Page 53 of Summer at Croftwood Cinema
‘I know that, Patsy, but you’re not telling me so I have to piece together all these things I know about you, which isn’t very much, to come up with what the actual picture is. I know you’ve been holding back about your past but I wanted to know, Patsy, I wanted to be part of your life but I know that you feel you can’t trust me with everything, and aside from what happened in Birmingham, that’s why there’s no future for us.’
‘I wanted to tell you…’
‘That’s not the same as telling me though,’ he said. ‘Can you tell me now?’
Patsy shrugged. ‘What’s the point?’
‘Is it because you thought it’d change how I feel about you?’
‘No. I don’t know whether it would or not. I try not to think about it most of the time. There’s no need to and that’s why I didn’t tell you.’
Ed stood up. ‘It’s affecting you, whatever it is. You can’t move on until you deal with it. I don’t know if it’s because your ex turned up the other week or what, but you need to confront whatever it is, Patsy. It’s the only way forward for us.’
Patsy stared at Ed in disbelief. ‘But we’re just friends now, right? We don’t need to find a way forward and friends don’t need to share this kind of stuff if they don’t want to.’
Ed looked confused for a second and began fiddling with something inside the projector. ‘Right. Yes, of course, you’re right.’
Patsy sat down and watched Ed as he immersed himself again in the job at hand. The inside of the projector was spotless now, a far cry from how it had looked in the beginning. What was going on? Was he holding a grudge over this feeling that she hadn’t told him everything? It hadn’t occurred to her that he’d care that much once they’d split up but then, perhaps it was hard to switch into being friends so abruptly when they didn’t know each other well enough to navigate anything other than the brief relationship they’d had.
On some level she understood that it could be frustrating to have been shut out of someone’s past. If they didn’t trust you with that, was there any trust at all? But she did think that Ed was right in saying that she needed to put it behind her if she was going to move on, so it was time to talk to Toby again.
After she’d spoken to him at the coffee house, he’d outlined what the next steps would be and sent her away to think about what she wanted to do next. With the cinema project ramping up, it hadn’t seemed like a priority but perhaps Ed was right and now that her life seemed to be moving at a much faster pace than it had in the past three years, it was time to get everything aligned for whatever might happen next.
23
PATSY HAD CALLED Toby and arranged to meet him at his home office to discuss the divorce. He’d told her his address, and it wasn’t that far from where her flat was, only Toby owned the whole house. But he was a lawyer, so maybe it shouldn’t have been surprising.
Toby’s house was detached, a three-storey villa built in local granite, quarried over a century ago from the nearby hills. It had been restored, with new sash windows, new mortar between the stonework and a smart blue brick laid driveway
She walked up the driveway, rang the bell and the door was opened a few seconds later by Toby wearing more casual clothes than normal, a t-shirt rather than a shirt, but still looking well-groomed and business-like.
‘Patsy, come in.’ He smiled and stood back to let her in. The hallway was beautiful with the original Victorian floor tiles and a wide, sweeping staircase.
‘Wow, this is amazing,’ she said.
‘Thanks. Bit crazy as it’s only me most of the time, but I fell in love with the original features.’
‘It’s lovely in this part of town. I’ve got a flat on Churchdown Avenue.’
‘This is definitely the best part of Croftwood.’
They stood in silence for a minute while Patsy gazed around and then took her coat off.
‘I want to offer you a coffee but I’m not sure it will be up to your standards,’ he said with a grin as they headed into the most enormous, yet cosy kitchen Patsy had ever seen. It had oak cabinets, huge dark granite slabs on the floor and the whole back wall was windows, that looked out over a well-kept lawn. The back of the house was on the first floor because it was built on a slope. There were a couple of comfy looking sofas in one corner where Patsy could imagine herself lounging while someone else cooked dinner.
‘I’m always happy to waive my standards if someone else makes me a coffee.’
‘Okay.’ He went over to a cupboard door which disappeared somewhere when he’d opened it to reveal a very swanky coffee machine. ‘Latte?’
‘Yes, great. So how long have you lived here?’
‘Not that long, only a few months. I moved here from London.’
‘Croftwood’s not too quiet for you?’
He smiled. ‘Access to London nightlife didn’t seem like a priority anymore, it suddenly seemed more important to have a different pace of life, so here I am.’
‘Where there is no nightlife.’
