Magda waves a hand. ‘He cares for you, Evie. That’s the most lovely present a best friend could ask for. I shall but welcome him with open arms.’ She seems to have a second thought then, and adds: ‘But he can get his own spring rolls. I’m not sharing with anybody, not even the man who makes you smile brighter than the sun and the sea and the stars.’

Evie reaches up to her cheeks. She really is smiling widely.

The seatbelt light goes on and the pilot makes an announcement about windspeeds and estimated arrival times as a woman delivers flutes of champagne to everyone in their part of the cabin and they start to taxi down the runway.

‘How long is he going to stay for?’ Magda asks, as the plane launches into the air.

‘I don’t know.’ Evie shrugs.

‘Is he your boyfriend now?’ she presses.

‘I don’t know!’ Evie repeats.

‘Well, what do I call him?’

Evie finishes her bubbles and lets the drink fizz happily on her tongue.

‘Same as you always have, I’d imagine,’ she says. ‘Just plain old Duke.’

The plane is busy, but it’s so peaceful in first class that Evie feels like she could be in a private members club. She chats with Magda as they get served drinks and snacks, and flicks through the TV shows and movies on offer. None of it seems as dreamy as the story she has written for herself – even Duke aside, being away with her best friend, breaking herself open, the tattoo … the Evie Bird landing back in Utah isn’t the same Evie Bird who took off.

‘I’m proud of you,’ Magda whispers once the food has been cleared away and most people have gone into a mid-flight sleep. ‘I’m proud of both of us actually. Two best friends, weather-beaten by life, trying and trying again.’

Evie grins. ‘We’re doing okay, huh, friend?’ she says and Magda nods.

‘Yes, ma’am.’

As Magda falls asleep too, Evie pulls out her laptop from the overhead locker. Rereading the thirty thousand or so words of her new book, she can tell this is going to be a breakout novel for her. She just knows. The pace is different, the energy to it. She sighs happily, and then a figure appears beside her and she almost jumps out of her skin.

‘Jesus!’ she says, clutching her chest. ‘You scared me half to death!’

‘Sorry.’ Duke smiles, in that way that he does. ‘It’s just, they closed the curtain so I couldn’t see you anymore, and I was okay when I could see you, but with it closed …’ He trails off.