And so it began.

Stacy felt exhausted and drove more slowly than usual as she left the unit for the last time, giving Jim a hug and a warm invitation to come and visit.

‘You mean it, don’t you?’ He sounded faintly surprised.

‘I wouldn’t have said it otherwise.’

‘I will do, then. I like looking at those funny little animals of yours, and that mechanical thing was great.’

The men came and put her things into the removal van, then set off.

As she got into her car, Jim stood at the door of his unit, waving goodbye, looking rather old and lonely.

She suppressed a yawn and told herself to concentrate on her driving. She’d been up for most of the night, packing both at her industrial unit and at the flat, though the latter had been much easier to deal with since most of the furniture belonged to the owner.

But she was still running on excitement when she arrived. She waved to Elise and greeted her own removers as they pulled up behind her car soon afterwards. She could crash later, when the furniture and her art equipment were all inside. For the moment there was still a lot to do.

When someone knocked on the door, she went to answer it and found Nell with a bouquet of flowers and the keys.

‘I just wanted to wish you happiness here and tell you that if there’s anything you need, you mustn’t hesitate to ask. We’ll come and do an assessment of what’s needed for your studio once we’ve got rid of these council idiots.’

‘I think what I’ll need most when the removers have gone is an early night. I didn’t get much sleep last night. I was still packing at two o’clock in the morning.’

‘And your boss didn’t ask you to stay on?’

‘Oh, he sort of apologised and asked, but I said no. I did agree to do some contract work for him from here, though. It’ll be good to have some money coming in. But I refused to work full-time even on that.’

‘I’m pleased for you.’ She thrust the bouquet of flowers into Stacy’s hands.

‘Thanks. I love flowers.’

‘I wanted you to feel welcome.’

‘Oh, I do. There’s something about this place that wraps round you like a hug, don’t you think?’

‘I always feel like that about the big house.’

By the time the two men had gone, Stacy was running on automatic, finding it hard to keep her eyes open. When she peeped next door, she saw that the other removal van had left too. But there was no sign of Elise.

She didn’t attempt to say hi to her neighbour, just grabbed a quick sandwich and went up to bed, not even taking the time to get undressed till she woke in the middle of the night. She didn’t feel disoriented, just happy to be there.

After contemplating the shadows cast by the moonlight for a few moments, she went to the bathroom, changed into her night gear and was asleep again within a minute of putting her head back on the pillow.