Henry was sitting up against one of the bare concrete walls, a sleeping bag pooled around his waist. He wore a fleece and a bobble hat, which he quickly pulled off before grabbing his glasses from a neat pile of items on the floor and slipping them on.

‘What are you doing here?’ we both asked, at precisely the same time. It might have been funny, except that I was freezing cold, beyond exhausted and desperate to find a quiet corner where I could sob my wretched heart out.

Henry pulled up his knees and rested his elbows on them. ‘I thought there was a better chance of getting some sleep in here rather than the summer house.’ He looked at me. ‘Didn’t you go home?’

I shrugged, fiddling with the toggle on my duffel coat. ‘No.’

He continued examining me until his logical brain had pieced it together. ‘Oh. You went to see your boyfriend.’

‘The house is all locked up.’

‘Right.’

I took a tentative step further into the room.

‘Would you mind if I…?’

Henry sighed, starting to wriggle out of the sleeping bag. ‘It’s not very clean.’

‘No!’ I held up one hand in protest. ‘I didn’t mean that, I just meant is it okay if I stay in here? I’ll… um…’ I looked around at the metal shelving units and piles of equipment before sitting down on a bare patch of concrete and leaning clumsily against a plastic crate that slipped back several inches before bumping up against something else. The floor felt even colder than me, and as the heat of the bike ride began to recede my muscles shivered. Pretending this was all perfectly fine, I closed my eyes and attempted to snuggle down as if on the verge of falling asleep.

My chattering teeth gave me away.

‘The whole point of me being in here is to get some sleep. If you think I can do that while listening to you sink into hypothermia, then your opinion of me is even worse than I thought.’

‘I’m very sorry, I’ll try to freeze to death more quietly.’ I huddled into a tight ball, pulling my beret down as low as I could on my forehead.

After a long moment, Henry spoke again, his voice quiet this time. ‘Don’t be an idiot, Bea. It’s not contagious.’

‘What’s not?’ I asked, opening my eyes.

‘Whatever it is that makes you want to stay as far away from me as possible.’

As my retinas adjusted to the light again I saw that he’d unzipped the sleeping bag and opened it up, so it was nearer the size of a double duvet. Underneath was a single blow-up mattress that looked luxuriously comfortable in contrast to the floor.

‘Are you sure?’ I asked, even as I unfolded my creaking limbs and prepared to join him.