‘Sorry about that. Let’s start again. My name’s Stacy.’

‘Luke.’ He didn’t bother to shake hands, just raised his mug in a salute.

‘I’m looking to hire a small industrial unit for a few months. You wouldn’t know where I could find one, would you?’

‘What do you need, exactly?’

‘I don’t need anything fancy or any equipment. I’m an artist, a sort of sculptor. I make pieces from scrap metal, small stylised animals, whatever comes to mind, and I have my own tools. I need somewhere bigger than a room in a house, though.’

‘Are you an amateur or a professional?’

She wasn’t going to call herself an amateur. ‘My work isn’t paying its way at the moment, so I still need a day job to support myself, but I’ve sold some pieces here and there. One day I hope, no, intend, to do it full-time.’

‘Good luck with it. Actually, Jim at the end isn’t using all his space at the moment. If it’s only for a few months he might be willing to come to some unofficial arrangement with you. Come on. I’ll introduce you. It’s worth a try.’

He led the way to the end of the short row, to what looked like the biggest unit. It was L-shaped, filling in the end part of the piece all the way across. Inside it an older man was working on some machinery she didn’t recognise.

Luke held up one hand to stop her. ‘Wait till he’s finished. It’s very skilled work.’

Even when Jim had finished he didn’t notice them and Luke had to go inside and wave to attract his attention, because the machinery was still running and making a loud racket.

Luke got straight to the point. ‘Stacy here is looking for somewhere to rent to work on her sculptures for a few months. She’s just divorced and doesn’t know where she’ll wind up permanently, so this is only temporary. I thought about your side room.’

Stacy went across to join them.

‘Jim, meet Stacy.’

They both gave a quick nod and eyed one another.

She decided to be assertive about her needs. ‘Before I waste your time, is it always as noisy as this?’

‘Nah. Just now and then.’

‘How much is “now and then”?’

‘It’d add up to about an hour a day, two hours max.’ Jim studied her, not in a sexual way but as if assessing whether she was serious, then pointed to a door at one side. ‘Go and have a look in that room. It’s empty at the moment. You’d have to share the toilet and kitchen with me, otherwise that space is all yours as long as you don’t fall behind with the rent.’

The room was bigger than she’d expected, about twenty foot by thirty, with one workbench, plenty of electrical sockets and a scuffed stainless steel sink. She stood in the middle and turned round on the spot. It’d do. In fact it’d be great, because it was bigger than anywhere she’d had for working in before. She could even store her furniture here and save warehouse costs.