“That’s the thing… I don’t think they were ever together that way. She’s married, too, with two kids of her own. But she’s in love with my dad, too. And she knows he feels the same. And she gets off on flirting with him. She likes the attention.”
“So she’s a tease?”
“Sort of.”
“So what’s the big deal?”
He turns to me, a little flustered. “Well, the problem is that she’s all my dad can think about, and meanwhile he’s completely ignoring his wife, and me and my sisters. All that matters to him is his stupid pool hall, and that flirty little tease. ”
Wow. “How many sisters do you have?” I asked, attempting to lighten the conversation.
He smiled. “Three older sisters.”
I imagined him in a family picture surrounded by his sisters – adorable. I wondered what his mother was like. I couldn’t help myself when I asked, “Does your mother know?”
He nodded. “My mother knows. Although she pretends not to know. She tells herself they’re just friends, and sometimes she even believes it. She looks away when she catches the glint in his eye or his playful smile when Kelly is around. She tells herself he loves his family. She loves the guy. She loves her family. We’re all she has, y’know. Divorce isn’t an option for her.”
“That’s so sad,” was all I could say. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be with someone and know their heart belongs to someone else.
I didn’t need to ask how he knew all this. People like us just know. No words need to be heard, no actions need to be seen. We just know. And for someone like Leo, who grew up in such a volatile environment, this can be so hard, such a burden to take on. I realized then how lucky I really was. And I wondered what it must feel like for Leo, to know that your father doesn’t love your mother, to know that he loves someone else.
“You’re right. People just don’t appreciate what they have,” I said, attempting to change the subject. “Look at Jenna. She’s beautiful and perfect. She has a fabulous house and a perfect family. And she was messing around with some guy.”
“Yeah, but Mason was messing around, too.” Leo pointed out, playing the devil’s advocate. “Their marriage is far from perfect.”
“Are you on Jenna’s side or Mason’s side?” I asked, my tone playful.
“Totally Jenna’s,” he replied. “I get a good vibe from her.”
“Me, too. Which affair started first, you think?”
“That’s the million dollar question, isn’t it?”
“Do you think this could have something do to with Haley’s disappearance?” I was convinced of it, but couldn’t quite get at the answers. “I think it could.”
“I think so, too,” he agreed, “but it’s hard to know when they’re so guarded, and won’t let us read them.”
“Well, you did better than me,” I pointed out with a scowl.
He laughed. “Yeah, Mason did not look happy with you… the way he stormed out—”
“Simone wasn’t happy with me either.”
“Don’t worry,” he said. “You’ll get the hang of it in no time.”
I hoped he was right, because so far, my record wasn’t great.
“You’re better than me,” I said. “You could see her… Mason’s mistress. I couldn’t get a picture. All I knew was that there was someone else. I even thought it might be the babysitter.”
“Definitely not the babysitter,” he said. “Like I said, she had red hair. Actually reminded me of Kelly a little bit.”
And then it hit me. I’d seen her. But where? It wasn’t when I was reading them. But it was when I was at their house. But where? A photo?
We were getting closer. Close but not close enough. I felt like I was on the tip of my toes, reaching for something, and with one little lift from Leo, I would find what I was looking for.
I got excited and turned all Nancy Drew on him. “What about the guy she was seeing?! He lived at the guest house, right?”
“Yeah, the investigators are already looking into him.”
