Page 50 of Let’s Make a Scene

Cynthie laughs and the sound is silvery and lovely. “Still a caffeine fiend, then?”

I grin. “It’s only got worse actually. Scott tries to limit me to five cups a day with middling success.”

“Scott?” Arjun perks up. “As in our Scott?”

“Yeah.” I nod. “I don’t know exactly how it happened, but after we finished filming, he just… never left.”

“That is the most Scott way possible to get a job,” Patty chuckles.

“You’ll have to bring him along next time,” Liam says. “It would be so nice to see him.”

“I’m sure he’d love that,” I reply. “He’s away at the moment—always takes a couple of weeks off to visit his family, when I wrap up filming on the series.”

“We’re big fans of Blood/Lust,” Arjun says then, throwing his arm around the back of Patty’s chair.

“Oh?” I smile, pleased. “That’s really nice. It’s a lot of fun to make.”

“Not exactly the sort of thing I thought you’d end up doing,” Hannah puts in here.

I feel Cynthie stiffen beside me, but I shrug easily. “No. It’s not the sort of thing I thought I’d end up doing either, but then a lot can change in thirteen years. I really love it, and it seems to bring people a lot of joy.”

“That’s for sure,” Liam agrees. “My god, that whole arc last season with the cursed rings? The theories we were coming up with were wild. I still think Bas is going to turn out to be Constantine’s son, though I can’t quite work out how.”

“You watch it, too?” I ask.

“We all watch it together every week,” Liam replies easily, and then—along with everyone else—he freezes.

They’re all looking wide-eyed at the woman next to me, and I turn slowly to face Cynthie. She is glaring at Liam, but when she catches me looking, her expression quickly smooths out.

“You all watch it?” I ask.

It’s her turn to shrug. “I might have seen an episode or two.”

Arjun chokes on a laugh, and even Hannah is trying to hide her smile.

“Oh, really?” I say, delighted. “So you get together and watch it every week?”

“They watch it every week,” Cynthie says sweetly. “I find it’s a good time to catch up on my puzzles.”

“Big puzzler, are you?”

She inclines her head seriously. “I mean, I don’t want to blow my own horn or anything, but I have got Wordle in one go… twice.”

“I’m more of a crossword guy.”

She scoffs. “You would be. I bet you even prefer the cryptic ones.”

“Of course, I’m not an animal.”

She laughs, and I do too, and then when I look back at the rest of the table it’s to find everyone staring at us in bewilderment.

“Well, this is certainly different,” Patty says archly.

I glance over to Cynthie again, sorry to see that carefully blank expression has crept over her face. For a moment she looked the way I remember her—sparkling.

“I’m just going to use the restroom,” Cynthie says, abruptly getting to her feet. “I’ll be right back.”

There’s a moment of silence, and I shift in my seat.