“That’s enough, young man.” Leo gently pushed Evie from his lap, rose to his feet, and stood over Stelli. “You will not be disrespectful.” Taking the boy’s hand, Leo led Stelli from the room.

Piper watched this little drama, exasperated, and wondered how Leo was going to handle it. “Would you help me clean up, Evie? Then we can have our pudding while we watch the movie.”

“Okay,” Evie said, and began to clear the dishes.

They were halfway throughWonder Womanwhen Leo finally came downstairs alone and joined them in the family room. Piper was dying to know what had transpired, but she didn’t want to disappoint Evie by interrupting the film. Finally, after Leo had tucked Evie into bed and returned, she asked him.

Leo shook his head. “He ranted for a while. He was so angry. I’ve never seen him so angry. I finally settled him down, and we talked about old times.” He pulled Piper closer to him on the sofa. “This has been a much harder adjustment for him than for Evie. Stelli was so close to his mother. Not that Evie wasn’t, but it was different with Stelli.” He sighed. “Anyway, he was pretty exhausted after all the histrionics. I lay down with him, and we both fell asleep for a bit. Sorry it took me so long to come back.”

“You did the right thing. He needs to talk about it.” She paused, letting that sink in. “In fact, I’ve been thinking a lot about ways we might help him. There are natural remedies, you know, things that are completely safe and effective. And lots of alternative therapies that could work, too. Why don’t you let me try some of these with him?”

“I don’t know. I don’t want him taking any kind of psychotropic drugs.”

“No, of course not. I would never suggest that. The things I’m talking about are completely natural and benign. But they might ease his anxiety and anger.”

“You think so?”

Piper nodded. “I do.”

“I don’t want him to feel like there’s anything wrong with him,” Leo added.

“I understand. I can just add a little something to his smoothies. He’ll never know.”

“All right. Let’s talk more about it tomorrow.”

She snuggled closer to him, satisfied. She’d cleared the way. Now it was time to get to work.

28

Joanna

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