She’s been staring out of the window, lost in thought, which suits Duke because his head is swimming too.

‘Yeah,’ she tells him, nodding. ‘I could be into that. I’m enjoying this,’ she adds, wagging a finger between them. ‘We work well together, don’t we?’

‘I think so,’ he tells her. ‘I think I want to try some screenwriting. And like you said at that dinner we had with Evie and Magda – it’s where the power lies, having your own company, isn’t it?’

Daphne raises her eyebrows then and wiggles them suggestively. ‘Ooh,’ she says, lowering her voice. ‘Speaking of Evie’s friend Magda – I have an itty-bitty bit of gossip, if you’re in the market for such a thing.’

Is he? He doesn’t really want to talk about Evie. His ego is still sore over it, how he thought it was more than it is. Either way it doesn’t matter, because Daphne continues to speak.

‘Guess whose bedroom I saw her coming out of this morning. And I’m talking at, like, 5 a.m. I was going down to use the gym, and they were definitely only just saying goodnight …’

Duke shrugs. Most of the time what happens on set stays on set – people get close when they work so intensely together, for such long days. As Duke well knows.

‘Katerina! The DP?’

‘Oh,’ says Duke. ‘I thought Magda had just gone through a divorce with a man?’

‘I think she did. But that doesn’t mean she’s not into women too, does it? And she was definitely with Katerina last night …’

Duke returns to looking out of the window. ‘At least somebody is having a bit of luck,’ he says, glumly.

Daphne looks in his direction.

‘What’s happened?’ she asks. ‘Duke?’

He shakes his head. ‘The Evie thing,’ he explains.

‘There’s an Evie thing?’

He blinks at her.

‘Okay,’ Daphne admits. ‘I figured there was an Evie thing. What happened?’

He sighs. ‘I don’t even know. I thought she was different, but …’ He shakes his head. It’s a horrible feeling, disappointment. He just can’t tell if he feels disappointed with Evie, or himself.

‘Oh, Duke …’ Daphne commiserates.

‘I’m okay,’ he presses. ‘Onwards and upwards, right?’

Even as he says it, he knows his words are falling flat. Much as he wishes he could just shrug off his misplaced trust, his heart isn’t in it. It’s not how he operates. The bruise is going to take a while to heal.