Page 67 of Summer at Croftwood Cinema
‘Come on Ollie, beat that.’
He gave her a dirty look and laced up for his second attempt which was also successful. Once he’d switched off, they shared a triumphant hug while they waited for the film to rewind.
‘I think you guys have got it,’ Hayley said, laughing at them as they jumped up and down like children.
‘Brilliant, thank you.’ Oliver said. ‘We really appreciate it, Hayley. Let me come down with you to unlock the door.’
‘So now all we need to do is find some other people we can teach to do that.’ Patsy was laid out again on the new carpet in the circle while Oliver perched on the balustrade, checking his emails on his phone.
‘We’ll have to come up with a rota for the front of house as well as this. I think you and I need to be the back-ups but we’ll be knackered if we’re doing this as well as running the place. It’s hard enough keeping on top of the coffee house and that’s a drop in the ocean compared to all the things we need to cover here.’
He was starting to sound panicked. Patsy rolled onto her side and looked at him.
‘We can’t do it all ourselves, Ollie. How do you see it working?’
‘I suppose I’d thought we’d run it between us but I don’t think that’s going to work. Running this place is a full-time job and we need a team of people, bar staff, box office, usherettes…’
‘Luckily it’s not the 1960s so I think we can skip that one.’
Oliver came and lay down next to her, exhaling as he closed his eyes.
‘What do you want to do? Coffee house or cinema?’
He flicked his head around to look at her in surprise. ‘Surely it’s not either or?’
‘I think it might be. Or at least you have to choose one that you’re managing and I’ll manage the other, I suppose?’ She knew she could manage the coffee house in her sleep and now that she knew every tiny little thing about the cinema, she could probably do a decent job of managing that too. ‘Is that what you thought? That we’d split it between us?’
‘Of course, that’s what I meant it to be right from the start. Only I didn’t know what it would look like until now. I suppose what I want is the best of both worlds. I want to do it all, Pats. Not because I don’t want to share it with you but because I don’t want to miss any of it.’
Patsy reached for his hand and squeezed it. ‘Well, we’ll do it together then. We’ll make plans together and both manage both businesses but you’ll be the man on the ground in the coffee house and I’ll be the woman on the ground here, when it comes to the day-to-day stuff like rotas and ordering stock. What do you think?’
‘As long as I don’t have to worry about finding usherettes I think it’s a fabulous idea.’
‘Everything’s coming together, Ollie,’ she said, closing her eyes and smiling until the lack of Oliver agreeing with her made her look up. ‘What?’
‘Amy wants the money. She’s given me to the end of August. That’s so close to when we’re likely to open, it doesn’t give us any time to start trading to build up some cash.’ He dropped his phone down onto the carpet and ran his fingers through his hair. ‘Shit.’
It seemed pointless to utter empty reassurances when they both knew what the situation was. Unless they could find some more cash, they might not get the cinema to the point of being able to open. They’d have to use the money they had put aside for the final purchases of fixtures and fittings, marketing, hiring and training of staff to pay Amy. It was terrible timing.
‘Is there any chance she’d give you a bit more time?’
He shook his head. ‘She needs it for something, apparently.’
‘What?’ Patsy asked, cross, although not with Oliver.
‘I don’t know, Pats. She doesn’t have to tell me stuff like that any more and I have no right to ask. It’s her money, that’s all there is to it. And I will pay her at the end of August, no question.’ He gave Patsy a determined look, daring her to fight him on the decision but she’d known him long enough to know that it wasn’t a decision to be questioned.
‘We’ll have to do it then. Somehow, we’ll do it.’
29
‘I MEANT TO say…’ Patsy said as she buttered rounds of bread to prepare toasties ready for the lunch rush.
‘Mmm?’ Oliver said absentmindedly. He was sat on a stool on the other side of the counter doing the accounts on his laptop and sadly, too far away to be flicked with a tea towel.
‘I’ve invited Rosemary to the dry run tonight.’
‘Really?’ Oliver gave her his full attention now. ‘You really want to chance being brought down by Rosemary being judgmental about your choices, tonight of all nights?’
