She was in such a good mood when she got home that she immediately agreed to help Meg with a creative writing assignment, which turned out to be quite fun. She realised with a pang that she hadn’t given Meg nearly enough support while their parents’ marriage had been imploding the first time around.

Back in her room, she pulled open her clunky old laptop and brought herself up to date with the films and books that had recently come out. I can’t wait to see Shutter Island in the cinema again! she thought. Then she copied the lecture notes Ben had emailed her into her uni folder and started to read.

Later, she astonished her mum by helping out with dinner and listening to her talk about her new job. The atmosphere dampened slightly when her father arrived home, but they still had a fairly pleasant dinner together, with only the odd dig exchanged—with great precision—between her parents. Peter looked incredulous when Evie got up to stack the dishwasher, and after their parents disappeared upstairs Evie put the kettle on and made mugs of hot tea for herself and Meg, just like the old days. They watched Home and Away reruns until Anna called out to Meg that it was her bedtime.

Evie must have nodded off on the couch because she barely remembered crawling up to her bed and falling asleep. She woke at four in the morning feeling totally disoriented again. Despite the excitement of her fortuitous meeting with Hugo and the good mood which had ensued, she still couldn’t quite grapple with her new reality.

Time travel just did not happen in real life. So, what the hell was going on?

A thousand more questions ran through her mind. How long would she remain in this period of time? How would she get back to her real present life? And did this mean she no longer had to pay rent?

She thought back to when she’d moved out of home and decided that if she was going to remain in this time slip situation, she wouldn’t rush to do the same again. Not only was it clear Meg needed her while their parents were so fractious with each other, she could cut down on work shifts which would also give her the time and space to concentrate on her screenplay.

Then there was Hugo. Would he still have been interested in getting her number if she hadn’t orchestrated the whole thing? But why else have I been catapulted back through time, if not to meet my soulmate? She kept trying to reassure herself, mildly amused at how casually she now referred to her mystical time travel.