‘I’m sorry, babe, not yet. I’ll look out for her,’ he said distractedly. ‘Ah, there’s Richard Sales from the BBC. Do you mind if I go and introduce myself?’

Evie wanted to say yes. She wanted to beg him not to leave her again for the rest of the night. But she knew that wasn’t fair. He was just doing his job.

‘Sure. Of course. Go for it,’ she said, nudging him away playfully.

‘Thank you. I’m sorry, Evie. I’ll come find you as soon as I’m done.’ He leaned down and kissed her before powering towards Richard.

Evie appraised the room half-heartedly to see whether there were any conversations she could join. Previously so fired up, Evie had been looking forward to a night of meeting interesting people and pushing herself out of her comfort zone. But her unexpected run-in with Maximilian had dampened her spirits even more than not winning the competition had; his presence a reminder of how tenuous her hold on the world was, after all.

Evie also couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed in Hugo. When she fantasised about him, she had always imagined that they would be an indomitable power couple. That they would become a strong, creative, united front, barrelling towards new opportunities holding hands. And now it seemed like he was just a little too content with leaving her behind.

Noticing a door to a balcony, Evie slipped out into the fresh air to think. Relieved to be alone, she leaned over the railing and stared out into the night sky.

‘Another drink?’

Evie turned around to face Maximilian, who smiled calmly as if he wasn’t some kind of mysterious wizard intent on pulling the rug out from underneath Evie’s feet at any moment.

‘Can’t you just tell me what you’re doing here?’ Evie asked sharply. ‘I’m not ready to go back. Not yet.’

‘Who said anything about that?’ Maximilian said sweetly.

‘So this is it then? No more time travel ever again?’

‘I don’t know what my future self has in store for you, darling. What I do know is that if you’re still here, it’s probably for a good reason,’ Maximilian said. For the first time Evie noticed that he had fewer grey hairs than the last time she had seen him.

‘But what is the reason?’ she asked.

‘How am I meant to know?’ Maximilian laughed like that was the most preposterous idea in the world. ‘What did we discuss the last time we met?’

‘Well,’ Evie said, casting her mind back. ‘I told you about my love for Hugo Hearst. And now here I am dating him. And I told you I wanted to focus more on my writing, and, well I did try doing more of that, although I’m not sure I’m even any good at it …’

‘Well, isn’t that lovely,’ Maximilian said nonchalantly.