Thy Neighbor's Wife

Mark Canfora was horsing around with the kids when he realized his wife was missing.

It wasn't that Mark minded watching the kids, but Dena had disappeared more than 20 minutes before. She said she was going to warm up in the hot-water pool. They were visiting Splash Lagoon, an Erie, Pennsylvania waterpark, on their way home from a family vacation. Where is she?

Mark had reason to worry. Dena was a woman who provoked male attention. At 29, her body remained trim and tight, a tribute to her years as a high school track standout. Bottle-blond bangs framed bright blue eyes and full lips. She was like Barbie come to life.

So Mark grabbed Dominic, their three-year-old, and set off in search of his wife.

He found her relaxing at the pool, where the air was humid and smelled of chlorine. She was talking to a man who bore a slight resemblance to Ted Danson in his Cheers prime. He'd draped a casual arm over her, a flirtatious smile tugging at his lips.

Mark loomed over them just long enough to make it uncomfortable. "Are you going to join us?" he asked his wife, brandishing their son before storming away.

He waited for Dena to follow. Seconds ticked by. What's she waiting for?

He charged back to the pool, finding Dena locked in conversation with her new friend. "Are you coming?" he asked again, his voice this time loud enough to echo.

Dena climbed out, her head hung low. Mark stared past her at the leering stranger.

The man regarded him with a sneer. "Have a nice day," he responded, his tone doused in sarcasm.

---

Unbeknownst to Mark, that wasn't the first time Dena had talked to the man. Nor would it be the last.

They'd met earlier that day, on the Lazy River ride. He'd handed her his inner tube and helped her situate Dominic in the slippery doughnut.

Dena never expected to see him again, so she was surprised when he approached her in the hot-water pool.

"You guys been here before?" he asked.

"No," Dena said, adding that she was from Bath, Ohio.

What a coincidence, the man said. He was from Kirtland.

The man introduced himself as Gary Coiro, reverend at Willo-Hill Baptist Church, where his flock numbered about 600.

A born-again Christian, Dena was eager to hear more.

After Mark interrupted and stormed off, she asked Coiro, "Did I do anything wrong?"

"I don't think so," he said.

Then Mark came back and demanded she leave. As she climbed out of the pool, she felt the eyes of nearby families regarding her with pity. Poor abused woman.

Out of earshot, Dena scolded Mark for making a scene. "I can't believe you!" she hissed. "He's a pastor! I was talking to him about church!"

"I don't care who he is," Mark said. "No pastor I know would act like that."

Dena couldn't stand to be around her husband when he was like this, so she took nine-year-old Julianna and retreated to a far corner of the park. They were walking through the food court when Julianna slipped and skinned her knee.

Dena was at the first-aid station when Coiro poked his head in. His face was a portrait of concern. "I just want to make sure you're OK," he said.

Dena was grateful for the chance to explain. It wasn't as bad as it looked, she said. Mark wasn't abusive -- just jealous.

Coiro smiled and nodded, but insisted on handing her a scrap of ripped napkin. "Here's my e-mail address," he said. "Do with it what you will."

---

Sitting at her desk at Sweet Briar Homes, a real-estate developer in Summit County, Dena debated whether she should write to Coiro.

The truth was, she needed someone to talk to. The incident at Splash Lagoon was emblematic of larger problems in her marriage.

She'd met Mark when they were both experiencing hard times.

His first marriage in ruins and well on his way toward alcoholism, Mark was considering suicide. Then Dena walked into Happy's Fun Center, a Chuck E. Cheese knockoff he owned in Norton. The moment they started talking, they just clicked. So when Dena offhandedly remarked, "I could run this place," Mark hired her on the spot.

Dena had recently signed up for the Army, intent on becoming an MP, but Uncle Sam was steering her toward a job as a medical assistant. A naive 17, Dena didn't know where to turn. Mark, who was 16 years her senior, offered advice and helped extricate her from the service contract.

A friendship blossomed, which evolved into romance. They moved in together after she graduated from high school. Three months later, she was pregnant with their first child. They married early in her second pregnancy, then had a third; Mark had already fathered two children in a previous marriage.