They get the bracelet and by the time Duke’s back at his hotel, citing a headache and a need to run his lines, the photos are online. Just as they’d hoped, there was a photographer there the whole time. He hates that he checked, and hates even more the sad, heavy feeling that develops in his stomach as he scrolls through. There they are eating, riding the rides, looking into each other’s eyes. There’s a photo of him gazing almost adoringly at her as she looks off to one side, and then perplexingly, considering she had a wry smile plastered to her lips for most of the afternoon, a photo of her looking at him in quite the same way. He’s reading a menu, or a pricing list, and her face is open and wide, her expression playful and sweet. It really does look like she’s into him. Duke wonders if she hasn’t missed her vocation. Apparently she’s quite the actor too. I want that look for real, he thinks to himself, before deciding he doesn’t mean that, that he needs to sleep, that he’d never want to be with a woman like Evie, forever feeling like he can’t keep up.

So why does he keep thinking of her?

‘You seem blue,’ Daphne says to him after their final scene, a physical comedy moment that involved an ice rink, a fall, and an almost-kiss. ‘I’m here, you know. If you need me.’

Duke looks at her. It’s late. He’s not really been able to mull over his ‘date’ yesterday, how unkind it felt to be the butt of Evie’s distaste for their fauxmance.

He was up early to get one of his solo scenes, which went fine – not great, but fine. The snow had frozen into ice, so it was pretty chilly, and it’s hard to focus when you’re that cold. But as the sun came out and the ice melted, he was able to finally lean into the thing he’s best at. He’s really proud of what they’re making together. It doesn’t happen on every set – hell, it doesn’t happen on most sets. It’s some sort of magical alchemy where cast, crew, story, and set are all aligned. This won’t be a contender for the awards season but that was never the point of taking the role.