‘Oh, I’m such a fan!’ gushed Sami. ‘I love your book so much.’ Hugo sat down opposite Evie and touched her knee beneath the table. Evie let herself relax at this gesture of tenderness.

‘How did you guys meet again?’ Evie asked Sami, though she already knew.

‘Well, it’s quite a funny story,’ Sami said, looking at Ben with smiling eyes.

‘I met a girl online and went to the Windsor Arms in Clapham to meet up with her,’ Ben said.

‘That’s where I work,’ said Sami. ‘And I see this poor guy sitting alone for over an hour, looking at his phone, and it’s just a little bit obvious that—’

‘I got bloody stood up, didn’t I?’ said Ben, mock indignant.

‘And so, after my shift I went and sat with him, and we started talking, and the rest is history.’ Sami put her hand on Ben’s across the table, her face glowing with happiness.

‘Turns out my date was waiting for me at the other Windsor Arms down in Kensington,’ said Ben. ‘And she’d waited ages too and thought she’d been stood up. But anyway, by the time I realised, I was already smitten with Sami.’

‘How romantic are you two?’ said Evie. She had never seen Ben seem so clearly head over heels. So giddy. Usually, he only got this enamoured with original VCR versions of Wes Anderson movies.

When their food arrived, Evie breathed in the heady aroma and hungrily grabbed a piece of pizza, biting into its cheesy goodness.

‘Benny, what’s the latest with that mockumentary assignment you were working on?’ asked Evie.

Hugo let out a snort and leaned back in his chair. ‘Mockumentary? What will they think of next?’

Evie frowned at Hugo then looked back at Ben in time to see Sami place her hand on his wrist, her fingers grazing the sliver of skin between his shirt and watch. ‘It’s pretty amazing, actually,’ Evie said, before turning to address Sami. ‘Has he told you the premise?’

When Sami looked at him enquiringly, Ben shrugged and told them all how he and his group were developing a script based on the wedding preparations for Will and Kate’s big day. ‘It’s sort of like Keeping up with the Kardashians meets Say Yes to the Dress meets the Royal Family documentary that aired in 1969. It’s meant to be a commentary on the place of the monarchy in the twenty-first century. Well, that’s the idea anyway.’

Crossed with The Crown, Evie wanted to add, but that wasn’t coming out for several years. Ben is so ahead of his time!

Sami beamed at Ben, nodding along as he spoke. Noticing Hugo take out his phone and send a quick text under the table, Evie nudged him firmly beneath the table.