At least now she knew his name. Harper slid her phone back in her purse and carried her drink over to the window so she could watch Tobias Richardson leave. She thought he might glance back at her. Oddly enough, she sort of wanted him to. There was something intriguing about him. She’d noticed that despite what she was going through, which meant it was obvious. At least to her.

But he didn’t look back. He took a sip of his coffee as he strode purposefully toward the parking lot and disappeared from view.

With a sigh, she turned to take the table he’d vacated, only to find that someone else had beaten her to it. A young girl wearing a beanie similar to the one he’d been wearing was just pushing his newspaper out of the way and setting up her laptop.

“Are you Axel Devlin’s wife?”

The voice came from right behind her. Harper cringed inside as she turned to see who’d asked that question. Fame had its benefits. Since Axel’s music had taken off, they hadn’t had to worry about how they’d cover the basics. That had come as a relief. It had been lean in the early years, when she’d been struggling to support them, especially because their first child had come so fast. But the loss of privacy was difficult, especially for an introvert like her.

Anyway, for the past several months, this question was the one she’d dreaded most. She didn’t know how to answer it. Or, rather, she was reluctant to answer it. At first it was because she’d hoped Axel would change his mind and stop the proceedings, that it would never go this far. And now that their divorce was almost a done deal, she was embarrassed to have failed. She didn’t want to call herself his ex-wife. Considering how hard she’d tried to be the best mother and spouse she could, she’d never thought she’d be anyone’s ex.

Somehow, she managed a smile and hoped it didn’t appear as wobbly as it felt. “Yes.” She had two more days before “yes” would be a lie, so she was going with it. “Someone’s waiting for me. I’m afraid I have to go,” she mumbled and cut through the crowd before the young woman who’d engaged her could say anything more.

Keeping her head down so that no one else could catch her eye, she hurried toward the safety of her Range Rover, and then on to the privacy of her sister’s empty house. There, she wouldn’t have to worry about prying questions, curious stares or the pitying smiles of those who’d already heard about the demise of her marriage. She could be completely alone.