‘It’s all right,’ Romeo-Dylan said.
‘No, it’s not.’
‘Murray?’ Carrie said in my earpiece.
‘It’s okay,’ I said. ‘Dylan G’s protecting him. The mama bear shit is good.’
Juliet-Dylan turned to look at Romeo-Dylan. ‘You’ve done nothing but be kind to everyone here. You don’t deserve to be treated like this.’
‘Dyl.’ Romeo-Dylan reached out and touched her hand, just lightly, one finger brushing her knuckles. ‘It’s okay.’
Juliet-Dylan bit her lip, hard – and I saw it.
I saw what Lily was doing. The careful way she was playing this, digging her thumbs into the pressure points, to give us exactly what we needed. To givemeexactly what I wanted, even though she thought it was the wrong call.
I will make the Dylans work for you, Murray,she had told me,if it’s the last thing I do.
I flicked my radio to the all-crew channel. ‘Whatever you do, don’t cut the scene,’ I said. ‘The Dylans finally look like they’re into each other.’
As if she’d heard me, Lily’s lips curled in a predatory smile. ‘How long are you two going to keep lying?’
Both Dylans’ heads swivelled to look at her. Their fingers were still touching, shoulders almost brushing. It was a flawless hero couple shot, the type that directors of scripted shows would spend forever trying to choreograph.
I was only dimly aware that it was happening. The idea of taking my eyes off Lily was unthinkable.
‘No one’s lying to you, Lily.’ Romeo-Dylan’s tone was gentle, kind, calm – all the things which would work beautifully on TV but would never, ever, not even for one second, work on Lily.
‘Why would I bother lying to you?’ Juliet-Dylan said. ‘I’m not going to waste that kind of energy on you. I know where my focus is.’
Lily regarded them both for a long moment. She had one hand on her hip, her head cocked slightly to the side, and that look in her eye from that first day I’d spoken to her at the crew briefing forDesert Island Castaway, the look that saidthis woman is trouble.
‘Did I say you were lying tome?’ she said sweetly.
Yes, my coping mechanisms have been a bit left of centre. But I am still an adult, and I am still competent and capable and in control.
She was more than that. She was a fucking genius.
She knewexactlywhat she was doing.
And she was doing it for me.
A drop of water was trickling its way down Romeo-Dylan’s cheek. For a moment, I thought he was crying, but then another drop hit, and another, leaving spots on his white shirt. It was starting to rain.
‘You’re lying to each other,’ Lily said. ‘And you’re lying to yourselves.’
She gestured between them. Juliet-Dylan laced her fingers defensively through Romeo-Dylan’s.
There was a roll of thunder in the distance, as perfectly as if Lily had cued it. God, god, god, she wassofucking good.
‘Don’t think I have noticed what’s going on here,’ Lily said. ‘Don’t think I haven’t noticed that you’ve already made your decision, Romeo.’
‘I—’ Romeo-Dylan started, but Lily held up a finger.
‘If you finish that sentence,’ she said, ‘then you will be lying to me.’
A brilliant flash of lighting lit up the sky. ‘And if you pick her in the end,’ Lily said, alight for an instant as the sequins of her dress refracted the light, ‘you’ll be making a huge mistake.’
The rain started to get harder, going from drizzle to a steady shower. ‘Should we stop this and wait for the weather to pass?’ Carrie asked in my earpiece.
