There was silence, while Emma stared at Lulu, and Charlie smiled quietly into her coffee.

“Reactive,” said Lulu, then.

“It’s very important,” said Sophie. “You don’t want someone who just sits there and doesn’t react. That’s the kiss of death. Ask Brenda Blethyn.”

“Okay.” Emma tried again. “How tall is he?”

“Tall?” Sophie frowned her puzzlement at the question, but shrugged tolerantly. “Tall enough, I suppose.”

“Yes, but how tall? I can’t express to you strongly enough how essential this information is.”

“I don’t know!” said Sophie. “He’s probably a couple of inches taller than me. It really isn’t important. If you’re a halfway decent actor, you can make yourself as tall or as short as you like.”

“Sophie …” Emma leaned farther across the table, dangerously clutching a butter knife.

“I’ll tell you something that is important about your Dr. Broody, though,” said Sophie. She finished her toast and reached for a paper towel to wipe her fingers. “Which is that after we’d wrapped the scene, I went to the loo. And when I came out, I overheard Colin talking to the director. And he was talking about me. He was asking where I’d come from. He said I had—and I quote—‘definitely something that was worth watching.’ And …” Bunching up the paper towel, she tossed it triumphantly into the air. “He said he thought he and I had had good chemistry and he looked forward to working with me again!”

“Sophie!” As one, her two sisters descended on her with hugs, while even quiet Charlie gave a whoop of delight.

“That does it,” she said. “We’re going out to dinner tonight, somewhere nice, my treat, and you’re neither of you saying no. That’s fantastic, Sophie! You’re really on your way now.”

“It gets better!” Attempt at cool abandoned, Sophie had leaped from her chair and was performing pirouettes in front of the stove. “He came up through small parts himself and, because he really does seem to be a nice guy, he occasionally does pick people he likes and puts in a word for them. And he obviously has some say-so, too, because the last person he picked was Miranda Fentiman, you know, the girl who plays the social worker? Well, she originally only came on for one episode, just like I did, but Colin liked her, too, and now she’s a semi-regular. And it gets better still because St. Luke’s give you time off to do more serious stuff, too—she did The Seagull last year at the Orange Tree, and I hear that now she’s even talking to the people at the Vagabond, which is only like the best theater in the entire universe and the whole of world history, so not too bad to look forward to, is it?” She finished a pirouette, and spread her arms wide in an elaborate curtsy. “Behold, Dame Sophie Atwater, legend of the Vagabond Theatre!”

“Sophie, this is amazing.” Lulu rose to join her, turning the solo into a stately minuet. “We’ll be boasting about you before the year is out. You’ll be our sister, the famous actress.”