Chapters (52)
- COVER PAGE
- DEDICATION
- PART ONE
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- PART TWO
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
- ABOUT THE AUTHORS
‘So, how’re you coping?’ Ben asked as they set up their microphones in his parents’ back room. Evie sat opposite him, wearing leggings and a threadbare striped sweater, her hair up in a messy bun. Two bowls of kneidlach gnocchi, which Ben made using Brenda’s famous recipe, sat steaming in front of them.
‘What do you mean?’ she asked without looking up.
‘Hugo’s been in LA for a while now, right? How are you managing without him?’
‘To be honest, it’s not so different from the book tours. He’s been coming back on weekends every other fortnight and we’ve been FaceTiming a lot about the script too.’
‘So you’re doing a lot of script-editing?’
‘Yep,’ said Evie, not wanting to tell Ben just how much of the screenplay she was actually writing. She knew he’d give her grief about her sacrificing her writing to work on Hugo’s, but Evie really didn’t mind. She was enjoying working on something that was actually going to be seen by the world for once. And what she said to Ben was true. Farewelling Hugo each time he went back to LA was awful. But she’d kind of got used to him being away, and rather than constantly dealing with his despair about the script, Hugo now FaceTimed her for an hour at 2pm LA time and 10pm her time. There was something almost old-school romantic about their new rituals. The distance meant that when they sent ‘love texts’ and made late-night calls, all other distractions—TV, other people, alcohol—fell away. As they fell deeper into a routine, Hugo had mostly got over the rejection of Evie not joining him. And Evie felt more confident with her decision. She was more determined than ever to not make the same mistakes as before. Plus, no guy was worth losing your identify over. Not even Hugo Hearst.
‘And how’s Sami?’ Evie asked, changing the subject. In all the years Evie had known him, Ben had never had a girlfriend. Sure, he’d had flings and the occasional two-night stand (Ben liked doing things in pairs) but never a serious girlfriend. Apparently, something about Evie travelling back in time had changed that. And she wanted to know everything about Sami, so she could understand why.
‘She’s good. We went to the movies last night,’ Ben said.
‘Oh yeah? What’d you see? Did you hold hands?’
Ben looked at Evie quizzically. ‘Did we hold hands?’
Evie was now entirely preoccupied with turning on and off the microphone and tapping it rhythmically. ‘Yes, did you hold hands and was it romantic?’
‘I guess—’
‘Good, great, excellent, that’s brilliant to hear Ben.’