Just for December by Laura Jane Williams

Author:Laura Jane Williams [Williams, Laura Jane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers
Published: 2022-08-22T17:00:00+00:00

23

Duke

Duke thinks that Evie’s best friend is the funniest person he’s ever met – and he’s spent five weeks on set with Jack Black before now.

‘Magda, ohmygod!’ Evie shoots her best friend a look after she’s made her third joke about oral sex, and then turns to Duke and Daphne. ‘Please pardon my best friend’s disgusting mouth,’ she says, and Duke is trying to figure out how somebody so serious and focused like Evie can be BFFs with somebody as filter-free and hilarious as Magda.

‘I love your best friend’s disgusting mouth.’ Duke laughs, shrugging.

‘I kind of do too,’ echoes Daphne.

‘Traitor,’ Evie faux-scolds them, narrowing her eyes first at Daphne, then at Duke. ‘You too, mister.’ She points, accusingly, and Duke holds up his hands like he’s been caught in the crossfire innocently.

‘I regret nothing,’ he says.

‘That’s just your problem,’ Evie chastises.

They could have eaten in the restaurant to the hotel, which would have been fine, it’s a great place, but Magda had been told about a little bistro off the beaten track and had insisted that nobody cared who they were and that if they were bothered, she’d protect them. Her enthusiasm is contagious. They’d relented.

‘This is fun,’ Daphne says, smiling. ‘I’ve been wanting to explore a bit. I’m always just so tired after filming, and Brad never wanted to do anything …’ She trails off, and Duke wonders if this is the moment she’s going to tell them they’ve broken up – not because he wants her back, but because Brad seems as close to scum as it’s possible for a man to be.

It isn’t lost on him Daphne’s just used the past tense to talk about him, though. He looks at Evie. Has she noticed? They’ve seemed friendlier since their photoshoot, maybe Daphne has told her all about it. Women open up to each other easily that way, don’t they?

‘I came just in time to liven things up then, didn’t I?’ Magda quips. ‘Seems intense, being on set all day.’

‘Yeah,’ Daphne says. ‘It’s a lot of waiting around, and getting cold, and we’re the ones on screen but really we’re just a cog in a movie-making machine. We don’t even have that much power, to be honest – I mean, I feel that way, I don’t know about you, Duke.’

Duke nods. ‘Yeah,’ he agrees. ‘I think the studio heads have the most power.’

‘How so?’ asks Evie.

‘They hold the purse strings.’ He shrugs. ‘And when you control the money, you control everything else on the movie too – both for making it, and marketing it. A great movie that doesn’t get marketed won’t get seen, or you can be really clever with marketing and get a mediocre movie a good return. And as studio head, you’re the one everyone is answerable to, so you’re the one with the most agency.’

‘I’d have thought that was directors,’ Evie offers, as their main courses arrive.

‘They certainly act like they’re the puppeteers,’ says Daphne. ‘I mean, not always. Sometimes. The men more so, to be honest.

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