‘Well, it’s been fascinating, Mr Maximilian,’ said Ben, gathering their equipment to put in the backpack. ‘And very … enlightening. Thank you so much for taking the time to meet with us.’

As they got up to leave, Evie told Ben she still had a couple of questions she wanted to ask Maximilian and that she’d meet him outside the bagel shop. Ben sighed wearily, but he nodded, said goodbye to Maximilian and showed himself out.

After watching Ben leave, Maximilian looked at Evie curiously. ‘It’s about the writer, isn’t it?’

‘I know it must sound silly,’ said Evie, ‘but I just can’t stop thinking about him.’

Maximilian seemed to soften slightly. ‘All I can say is there are a lot of distractions in your life.’

‘Like Instagram?’ Evie asked.

‘No, like preoccupations with no foreseeable outlet,’ said Maximilian. ‘Like everyone else these days, you’re juggling so many aspects of your life you’re not focusing on the most important things—or people.’

Evie nodded in agreement. She was so busy trying to make ends meet with her shifts at the Ad Lib Cinema that she wasn’t making any headway with the things she actually cared about: most notably, the screenplay she’d left film school to focus on. And despite a couple of meaningless dalliances, and a friends-with-benefits agreement with a guy she didn’t even like that much, she was yet to meet anyone she could see herself settling down with.

Maximilian stood up, his silk robe rippling.

‘Please tell me what to do,’ Evie said softly.

Maximilian sighed and put a reassuring arm around her shoulder. ‘You need to work out what you want in life and concentrate on achieving that which is closest to your heart. You should only settle for somebody worthy of your love.’

‘But how am I supposed to even meet a man, let alone decide whether they’re worthy of my love?’ asked Evie, exasperated. ‘Do you know how many women in their thirties are trying to meet a nice guy? There’s an entire industry capitalising off it. I’ve tried Hinge, Bumble, Tinder …’

‘I can feel that a lot of things are going to change for you, though perhaps not in the way you expect,’ interrupted Maximilian.

‘Really?’ asked Evie.

‘Really. But you need to think about your priorities. Fulfilling your creative ambitions is going to require hard work, determination and—most of all—bravery. And finding someone worthy of your love might involve some major false starts.’

‘So, what should I do?’ Evie asked.

‘Show some persistence with that screenplay you dropped out of film school for, and—’

Evie’s eyes widened. Maybe he was a bona fide psychic after all.

Maximilian smiled. ‘Yes, I do have psychic powers, but I also read. The bio on your podcast website says you’ve been working on a screenplay for over seven years.’