Page 36 of Summer at Croftwood Cinema
‘I’m sure,’ she said, taking his hand and squeezing it. He was reading something into the offer that perhaps she hadn’t intended but maybe that was okay. Maybe she did need to let herself have some fun, especially now when her life was weighing on her more than usual. It might be exactly what she needed.
They spent the next couple of hours cleaning sprockets and other things which had been taken out of the projector. Ed had finished cleaning the inside and was ready to start re-assembling the mechanism once all the parts were similarly sparkling.
They locked up, Patsy feeling a lot safer now that she’d told Ed what was going on and they were both half expecting Dan to leap out of a bush at them. Physically, Ed was no match for Dan but Patsy knew that Dan wouldn’t dare show his true colours in front of anyone else. That had been the biggest problem. On the couple of rare occasions she’d confided in someone, they’d dismissed her worries, sure that they had the measure of him and that he couldn’t possibly be any different behind closed doors. Matt at least had seen something of it, and telling Oliver and Ed made her realise that this time she had people on her side who believed her without needing anything more than her word. That alone made her feel stronger.
Patsy let herself and Ed into her flat. She dead-bolted the door, put the chain on and turned to go into the lounge.
Ed’s gaze flicked from her to the door, concern on his face at the locking ritual he’d just witnessed. ‘You’re scared of him,’ he said quietly.
Patsy nodded. ‘But now that you, Matt and Oliver know… that helps. You believe me.’
He took her in his arms and held her head against his chest. ‘I do believe you,’ he said, bending his head to kiss her.
She took his hand and led him into the lounge where they began kissing again, more urgently. She pushed him onto the sofa so that he was half lying in the corner. His hands were in her hair which fell out of its constraints into waves which he gently pushed out of her face as he brought her closer to him. They were both gasping for breath between the kisses.
‘Come on.’ Patsy stood up and pulled Ed after her, into the bedroom.
Later that evening, they had pulled the duvet, along with a couple of crocheted blankets, out onto the roof terrace and were cocooned together while they sipped steaming cups of tea and looked out over the lights of the town.
‘This is the life,’ said Ed with a lazy smile.
‘It’s nice in the summer with a gin and tonic in my hand but tonight might beat that.’
‘It’s so secluded. This is like a secret no-one knows about. I love it. You’ve made the place so cosy, it feels like yours.’
‘Your place is nice.’
‘My place is okay but would be even nicer without a housemate to ruin my feng shui,’ he grinned. ‘This has you written all over it.’
‘I could crochet you a blanket to help you get with the shabby chic vibe?’ Patsy offered, half joking.
‘Really? That’d be amazing. Thanks.’
It was the first time anyone had been enthusiastic about her crocheted things and Patsy took it as a sign that Ed was one of the good ones, as if she didn’t already know.
The next morning he woke her with a cup of tea and he was already up and dressed.
‘I have to go,’ he said, looking as reluctant to leave as she was to see him go. ‘I’ve got a nine o’clock lecture. Will you be alright getting to work?’
‘Yes, I’m fine. I honestly don’t think he’d do anything to me in broad daylight and I’m sure he only knows about my connection with the cinema, not where I live.’ She hoped that was true but wanted to reassure Ed.
‘Okay. I’ll come and meet you after work. Are you finishing at five?’
‘You don’t have to do that.’
‘I want to. I would want to even if you didn’t have a stalker ex-husband.’ He leant towards her and gave her a lingering kiss. She put her hand on his neck and tried to persuade him back down onto the bed. ‘Oh god,’ he groaned. ‘Don’t send me off to work feeling like this.’
‘Five minutes?’
‘Okay,’ he said, already taking off his t-shirt. ‘But I’m going to have to run for the bus.’
16
‘THE OUTSIDE IS signed off,’ said Oliver, coming through the door of the coffee house with the biggest grin on his face. ‘They’re taking the scaffolding down this week.’
‘Brilliant, so what’s next?’ Patsy was concentrating on cutting a traybaked flapjack into equal portions.
‘Well, we’ll revel in the progress for five minutes first,’ he said, looking a bit crestfallen that Patsy hadn’t been as excited about the milestone as he was. ‘Coffee to celebrate?’
