Page 14 of Summer at Croftwood Cinema
Patsy went to join Ed, and Oliver followed her with a coffee for each of them.
‘Hi Ed, nice to meet you, I’m Oliver Jones.’
Ed stood up and shook Oliver’s hand.
‘So Patsy tells me you think we might be okay with the projection stuff?’ Oliver said. ‘I must admit, I was worried I’d bitten off more than I can chew. I was so focused on the hospitality side of things, I didn’t even think about the bloody cinema.
Ed smiled. ‘The projector and the tower need a good clean. Like I said to Patsy, the sound equipment isn’t my area, you might have to get a specialist in to take a look but once the window’s boarded up and you’ve evicted the pigeons, we can have a proper look.’
‘That sounds great. Thanks for coming over, I really appreciate it. Sorry, looks like I’ve got another customer.’ Oliver took his coffee and left Ed and Patsy to it.
‘Do you think I’m in there then?’ Ed asked after Oliver had left. ‘I’d love to have a go at restoring that projector.’
‘In the absence of anyone else, no offence, I think you can assume the job’s yours if you want it. I don’t think we can pay you much though.’
Ed shrugged. ‘It’s not about the money. I’ll enjoy it and I might recruit a couple of students from the Film Society to give me a hand. They’d be more than willing to give their time for free in exchange for beer.’
‘That sounds more than fair.’
‘Well, great, I look forward to getting started. Look, thanks for letting me get involved in this, Patsy.’ He looked at very earnestly and her stomach flipped a little bit as she looked into his eyes.
‘It’s no problem, I mean, you’re really the one doing us a favour. There’ll be plenty of beer for you as well, or whatever your drink of preference is.’ She tried to keep herself sounding breezy as her imagination ran away with her, producing images of them sipping wine together at the bar in the foyer of the cinema.
He looked at his phone. ‘Sorry, I’d better be off. I’ve got a lecture at one.’ He stood up, looked awkwardly at her for a split second, then said. ‘Right, see you then.’
Patsy said goodbye and watched him walk up the high street, his hands in his coat pockets and she felt oddly bereft. She didn’t know when she’d see him again, and suddenly that seemed like a problem. She wondered whether he felt like there was something between them in the same way that she was starting to. The fact that he’d agreed to help them out, well maybe that said something. Or maybe she was reading too much into it and he genuinely loved faffing around with projectors.
She snapped out of her daze and noticed Toby smiling at her from his desk of choice for the day, a couple of tables away.
She smiled back. ‘Having a good day?’
‘Not too bad, thanks. Nothing meaty as yet. I’m a lawyer. Give advice online,’ he said.
‘What do you call meaty?’
‘I love a dispute. Anything apart from contract queries which are dull or family issues, they’re always sad.’
‘It must be quite interesting not knowing what you’re going to get asked.’
‘Yes, it is generally. More varied than anything I’ve done before. Less pressured too.’
Patsy decided that she’d learned quite a lot about Toby for one day so decided not to ask what he’d done before. That could wait until another day.
‘Can I get you a refill?’
‘That’d be great, thanks.’
She joined Oliver behind the counter where he was busy making a hot chocolate for someone and turned to serve the next customer.
‘An espresso please,’ the woman requested. Her eyes were red-rimmed, she’d obviously been crying.
’That’s one-fifty please. Take a seat and I’ll bring it over,’ she said, gently.’
The woman nodded and rummaged in her bag. ‘Oh god, I’ve forgotten my purse!’
Fresh tears rolled silently down her cheeks and she turned to leave.
‘It’s okay, it’s —’ on the house, she was about to say but Toby beat her to it.
