Page 68 of Let’s Make a Scene

“What…” I begin, trailing off as I take in the scene in front of me.

It’s an outdoor cinema. And it absolutely wasn’t here a few hours ago. The entire cast and crew are milling around, drinking champagne and chatting. When they catch sight of me, a cheer goes up.

I lift my hand in greeting, bewildered. “What is going on?” I whisper.

There are picnic blankets with cushions strewn across them, arranged in neat rows on the grass.

Tall glass lanterns with white candles inside them are clustered around the edges of the lawn.

Pam is there, running a makeshift bar out of the side of her van.

Overhead there’s an enormous metal rigging frame from which hundreds of fairy lights have been suspended around an extremely serious-looking projector.

There’s a screen—a professional setup with a load of substantial sound equipment.

“How did you…?” I start again, still dazed.

“The whole crew pitched in,” Jack replies, tugging me forward to where Hannah is holding out a glass of champagne to me.

“I still don’t understand,” I say. “This is incredible. Are we going to watch a film?”

“What on earth gave you that idea?” Patty says drily.

I narrow my eyes. “What are you all doing here on my date? Is this why you’ve been acting like lunatics?”

“Well, truthfully, it’s less of a date and more of an intervention,” Hannah warns me.

“A romantic intervention,” Jack says quickly.

“Yeah,” I say after a pause, “I think I need more information than that.”

“You asked us for our help,” Patty reminds me. “So we’re delivering.”

“Just take your champagne and go and sit down,” Liam says soothingly.

“We got you popcorn too,” Arjun says. Priya is sitting on his shoulders, and she beams at me.

“Hi, Auntie Cyn,” she sings. “Do you like your party?”

“I love it,” I reply, taking the bag of popcorn she holds out.

“No reason an intervention can’t be comfortable,” Arjun adds.

“ Romantic intervention,” Jack says again a bit desperately.

“I’m not sure saying the word romantic makes it any better,” I murmur faintly, thoroughly confused.

“We saved you a blanket down at the front,” Hannah says, bossily. “Off you go.”

“Just tell me what’s going on,” I plead with her.

She takes my free hand in hers and squeezes it, smiling at me with so much affection in her face. “Just trust us.” It seems there’s a lot of trust involved in tonight’s proceedings. “We’ve got you.”

“Okay,” I agree reluctantly, because at this point what else can I do?

“Oh, and hand over your phone,” Hannah says. “I’ll put it with the others.”

“The others?” I ask.

In response she gestures to a colourful sign in Priya’s handwriting. It says,

by order of manijment! no fones. no kameras. no eggsepshuns!

I guess there’s no arguing with that, so I hand over my phone and let Jack tug me through the crowd.

Along the way people keep stopping to hug me.

It feels like it’s my birthday, and I don’t hate it; I just wish I knew why it was happening.

I also can’t help but feel that this audience is going to interfere with my get-Jack-naked scheme.

Maybe we’ll be able to sneak off to my trailer at some point.

“You two are down here at the front.” Brooke appears in front of me. “I hope you understand what a sacrifice it is that I’m not filming any of this,” she whispers to me.

“Honestly, I haven’t got a clue what’s happening.”

She only smiles mysteriously and then points to a blanket that has a RESERVED sign on it. It’s right at the front. The night is warm, and the lights sparkle in an intricate web above us.

“This is so beautiful. Did the crew really do all of this to surprise me?” I ask doubtfully.

“Turns out you’re pretty beloved,” Jack says, pulling me down beside him.

“Oh.” I glance back over my shoulder to where everyone else is getting comfortable.

I spy Hattie sitting with Simon and she winks at me.

Logan gives me a cheerful wave from beside Nisha, the intimacy coordinator.

I can’t help noticing that the two of them look pretty cozy.

Jasmine is here too. She’s drinking champagne straight from the neck of the bottle and lifts it in my direction in a knowing salute.

I see Lucy, the horse trainer, and half expect to find Reckless Ed somewhere in attendance.

There are people here from wardrobe and props and every single other department, and the air is full of happy anticipation.

I don’t know what is going on, but I already love it.

“Okay, this is amazing.” I turn to Jack. “But I have to admit, I didn’t think you’d invite quite so many people on our first date.”

He laughs. “Let’s just say our original idea spiraled a little bit. People wanted to get involved.”

I glance around at the outdoor festival that he and my friends have thrown together. “No kidding.” I shift closer to him, lean in. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” I sound nervous because I am.

He takes my hand again. “I know you said life isn’t a fairy tale, and that’s true.

But it can still be magic. Not every relationship ends in disaster.

Look at Patty and Arjun.” He gestures to where the two of them stand.

Priya is still on Arjun’s shoulders, bent over with her skinny arms around his neck so that her head rests on top of his.

Patty feeds him popcorn and he nibbles at her fingers, making her laugh. My heart melts.

“Yeah, they’re pretty good,” I agree.

“Liam and David, Hannah’s parents,” Jack says, “Clemmie and Theo. All excellent love stories.”

“Hmmm.” I tilt my chin. “I suppose so.”

“And I know that you’re having trouble believing in this, in us.

I know that you’ve been let down, badly, by people you loved, by the people who were supposed to stay.

” His voice is soft, his words earnest. “But, Cynthie, I won’t hurt you.

I won’t lie.” He looks me in the eyes. “And I won’t leave.

I will choose you every day, and I need you to know that.

I need you to see that. That’s what’s going on. ”

My eyes are swimming with tears, but before I can say anything, Brooke steps up in front of the crowd, to rowdy applause.

“Hello, everyone,” she says brightly. “And thank you for coming to this very special screening. When Jack and Hannah came to me with this idea, I thought the two of them were mad, but the truth is”—her eyes land on me and I blink the tears back, force a smile even as my heart is beating almost out of my chest—“they both just love Cynthie a lot. Normally I wouldn’t dream of sharing footage partway through a project, but once I heard their story, I got on board pretty quick.

I want to thank my team and Jasmine and Logan for helping me put this together in record time, and everyone else who helped with the setup.

So, without further ado, I give you: a love story, thirteen years in the making. ”

“Oh my god,” I whisper as the projector whirs to life.

The screen fills with an image of Jack and me.

It’s thirteen years ago. The quality isn’t the best and we’re doing the chemistry read together.

I’ve never seen this before. It’s the first time we ever met, and we look so young.

Straight away it’s there—the spark between us, all that heat simmering under every line.

This is why I got my big break—because the chemistry between Jack and me really is electric.

After a couple of minutes, Logan’s voice yells, “Cut!”

On the screen, I blink like I’m coming out of a dream.

I look up at Jack and grin. I’m smiling so hard; I can feel my own joy vibrating across the years.

Sitting here now, I remember that moment so well, the moment of pure undiluted pleasure at performing well, of performing with Jack for the first time.

The Cynthie on-screen throws her arms around Jack and hugs him, looking up at him with stars in her eyes. “That was fun.”

“Thanks so much, Cynthie,” Jasmine’s formal voice comes from the speakers. “We’ll be in touch.”

“Great.” I gather up my bag and walk across in front of the camera. “Thanks for seeing me.”

As Marion talks to me for a moment off-screen, the camera remains trained on Jack, who is looking over to where I’m standing, with such naked longing in his face that my breath catches in my throat.

He lifts his hand slowly to his chest and rubs his fingers over his heart, as if it’s aching.

It’s a gesture I’ve seen him make a few times.

“That was the moment,” Jack says low in my ear, here in the real world, right beside me. “That was the moment I fell for you, Cynthie. I told you it had been thirteen years, and I meant it. That’s how you can know. You can see it right there for yourself.”

The image on the screen cuts to show Logan and Jasmine sitting side by side.

“After the chemistry read, it was really a no-brainer,” Jasmine says.

“It’s not often you actually get to watch two people fall in love in front of you,” Logan says with a grin, “but with those two, it was like… destiny.”

Music starts playing from the speakers, and there’s a compilation of footage from the original film—times when the cameras must have been left rolling. They caught so much, I realize, more than I had ever thought possible.