After I was happy with the lighting, I gave the direction, "Belinda, read your book. Aim, try to distract Belinda." Aim is very expressive, and eventually it worked.
Technical: Nikon D850, NIKKOE 24-70mm f/2.8E lens. Lighting is from 2 Godox AD200pro flashes - one is in a 60cm softbox off to camera left to provide key light. The other on camera right pointed at the ceiling to have that disperse the light.