BooksBarbecue
Back Fancy Meeting You Here
Chapters (52)
  1. COVER PAGE
  2. DEDICATION
  3. PART ONE
  4. ONE
  5. TWO
  6. THREE
  7. FOUR
  8. FIVE
  9. SIX
  10. SEVEN
  11. EIGHT
  12. NINE
  13. TEN
  14. ELEVEN
  15. TWELVE
  16. THIRTEEN
  17. FOURTEEN
  18. FIFTEEN
  19. SIXTEEN
  20. SEVENTEEN
  21. EIGHTEEN
  22. PART TWO
  23. NINETEEN
  24. TWENTY
  25. TWENTY-ONE
  26. TWENTY-TWO
  27. TWENTY-THREE
  28. TWENTY-FOUR
  29. TWENTY-FIVE
  30. TWENTY-SIX
  31. TWENTY-SEVEN
  32. TWENTY-EIGHT
  33. TWENTY-NINE
  34. THIRTY
  35. THIRTY-ONE
  36. THIRTY-TWO
  37. THIRTY-THREE
  38. THIRTY-FOUR
  39. THIRTY-FIVE
  40. THIRTY-SIX
  41. THIRTY-SEVEN
  42. THIRTY-EIGHT
  43. THIRTY-NINE
  44. FORTY
  45. FORTY-ONE
  46. FORTY-TWO
  47. FORTY-THREE
  48. FORTY-FOUR
  49. FORTY-FIVE
  50. FORTY-SIX
  51. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  52. ABOUT THE AUTHORS

‘So was that my purpose? To end up in the past so I could redo my future?’ Evie asked, exasperated.

‘Look, what’s your name again?’

‘Evie.’

‘Look, Evie, I really can’t tell you about something that hasn’t even happened to me yet,’ Maximilian replied.

‘Okay, okay. I just need to know what to expect. Am I ever going to go back? And will I even get a say in the whole matter?’ Evie was suddenly exhausted by the effort of pretending that everything made sense and that she wasn’t terrified every single second that her whole life could go puff, just like that.

‘Absolutely.’

‘Absolutely I’m going to go back? Or absolutely I get a say in the matter?’

The balcony door swung open and Hugo appeared. His hair was tousled perfectly; his eyes gleamed.

‘There’s my muse. I’ve been telling everyone about you but I couldn’t find you anywhere,’ he said, slurring his words slightly. He glanced at Maximilian. ‘You’re very attentive, aren’t you?’

Maximilian smiled and turned to leave.

‘Wait!’ Evie called out, forgetting herself.

‘You know what to do,’ Maximilian said with a wry wink.

‘Did the waiter just wink at you?’ Hugo said, pulling Evie towards him and holding her beneath his open jacket.

Evie shook her head against his chest, glad she couldn’t watch Maximilian walk away. ‘What are you doing out here anyway?’ she murmured. ‘There must be hordes more people dying to get a piece of you. Go and schmooze!’

‘You’re the only one I want to schmooze,’ he replied, smelling of champagne as he nuzzled into her.

She laughed, some of the tension she felt knotted in her shoulders dissipating. She stood on her toes as he tipped her face upwards and kissed her. And as she melted into his embrace, Evie prayed that things would stay exactly as they were.

TWENTY-ONE

Twenty-one

Evie woke up feeling strangely flat. She’d been kept awake all night by Hugo tossing and turning, and was seriously starting to worry about him. In the previous few days, he had become anxious and irritable, spending more time pacing the hallways than at his desk making progress with the film adaption. It was clear the pressure of writing the screenplay for Henrietta’s Gift to such a tight deadline was getting to him. It didn’t help that the producer’s assistant rang every other day, asking for updates.

Hugo’s frustration with his script and the insomnia he’d been experiencing had made him hard to live with, his low mood casting a pall over everything. With her own frustration scratching at the surface, she hadn’t dared touch her screenplay. She’d lost her edge, and didn’t quite know what to do about it.