‘Oh goodness,’ Duke says then, finally reaching her. Evie stands, in spite of herself. She doesn’t want to appear deferential or star-struck, but to stay seated would be outright rude. He’s actually taller than she thought at first, so she’s tipping her chin upwards to see him. And those eyes? Okay, fine. Evie can understand why those eyes get talked about like he’s the second coming. But she gets the sense that he knows that too. How can he not? The only thing worse than the trouble a handsome man brings is a handsome man who knows it. That’s double the trouble.

‘Evie? Honestly, can I please tell you right now, I am an incredibly huge fan of yours. I’m so honoured to be able to feature in this adaptation. Truly.’ Duke puts his hand to his chest then, as if his heart cannot lie. Evie understands that in showbiz blowing smoke up one another’s self-congratulatory asses is par for the course, so she magnanimously chooses not to test him on his alleged fandom and instead tells him he’s very kind. She wants this over as quickly as possible.

‘I can tell you don’t believe me,’ he says, doubling down. ‘But seriously, I’ve read all of your books. All sixteen of them. I even have Half Your Life on preorder for next May,’ he adds, referring to her next release. He must have had his people create a crib sheet on her or something, charming her in case she can be useful to him at some point.

‘Well,’ Evie says, not breaking the eye contact this man seems hellbent on maintaining. ‘I’m afraid I’d never heard of you before all this.’