Page 79 of Just for December

‘Yeah?’ she asks, and the way she sounds so hopeful makes Duke want to throw aside the table with his bare hands, rightthere and then, so that there’s nothing between them and he can take her and hold her and kiss her.

‘Yeah,’ he says, and she lets out a littleoh.

‘So,’ she says, and her eyes dance like they’re trying to settle on something with a more concrete conclusion. ‘See you tonight? At the wrap party?’

‘It can’t come quick enough.’ Duke smiles, and he practically floats to set.

That morning Duke and Daphne shoot their last scenes, but by mid-afternoon they sit and look at what they need to get done before flying home for Christmas, and it feels insurmountable. The solution starts with: work through the night, work in the car to the airport, work on the flight, and don’t stop working right up until the deadline, being methodical, decisive, and where they need to, breaking off to divide and conquer instead of each having to co-sign every decision.

‘You’ve gotta trust me, and I’ve gotta trust you,’ Daphne says, as they look at the tasks they’ve yet to fulfil scrawled out on a piece of A4. After wrapping on set, they got back to the hotel as quickly as possible. The party downstairs has already started, everyone exited to get home and proud of the work they’ve done. The pair plan to go down for a toast shortly and then keep on.

‘That’s the easy part.’ Duke shrugs. ‘The hard part will be finding the sheer force of will to keep pushing through. I wasnotexpecting this when I was budgeting my energy.’

‘I know.’ She laughs. ‘I mean, if we have to be roped into anything at least it’s this, right? If we pull this off, it could be the start of something really huge for us. It’s like howReese didWildand what, ten years later had a billion-dollar company?’

‘Okay, well when you put it like that …’

‘But let’s pop downstairs now? This is a good time to break?’

‘Great,’ Duke agrees. ‘Although I’ve heard there’s karaoke, so we might have done ourselves a favour by excusing ourselves.’

‘Yikes,’ Daphne says, and they head out.

Downstairs, the mood is merry and bright. The place is packed, with everyone from cast and crew in high spirits, and gloved waiters carrying trays of drinks and hors d’oeuvres, but he instantly sees who he is looking for. She’s resplendent, dressed up in a way he’s never seen her. She’s wearing a calf-length beaded skirt – it might be sequins – in silver, with a matching silver top that ties at the neck and falls open to show off her back, so that with one false move, it would be boob city. Duke thinks about those boobs. Actually – one false move and all his Christmases might come at once. Her hair is piled high on her head, and she’s got a simple pair of studded earrings in. Her lips are festive in red, and when she sees him too Duke thinks:This is how it is supposed to feel, spotting your person across a crowded room.He waves, and then is accosted by Malcolm, an arm across his shoulders and a hot, heavy breath laced with vodka saying things urgently about margins and windows of opportunity.

‘Yes,’ Duke agrees, panicking as he loses sight of her. She’s all he’s here for.See you tonight,they’d said. She knows they’re on a tight deadline. She knows what is happening – he made sure to get the message to her. Kayla, in make-up, said she’dfind her and tell her personally that he was with Daphne working, but he’d be down when he could as promised.

‘Hey, can we circle back on this later?’ Duke interrupts Malcolm, weighing down on his shoulder, right as the producer says, ‘In fact, let’s see if we can get LA on the phone right now. They’re using a guy in Toronto too, so let’s all confab together. Come on. We won’t be long. Half an hour, tops. Daphne! We’ve got a call!’ he barks in her direction, and when she comes running willingly, without protest, it’s all Duke can do to look back to let Evie know he’ll be back soon. But she’s disappeared from view.

40

Evie

Evie taps the mic.

‘Right then,’ she says into it. ‘I lost a bet with my best friend, and that’s why I’m up here.’ She gives a nervous chuckle, and everyone is kind enough to nervously chuckle with her.

‘Get it, girl!’ Magda shouts across the room of people, and Evie shakes her head. She’s had three shots and ten minutes with a meditation app in order to be able to do this, but that was the dare: Evie lost a game ofrock, paper, scissorsover something so stupid she can’t even remember now, and the forfeit was to sing a song at the wrap-party karaoke … and dedicate it to Duke.

‘First one up, what did I do to deserve this?’ She laughs, and everyone laughs again with her. God, is she really going to do this? It’s safe, right?I’m okay,she tells herself.I’m gonna jump, and he’s gonna catch me.

The guy on the sound system catches her eye and gives her a thumbs up, and then the lyrics to her chosen song come up on the screen in front of her.

‘Well …’ she tells the audience, too shy to actively seek him out. He’ll make himself known. She knows he will.

‘I once told a man that life – that love – isn’t all Ed Sheeran songs and mad dashes to the airport. We’re all going home tomorrow, so that’s the airport bit covered, and as for love being a pop song … erm, here goes nothing,’ she says, and the early notes of ‘Perfect’come on.

Everyone cheers, and a few people turn, having guessed she’s talking about Duke. She dares to look up, but then quickly glances back to the screen, knowing that she has to come in with the first line. She’s all but tone deaf, so this isn’t a serenade so much as it is an assault on everyone’s senses, but she’s trying to be cute. She’s going out on a limb, here …

‘I’ve found a love …’ she starts to sing, and as soon as everyone can tell that her vocal range is akin to that of drowning kittens in a trash bag, they gowild.So wild that she actually can’t hear herself for the next few lines, but she’s enjoying it. It’s kind of fun, letting herself be so bad at something. And by that, she means bad at both singing and seduction.

‘But darling, just kiss me slow, your heart is all I own …’ She continues to crescendo, and she has the confidence, now, to look up to the room. She gets louder, even more out of tune.Yolo,is her thinking. Before she went up Magda had said the golden rule of public karaoke is that the worse you are the more people love it, so she leans into it. She startsdoing hand actions with the words. She’s cooing and wooing and oohing and ahhing, and by the time she looks up again, everyone has properly started to get on board and they’ve all put their phone torches on and held them aloft like it’s Madison Square Garden and she really is Ed Sheeran on the closing night of a multi-year international tour.

She blasts out the last line, holding the final note, spreading her arms wide. The room erupts. She feels high as a kite. She might even be happy crying? To stand there and just own it – God, she’s never done anything like this in her life. She’s euphoric. She is the worst singer known to man – literally, every other person who goes up there tonight will undoubtedly be able to hold a note infinitely better than she can – and yet she feels the best she ever has.

She stumbles off the makeshift stage, people grabbing her shoulder and saying well done, and good job, and oh my God you’re amazing! She smiles, and nods, and rolls her eyes to signify that she gets it, she wasawfuland that’s what was so brilliant, but she’s looking over everyone’s shoulder as she does it, searching for Duke. It was all for him. This was her grand romantic gesture, a feat never before attempted by Evelyn Bird. This will probably never be attempted again! So where is he? Can he just be in front of her already, wrapping his big arms around her and laughing, making her laugh too?Dancing in the dark, with you between my arms– just like the lyrics said.

But as the crowd thins out and she gets to the back of the room there’s still no sign of him. And then she sees the look on Magda’s face, and her stomach drops.

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