“Right, exactly, but going back to you … Why that reaction to the modern timeline?”

“It’s just … it breaks my heart to think of them like that and, very soon, that could be one of them. Imagine if Mrs Capel is the one left behind, especially with her dementia; she’ll be beside herself. She won’t understand why he’s not there for her, and then she’ll just stop remembering him at all, and …”

Chloe was letting herself get far more worked up than she’d anticipated and sniffled softly. Archer’s hand rested on her leg and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“You’re absolutely right. It is heart-breaking to think about and I hope this doesn’t come across as callous, but for her sake, I hope she goes first.”

“Mmm,” Chloe murmured. The thought of Mr Capel losing his beloved wife was almost as dreadful as the alternative and Chloe realised that her lovestruck state was wending its way towards melancholy.

“Sorry, I didn’t bring this up so we would get mired down in the sadness of what’s to come. I want to honour them, to tell the story of an extraordinary love and an extraordinary woman. Actually, I was thinking Cate would be brilliant for the role of Eloise. She could play her from forty onwards and maybe Jen for the younger version.”

“Sorry, do you mean Cate as in Blanchett and Jen as in …”

“Jen Lawrence, yes.” Again, Chloe was reminded that Archer’s world was vastly different from her own. How will our lives dovetail now that we’re in love? She wondered, not for the first time. “They look enough alike and they’re both brilliant, of course.” Archer’s observation about the two Oscar-winning actresses pulled Chloe from her thoughts.

“Oh, for sure,” she responded, as though it was just a normal everyday conversation. “Have you thought of who would play Mr Capel? You’d play him, right?”

“Actually, I was thinking I might like to direct this one.”

Chloe regarded him across the interior of the compact car. “Wow, yes, I could see that. You would be amazing, Archer. You’d be great.”

“Really?” Archer flicked another glance towards her and in that second, she saw his self-doubt, his humility. His eyes returned to the road. “I’ve never directed before … well, not since plays at drama school. I mean, I’ve wanted to for a long time. I’ve never been that actor who goes straight to his trailer as soon as they call ‘cut’.

“I’m the annoying one who sticks around and wants to talk about shot set-ups, the one who watches the dailies meticulously—and not to swoon over my own performance, nothing like that—but to see how the director is playing out their vision, how what they say to us, the actors, gets translated by the DOP, the production designer, the lighting designer … everyone. I’m fascinated by all of it.”

Chloe grinned, her wonder at him growing by the moment. “I love how passionate you are about all this.”