When we’d had drinks after auditions, and she’d got that text and had to leave, I’d assumed it was from her work or her babysitter or something. It wasn’t. It was Murray, asking her if she could come back for a private chat.
‘First of all, I need you to sign this,’ he said.
‘What is it?’
‘It’s a lot of legalese that says I can sue you if you ever talk about this conversation.’
‘Whatever this is, I don’t think I’m up for it.’
‘It’s nothing bad,’ he said. ‘I promise.’
After a few moments, Dylan scrawled her signature across the bottom of the paper. ‘All right,’ she said. ‘I’m listening.’
‘Are you a fan of the show?’
‘I’ve watched every season,’ she’d replied, ‘so yeah, I guess you could say that.’
‘Then you know we haven’t had the best track record lately with our Romeos and Juliets,’ Murray said. ‘We’ve only managed two solid couples from the past four years ofMarry Me, JulietandWherefore Art Thou Romeo?.’
‘Basil and Megan and Luna and Roger. I know.’
‘You might also know,’ Murray said, ‘about the growing movement online for us to cast more diverse participants.’
‘They’re right. You should.’
‘I agree with you,’ Murray said, ‘but the network is hesitant.’
Dylan raised an eyebrow. ‘Worried about losing their white audience?’
‘Yes,’ Murray said bluntly. ‘But they’ve given us one shot to show that it could work. Just one. We’ve got to get it right.’
He put a headshot on the table in front of her. ‘This is Dylan Jayasinghe Mellor.’
‘I know this guy,’ she replied. ‘I know who he is, I mean. The guy who had the panic attack at the Olympics and still won a gold medal. He has that mental health charity.’
‘He’s our Romeo,’ Murray said. ‘How would you feel about being his final Juliet?’
‘What?’
‘We want this season to be the biggest, splashiest, most romantic fairy-tale season ever,’ Murray said. ‘We want totell the most beautiful love story we’ve ever told, and we want to do it with two likeable, charismatic people of colour. We want to get the best ratings you’ve ever seen in your life and to prove to the ancient racists at the network that we don’t have to cast only white people to make this show work. So we’re going to rig it.’
‘And that’s what we did,’ Dylan said miserably. ‘We rigged it.’
‘Let me get this straight,’ I said. ‘You and man-Dylan – that’s nothing. That’s not a thing?’
‘I wouldn’t go that far,’ she said. ‘I like him. We’re friends, I guess. But this is not going to be one of those situations where people start off fake dating and it turns into real dating. This isn’tTo All The Boys I’ve Loved Before: Marry Me, Julietedition.’
‘I saw you on his boat.’
‘What?’
‘The day after the love machine date,’ I said. ‘We had the day off, because Heather had been eliminated and there wasn’t going to be a Necklace Ceremony. I went for a walk, and I saw you and him together on his boat.’
‘Oh,’ Dylan said. ‘That wasn’t anything.’
‘You looked pretty cosy.’
‘I think we hugged?’ Dylan said. ‘Whatever you’re thinking, it was the opposite. We were trying to get to know each other better without the cameras there, because we know we’ve got months and months of pretending to be in love coming up, but… realistically, it was even less steamythan that awkward kiss between you two I walked in on the other week.’
