“We bumped into each other at the Eatery once.” Tobias spoke up before she could answer. She got the impression that he wanted to downplay their earlier interaction as much as possible, which was, of course, fine with her. Maybe he was even doing it for her sake. “Harper, this is Atticus Brooks. He lives here in town and works at the same school I do.” He indicated the woman who was sitting on Maddox’s lap. “Jada, here, is his sister.”

“I can see the family resemblance.” Harper held out her hand to Atticus. “Hello.”

Atticus seemed a bit starstruck. “Aren’t you Axel Devlin’s wife?”

Harper hated being recognized. To her, it wasn’t fun to be related to someone famous. She hated the curiosity it engendered, the intrusion of the press, the feeling that there were people out there who were happy that she and her husband had split up—or were talking about it and forming opinions even though they were complete strangers.

“Ex-wife,” she clarified. After thinking of herself as a divorcée for almost a week, it was getting easier to make that distinction.

“And you know Maddox,” Tobias said, continuing the introductions. “Jada’s his wife.”

“We have a teenage daughter and will be having a new baby in the spring,” Jada confided. “Our daughter is over at her best friend’s.”

Grateful that Maddox had been nice enough not to mention where they’d met, or to correct Tobias when he made it sound as though their contact had been far more casual than it was, Harper smiled at them both. “It’s a pleasure.”

Atticus offered her four darts. “Would you like to play? You could team up with Tobias while I go get a drink.”

She laughed. “I doubt he’ll want me on his team. I’m not very good.”

“Neither is he,” Atticus teased. “I just beat him. Again.”

“I’m better than Maddox,” Tobias grumbled. “It’s Jada who might give me some trouble.”

“You know I’m not very good,” Jada said at the same time her husband joked, “We should head over to the pool tables if you’re going to be that cocky.”

Harper could tell they were teasing each other and smiled.

“Don’t worry about me,” Atticus told them. “I’ll find you wherever you are.” He stopped wheeling himself away. “Anyone else want a drink?”

Tobias looked at Harper as though he expected her to beg off and leave—as though he was saying, Now’s your chance.

But she wasn’t ready to leave, not before she figured out if he was angry with her or just feeling awkward.

“If they have any IPAs on draft, I’ll take one,” she said. “If not, get me whatever they’ve got.”

“Done,” Atticus said and made his way to the bar.

Maddox gestured at the dartboard. “You can go first,” he said to Harper.