After she called to check on the girls, she spent the next three hours going through thousands of photos and videos on her phone and getting rid of any that featured Axel. She couldn’t bring herself to delete them completely. That would feel like erasing more than a decade of her life. But she put them all in one file labeled Failed Ten Years and sent it to the cloud so it would no longer be on her phone. She figured that was a step in the right direction.

If she’d been home, she would’ve gotten up and gone through the house, too—put everything of his in the garage so he could pick it up when he returned to the States. He’d left so many of his belongings behind, even his prized set of golf clubs. She had his childhood memorabilia and yearbooks in the attic. But he was busy, didn’t have time to deal with it, and she’d allowed him to leave these things behind because she simply couldn’t believe he wasn’t coming back to her.

After she finished cleaning out her albums—paring down her collection of photos and videos—she grabbed her laptop and went online to search for what a divorced person should do next.

Most websites suggested closing any joint bank accounts and opening new ones, so she got ready and went to a local branch of the bank they used, where she opened her own account for the first time since college.

The whole experience felt weird, alien, terrible, but she told herself it’d get easier.

When she left, she texted Axel to let him know what she’d done.

I have a new bank account. When you get a minute, could you call me for the routing numbers and account information so you can make your child
support payments?

It was late in Europe. She wasn’t expecting an immediate response, but she got one.

What are you doing, Harper?

She climbed into the Range Rover but sat in the parking lot to text him back. What do you mean? I just told you.

You’re not even in Colorado, where we live.

She gazed at the people coming and going in the lot. Although it probably seemed like just another day to them, it was the first day of a very different life for her.

So? There’s a branch of the bank we use here in Silver Springs. No need to wait until I get back.

There was no need not to, either. What’s the rush?

She shook her head. She’d thought he’d be relieved that he wouldn’t have to prod her to get off his coattails. Why wait, Axel? We’re divorced. As of today, you’re a free man.