Page 50 of Summer at Croftwood Cinema
The thought of not working at the coffee house anymore was scary. It was all she’d known for three years and all she’d expected to know for the only future she’d allowed herself to envisage. It was overwhelming. ‘I don’t know, Ollie. I don’t know anything about doing something like this. It’s one thing putting ideas together but I have no idea how to put it into practice.’
‘We’ll go through it with Matt. He’ll be able to explain what he needs and how it fits in with the rest of the team. Don’t decide now, wait until after that and see what you think. If you like the sound of it, we can make a firm plan.’
‘Okay. Thanks, Ollie. I really appreciate you having faith in me like this.’
‘I don’t need faith, Pats. I know what you’re capable of, you’re the one that needs the faith, in yourself.’ He squeezed her hand.
‘Well, I’m relieved we’re sorted. It feels good to have the plan in place.’
‘And Ed’s still okay to carry on like he was?’
Patsy had told Oliver that they’d ended things and he had done a good job of being sorry, managing to wait a good couple of minutes before he asked about the projector situation.
‘Yes, I think so.’
‘It’s okay being friends?’
‘To be honest it’d be easier to never have to see him again but then that seems like a shame.’
He raised an eyebrow, questioningly.
‘He’s the first man I’ve been out with since Dan and I’d expected more, somehow. I suppose I thought he might grow on me and end up being the one.’
‘Does he need to be the one? He’s the first guy you’ve been out with, the odds were unlikely. I thought you’d decided just to have fun?’
‘I don’t know if I know how to do that, relationship-wise. I feel like it has to be all or nothing. Is that weird? The more time we spent together the more I realised that we weren’t compatible. He was quite self-centred, in the nicest possible way.’ She cringed as she said it, feeling massively disloyal to Ed. ‘Maybe not self-centred, but inflexible. I get the feeling that he was trying to force me to fit into his life as if he doesn’t want anything to change.’
‘If I’m being completely honest, I think most relationships are based on compromise. I’m not saying you should compromise, but you need to make sure that you’re only making reasonable compromises and that that’s all someone expects from you. It can’t be all one way and you shouldn’t be settling for anything if it doesn’t make you happy.’
‘That’s what it was like with Dan, everything was on his terms and I don’t want to fall into that again.’
‘Good, knowing what you want is half the battle.’
Above everything else, she knew that not telling Ed the whole truth about Dan was the main thing that bothered her because she knew if he was someone she was taking seriously, if she thought they had a future, she would have told him.
22
PATSY WENT DOWN to wait in the coffee house for Matt to arrive for their meeting while Oliver stayed upstairs to make some phone calls.
‘Are you sure you’re okay for another hour?’ she asked Jack. He’d looked slightly shell-shocked when she’d first come down. Judging by the number of full tables, he’d had a very busy spell, but from watching him serve the couple of customers who had been in since, she had no worries about his competence. He was friendly and chatty and that was the main thing anyway. If he made a rubbish coffee for someone, they’d be more forgiving about it if they liked him.
‘Yes, I think it’s going okay?’
He was looking for reassurance so Patsy gave him a big smile and said, ‘I think so too. It’s a bit scary doing it on your own the first few times, especially if you get a busy patch but you’re fine. We haven’t had any complaints about you,’ she grinned, ‘and if you’re really stuck, we’re only going to be upstairs. Just shout.’
‘Thanks, Patsy. I’ll go and clear that table.’
Patsy started making coffee for herself and Oliver.
‘Help yourself to a coffee when you have a lull,’ she told Jack when he came back behind the counter.
‘Thanks. What can I get you?’ He asked his next customer.
‘Cappuccino, please.’
‘Hey, I can do that one,’ said Patsy, recognising Matt’s voice although she had her back to the counter. ‘Hi Matt, won’t be a sec. Go on up, I’ll bring the coffee.’
‘Thank you,’ Matt said, smiling at her before heading through the door to the flat.
