‘Och, look at you two! Such little grown-ups,’ Brenda cooed, clasping her hands together.

When the pasta was finally done, Ben put huge servings of fettuccine with mushroom ragout into bowls and led Evie to the spare room at the back of the house. The room was normally packed with shoeboxes full of old birthday cards, shopping bags crammed with hand-me-downs waiting patiently to be donated to the local charity shop, old toys, tattered children’s books that had been hung onto for the much anticipated grandchildren, files, photo albums and, when the family’s propensity for hoarding became particularly obsessive, the corpses of neglected orchids, which Brenda felt too guilty about to put in the trash. But today Evie could actually see parts of the floor! The desk, which was usually piled high with paper and ornamental boxes, had been cleared to make room for their various pieces of podcast equipment.

Evie looked at Ben appreciatively as she scooped up a forkful of the heavenly fettuccine.

‘Ben, you’ve really outdone yourself this time! I’m impressed,’ she said, letting out a long ‘ahh’.

Ben busied himself with pressing buttons here, typing notes there, all the while scrunching up his face in that endearing way that always made Evie smile.

‘How was that thing with Hugo the other night?’ Ben asked, tapping the mic three times and repeating ‘testing, testing’.

‘Oh, you know how those things can be—a little too stuffy, a little too networky.’

‘You must have met some interesting people at least.’

‘Mm hmm,’ Evie said, remembering with a flash her encounter with Maximilian.

‘And Hugo, how does he fare at these events?’

‘Like a fish to water. He’s a natural.’

‘That must help take the pressure off then?’ Ben said.

‘You’d think so, but I guess it just made me feel a little …’ Evie paused, chewing on a long strand of fettuccine distractedly. ‘A little inadequate. Not that Hugo means to make me feel that way, or that he isn’t ever anything but lovely and charming.’ Evie could feel herself rambling, but she couldn’t stop. ‘Or that I would expect to be the centre of attention, it’s just, I don’t know, I guess things keep shifting—for the good, I mean! But change—well, coping with change has never been a strong suit of mine.’ Evie exhaled and shifted in her seat, feeling guilty for speaking about Hugo in a less than flattering way.

Ben looked at her thoughtfully. ‘And you don’t feel like Hugo helps boost you up alongside him?’

Evie thought about how encouraging Hugo had been when they were writing together in the comfort of their home, and was just about to respond when Brenda burst through the door with two huge pieces of ricotta cheesecake.

‘I made this last night to “stay on theme”,’ she said, putting the plates down in front of them with a flourish.