Evie laughed. Like his mother, Ben thought any activity could be improved with good food. ‘For sure,’ she said. ‘But you’d have to do all the cooking since I’m completely hopeless in the kitchen.’

‘Obviously.’

‘So, you’re keen?’ Evie asked.

‘Oh, for the love of god,’ the curly-haired woman beside Ben piped up. ‘Just say yes already so we can all get back to this goddamn lecture.’

As the people around them erupted into applause, Ben sank low in his seat. But Evie didn’t care. This time around, she wasn’t going to be afraid of being whoever the hell she wanted.

Evie wiped her feet on the welcome mat and unlocked the front door. A light drizzle had descended over the city during her journey home, and she was damp and slightly irritable. Before she’d even made it to the stairs, Meg pounced on her, gripping on to one of her arms.

‘Meg, give me a second here, I’m barely through the door,’ said Evie, remembering the peacefulness of getting home to her empty flat. But despite her love of solitude and independence, she reminded herself that being back home was a good thing. At least for a little while, anyway.

‘Evie, you’ve had a delivery,’ said Meg, her eyes wide with excitement.

‘A delivery?’ Evie frowned. She hadn’t been back in her past long enough to remember doing any online shopping. Was online shopping even a thing now? she wondered.

‘It’s in your bedroom,’ Meg said.

Meg was practically jumping out of her skin with glee as she led the way upstairs. When they reached Evie’s bedroom door, she stopped suddenly and said, with a huge, delighted smile on her face, ‘Are you ready?’

‘Uh huh,’ said Evie, feigning enthusiasm.

‘Ta da!’ Meg yelled as she swung open the door.

Evie’s breath caught as she took in the room. Inside, covering almost every raised surface were vases and vases of pristine, white, long-stemmed roses. Vases stacked on her desk, on her bedside table and on top of her bookshelf.

Evie savoured the flowers’ beautiful scent. ‘It’s like what Travis Scott did for Kylie Jenner’s birthday!’

‘Who?’ Meg asked, confused.

But Evie didn’t reply as she twirled ecstatically from vase to vase, picking out roses and holding them to her nose, breathing in their luxurious aroma.

Meg followed Evie around the room, giggling and running her fingers along passing petals. ‘Don’t you want to know who they’re from?’ she asked.

There was no card sticking out anywhere, so Evie looked at Meg, eyebrows raised.

Guiltily, Meg took an envelope from her back pocket and passed it to Evie. Turning it over, Evie saw the seal had already been broken. ‘Meg! Boundaries, please!’

‘I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist. And you weren’t answering my texts. What was I supposed to do?’