They watch a couple of takes before Brad declares they’ve got it, and Magda shakes her head in awe. ‘Duke is coming over. Do I look okay? Do I have sauerkraut in my teeth?’

‘Why hello.’ Duke smiles as he approaches. ‘Are you two having a lovely time?’

Magda opens her mouth to answer him, right as Duke reaches out to tuck a stray hair behind Evie’s ear, and the tenderness of it catches even Evie off guard, making her heart beat in quickstep and cheeks flush. They swap coy smiles. Evie is painfully aware that her best friend is staring, mouth agape, but she refuses to ruin the moment by acknowledging it.

23

Duke

Duke thinks that Evie’s best friend is the funniest person he’s ever met – and he’s spent five weeks on set with Jack Black before now.

‘Magda, ohmygod!’ Evie shoots her best friend a look after she’s made her third joke about oral sex, and then turns to Duke and Daphne. ‘Please pardon my best friend’s disgusting mouth,’ she says, and Duke is trying to figure out how somebody so serious and focused like Evie can be BFFs with somebody as filter-free and hilarious as Magda.

‘I love your best friend’s disgusting mouth.’ Duke laughs, shrugging.

‘I kind of do too,’ echoes Daphne.

‘Traitor,’ Evie faux-scolds them, narrowing her eyes first at Daphne, then at Duke. ‘You too, mister.’ She points, accusingly, and Duke holds up his hands like he’s been caught in the crossfire innocently.

‘I regret nothing,’ he says.

‘That’s just your problem,’ Evie chastises.

They could have eaten in the restaurant to the hotel, which would have been fine, it’s a great place, but Magda had been told about a little bistro off the beaten track and had insisted that nobody cared who they were and that if they were bothered, she’d protect them. Her enthusiasm is contagious. They’d relented.

‘This is fun,’ Daphne says, smiling. ‘I’ve been wanting to explore a bit. I’m always just so tired after filming, and Brad never wanted to do anything …’ She trails off, and Duke wonders if this is the moment she’s going to tell them they’ve broken up – not because he wants her back, but because Brad seems as close to scum as it’s possible for a man to be.

It isn’t lost on him Daphne’s just used the past tense to talk about him, though. He looks at Evie. Has she noticed? They’ve seemed friendlier since their photoshoot, maybe Daphne has told her all about it. Women open up to each other easily that way, don’t they?

‘I came just in time to liven things up then, didn’t I?’ Magda quips. ‘Seems intense, being on set all day.’