With an apologetic look at his mother, Hugo peeked at his phone screen. ‘I’m sorry, but I have to get this. It’s my agent,’ he muttered, while pushing his chair out abruptly and leaving the room.

The remaining Hearsts looked at Evie disapprovingly, as if Hugo’s phone call was somehow her fault. Fuck this! I am getting out of here.

‘Sorry, just need to pop to the loo.’

As Evie rounded the corner from the dining room to the house’s third sitting room—or perhaps this was a drawing room?—she could hear Hugo shuffling back and forth, as he always did on business calls. His low tone grew louder as she neared.

‘That’s much sooner than I was expecting,’ Evie overheard Hugo saying. Hovering awkwardly at the door of the sitting room—which literally housed a single chair that looked remarkably similar to the iconic one from Game of Thrones—she watched Hugo continue to pace. He channelled a nervous excitement. ‘Yes, yes, yes. Of course. Yes, I’ll see you tomorrow. Bye.’

‘What was all that about?’ Evie asked, stepping into the room.

‘Liam said the producers want me in LA so that I can be in the thick of things with pre-production,’ Hugo said, looking up at her with bright eyes. ‘It’s all happened so quickly.’

‘But we’re still working on the screenplay.’ Evie had forgotten the speed with which the film had been produced. It hadn’t seemed so fast-paced when she was simply reading about it from afar.

‘I know, we’ll keep working on it over there. Oh, Evie, you’re going to love it. Hollywood, my god!’ Hugo twirled her around the room, their feet grazing against the elaborate Persian rug.

‘How long will you be gone for?’ she asked. She was barely getting used to him being gone for book tours.

‘We’ll be gone for about six months. We can come back on the weekends as often as possible. But I doubt we’ll want to with everything that will be going on over there.’

‘We’ll be gone?’

‘Of course—you’ll come with me. You’ll love it, babe. When we’re not working on the screenplay there will be so much for you to enjoy. The shopping, the sun! It’s going to be like our own little romantic holiday.’

Hugo’s eyes were dancing as he stepped closer, grasping her hands in his. But Evie was frozen. Shopping? Sun? I’m as pasty as they come and I hate trying things on. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She suddenly felt hot and stuffy, as if the walls around her were closing in.