Of course it was. Her shopping habit is why she can’t get the roof of her house fixed. Or help her mom more. Things can’t love her back, but they also can’t leave, can’t disappoint her.

‘No, yeah, I get it, totally, black is, like, super versatile for, like, being out and about in the cold or whatever, but I’d say you’re maybe a warm autumn? So maybe a lighter brown colour, or a red? Navy even would be great. Then you won’t look as washed out.’

Washed out! Evie thinks, but then Willow-or-Dream is already leading her by the wrist towards a couple of trailers cordoned off by a small park area. They knock, wait, and then get invited inside. To Evie’s dismay, Duke is in there, and she steels herself to at least smile at him, to literally grin and bear it.

‘I’ll be okay,’ he’s saying. ‘I’m happy for her, I am. It’s cool. Oh …’ he interrupts himself when he sees Evie.

Evie raises a hand. ‘Duke.’

‘Evie.’

‘Oh!’ says Kayla, the make-up artist. ‘You’re Evie! Amazing! Duke has just been telling us about your book, haven’t you?’

Duke looks down with a shrug.

‘Called you an author extraordinaire!’ Kayla claims, oblivious, apparently, to the frost emanating off them.

Evie narrows her eyes. Are they all making fun of her? She looks from Kayla to Duke in the mirror. He pulls a face that she can’t quite grasp the meaning of.

‘I just said I liked You and Me and Us,’ he says, slowly, like he’s afraid Evie will yell at him again. ‘The ending, especially. You make it seem like everyone is getting everything they’ve ever wanted but there’s a sadness there, too, something bittersweet. That’s all.’

He catches her eye for a beat and then looks away. Fair enough, Evie thinks, she really did give him a hard time earlier. And last night. She tentatively offers him something to work with, her way of saying sorry without actually saying sorry.

‘Yeah,’ she acknowledges. ‘Because life doesn’t work like that, does it?’

‘That’s what my therapist says,’ Duke quips to the room. Kayla laughs. He continues, looking at Evie more confidently, now: ‘That there’s no arrival point. The only ending is death, and even then it’s the start of something new.’

Evie nods. That’s pretty much exactly how she feels. Did he really come up with that analysis of her stuff himself? Surely not.