On Tuesday, Harper drove to LA so she could go to Disneyland with her girls. Karoline had been shocked to hear that she was coming, but Harper had insisted she no longer needed time alone, that she was set on her new path and preferred not to miss out on this opportunity to build such great family memories. She was afraid she’d go back to Tobias’s house if she didn’t take up her responsibilities as a mother. She found herself thinking about him all the time—almost obsessively so, which shocked her. They’d only spent a couple of days together. It wasn’t as if she knew him well.

Occasionally she also found herself thinking about how different this trip would be if Axel were with them. She missed having a complete family, missed the safety, security and peace of mind it afforded. She’d told him he could keep his money and she’d earn her own, but it wasn’t entirely clear how she was going to do that. It’d been a number of years since she’d been part of the workforce.

Still, she didn’t reach out to him. Something had changed in that bedroom with Tobias. She couldn’t name what, but it had put some much-needed distance between her and her ex-husband.

Maybe it was the embarrassment she felt about what he’d heard via that pocket dial. Or maybe it was that the encounter had shown her other possibilities. The rest of her life didn’t have to be nothing but doom and gloom because Axel had decided to opt out of their marriage.

Tobias had provided a glimmer of hope, she decided. He’d shown her that Axel wasn’t the only desirable man in the world.

Ironically, once she stopped calling her ex-husband, he started calling her—and not just to get her banking info. It got to the point that she silenced her phone and began ignoring him. She had to. She wouldn’t have any chance of maintaining her resolve and starting over if she didn’t.

After three calls in a row that she sent straight to voice mail—partly because she needed emotional distance and partly because she was afraid he’d start in on what he’d heard that day—he texted her an angry message for not picking up. Really? We can’t even talk anymore? What the hell is going on with you? Have you lost your mind?

Planning to deal with him later, she put her phone back in her purse, but while they were walking through Adventureland, she saw her sister answer a call and felt anxious. She hadn’t told Karoline about Tobias. She was hoping Karoline wouldn’t have to know.

But what if Axel, frustrated by her lack of response, had turned to calling her sister?