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“No, no. You did the right thing. So they filled the prescription for you, right?”
She watched him as he listened carefully, her alarm growing by the minute. When he hung up, Piper looked at him expectantly.
“Stelli threw up in the middle of the night and woke up with a sore throat. Rebecca called the pediatrician this morning and took him in. They did a rapid strep test, and it was positive. He’s had this before.”
She sat up in bed. “What’s the treatment for it?”
“He’ll be on an antibiotic for the next ten days. It’s highly contagious, so we need to be careful, especially with Evie.”
“But he’ll be fine, right?” she asked.
Leo put his hand over hers. “You’re concerned about him. That makes me glad. And yes, he should be fine.” He rose from the bed. “We should pack up. Stelli’s asking for us.”
Leo was being kind. Piper knew Stelli wasn’t asking for “us.” He wanted his father, which was completely natural . . . even though she was hugely disappointed that their romantic getaway was disintegrating before her eyes. She hesitated a moment, wondering if she should say anything, then decided to plunge aheadbefore he heard it from Stelli. “Stelli complained of a sore throat when he got home from school yesterday. I thought he was making it up.”
“What?” Leo’s voice was sharp.
“He was fine and totally perky when he came in, but as soon as I reminded the children that we were going away, he said that his throat was sore and his stomach hurt. I asked him if it had hurt him when he woke up that morning, and he said he thought so, but he never complained at school. He said it didn’t hurt at school. I looked at his throat, and it wasn’t red or inflamed. When I took his temperature, it was practically normal. I thought he was just saying that to keep us from going away.”
“What do you mean ‘practically normal’?”
“It was ninety-nine point two.”
“Ninety-eight point six is normal.Practically normaldoesn’t cut it. I can’t believe you. You put my child’s health at risk because you decided he was lying?” Leo’s face was red, and a vein in his neck was throbbing.
She understood he was upset, but shehadthought Stelli was making it up. And Leo was overreacting by saying she’d put his son “at risk.” Strep throat was totally treatable. He’d be fine in a few days. Nevertheless, she needed to calm Leo down. “I’m sorry. I would never do something to hurt Stelli. You must know that.”
“I don’t knowwhatto think. You ignored my son’s symptoms and what he was telling you. It astounds me that you could have even thought about leaving the house knowing he might be sick, let alone that you wouldn’t tell me before we left.” He shook his head and looked disgusted.
Piper didn’t know what to say, so she just sat there.
Finally, he spoke again. “Let’s get packed. I’ll check out andmeet you at the car.” Leo’s voice was cold as he hurriedly dressed, threw things into his bag, and left the suite.
As soon as they arrived home, Leo ran upstairs to check on Stelli. Piper didn’t know what she should do—give them space or go in as well. She decided she’d wait a bit and headed to the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee to find Rebecca was preparing lunch—grilled cheese sandwiches. She looked up as Piper walked in.
“Welcome back.”
“Hi, Rebecca. So sorry for not mentioning Stelli’s sore throat to you. I had no idea this was a recurring issue for him.”
“Yes, well, in the future, if there’s something going on with one of the children, I’d appreciate your letting me know, especially if you’re going away.”
Even though she may have deserved the chastisement, Piper felt her back go up. But now was not the time to make things worse. “Yes, of course, it won’t happen again. How’s he feeling?”
“A little better since starting the antibiotics. He’s a real trouper. To be fair, he probably seemed okay to you yesterday, but it takes a lot before he complains. His mother used to call him her little soldier.”
Piper already felt inadequate; she didn’t need to hear about his sainted mother. But she wanted Rebecca on her side, so she pretended it didn’t bother her. “I know he misses her a lot.”
“They both do. But it’s especially hard on Stelli. He’s struggled with some anxiety... I don’t want to speak out of turn, but it’s one of the reasons his mom stopped working—so she could be with him. He got very used to having her around.”
Whose fault was it that she was gone?Piper wanted to ask.Ifshe loved her children so much, she wouldn’t have left them.But of course, she just gave Rebecca a sad smile. “I’m sure he did. I think I’ll go check on him now.”
“Piper...”
She stopped and turned back to face Rebecca. “Yes?”
“I know it’s not easy if you’re not used to raising children, especially stepchildren. But you’re doing a good job.”
Piper smiled at Rebecca, though the termstepchildrenrubbed at her, bringing an image of Mia to her mind. “Thank you for saying so. I appreciate it.” When she got upstairs and peeked into Stelli’s room, he was sleeping, and Leo was sitting by the bed watching him.