The more she thought about it, the more she realised that this was just the sort of project she needed. For the past two years she’d simply been existing; this was something she could really throw herself into.

‘You do realise,’ he said eventually, having waited for Thea to start eating the grass and tearing her clothes, ‘that it’s unlikely you’ll ever make any money?’

‘Money is not the only thing in life.’ She regarded him reproachfully. He should know that.

‘That’s all very well to say if you’ve got some. Without it life can be pretty desperate. Having a gallery is a fine idea, but you wouldn’t be able to afford to give up the day job for years.’

Thea wanted to put her hand on his, where it was crumpled into a fist on top of the short, glossy turf, but she sensed he wouldn’t appreciate the gesture. ‘I know, but I’ll have my lodgers, who keep the house going. My day job earns me very little. I’d do better to run the gallery during the day and work in a bar at night.’

He frowned. ‘When would you sleep?’

Thea shrugged. ‘In the afternoons, when I’m sitting in my gallery and nobody comes?’

He smiled at last. ‘So you have at least been in a small art gallery, then?’

‘Yes. And I promise you, before I make any commitment I will visit a lot more, talk to people, find out what’s involved.’

His smile extended a little further and she saw he had small indentations in his cheeks, what would be dimples in a woman or a child, or even a different sort of man. ‘And all for the love of Rory?’

‘It’s his work I’m interested in. I just want it to stay in this country … continent. If he sends it to the States it’ll be lost to Britain for ever. Another artistic brain down the drain. And in a silly way I feel I discovered him. Perhaps I want a little of his potential glory.’

‘But how are you going to persuade him to hold back from the US? Why should he wait for you to set up your gallery in Long Shufflebottom, or whatever, where nobody may ever see it, when he could have a great, big, grand opening in some wonderful Manhattan loft in a matter of months, not years? I mean, if he has to wait for you to start a gallery from scratch, he might as well wait for a London gallery to have space.’

Thea felt a cloud pass over her enthusiasm and at the same time a breeze got up, making her feel chilly. ‘No reason at all. I’ll just have to convince him that he must. I know it’s all a dream, really, but I’ve got to try, or I’ll regret it for ever.’