Page 7 of Summer at Croftwood Cinema
Oliver seemed to grow in stature throughout her little speech. Whether it was the slur on his business by referring to it as a coffee shop or whether it was the insinuation that what he’d achieved with Oliver’s had just been tarting up what was already there, which was definitely not the case, Patsy could see that Oliver was suddenly thinking clearly. No longer scared of Amy, he was going to explain himself, as he should have done all along.
‘This project means a lot to me. I’m part of Croftwood now, and seeing an opportunity that could give something amazing to the town, I was always going to take it. I know I should have told you my plans but I was going to do it with or without you and to be honest, I knew you’d think it was mad and I didn’t want you to burst my bubble. It was the thrill of my life when I won that auction, I’ve never had a feeling like it. Yes, it’s a lot to take on but I know I can do it. I’m not saying it’s not scary, because it is. But it means everything to me.’
Patsy looked on with pride that her friend was finally standing up for himself and explaining so eloquently what he wanted. How could Amy not be won over by that?
‘Fine, if it means that much to you, do it. But I’m having nothing to do with it.’ She stood up and flounced out of the room.
Patsy and Oliver sat in stunned silence, staring at each other until Patsy found the whole thing simply so hilarious that she burst out laughing, grabbing a cushion to stifle the sound. Oliver began shushing her but soon was also laughing into a cushion.
‘That went well,’ he said, once they’d recovered. ‘Shame you’re in the spare room because I think that’s my bed tonight.’
‘Want to top and tail?’
‘I’ll take the sofa. I think sharing a bed with you, however innocently, might send her over the top.’
‘I’m sure it’ll be okay in the morning,’ she said, reaching over and squeezing his hand. ‘She needs time to think it over. And if she wants to do the project with you, please don’t worry about what we’d decided because I’m more than happy to carry on being a barista.
‘Thanks, Pats. But whatever happens, we’re in this together. I might keep it on the down low for now though,’ he smiled.
But how were they going to get from here to the point where Amy would be fine with it all, and fine with Patsy being involved? It seemed impossible.
4
OLIVER WAS VERY quiet the next morning on the drive in. They had left before Amy was up; Oliver looked like he’d had no sleep at all having slept on the sofa which was only a two-seater. Patsy kept glancing at him but he kept his eyes on the road, focused. She knew his mind wasn’t on the drive, he was worrying about what had happened the night before. And she was worried about him. It was quite a situation he seemed to have engineered himself into and despite her delight at the drama that had unfolded before her, she didn’t want Oliver to be in the place he was now.
They worked in almost total silence, getting the coffee house ready to open for the day, only interrupted when the pastry delivery arrived and Oliver briefly turned on his usual chatty charm and exchanged a few words with Jake. He ran an artisan bakery from a barn conversion on the outskirts of town and his vanilla custard cruffins were to die for.
Patsy decided enough was enough. ‘Let’s stop for coffee before we open. We hardly ever do this end of the day together, let’s have a treat.’
Oliver shrugged but scooped up two fresh cruffins and made his way over to their favourite table, tucked in the corner and screened from the big windows that looked out onto the high street by shelves of trailing foliage, while Patsy made a couple of lattes.
‘You need to get it off your chest before we open, otherwise we’re not going to have any customers. I know you can’t be fake-cheerful all day.’
He sighed and pulled a chunk off his cruffin. ‘I should have told her, right at the start. I still could have bought the place even if she’d thought it was a bad idea.’
‘So why didn’t you?’
‘Because… I didn’t want her to suggest going in on it with me. That’s awful isn’t it?’
Patsy rolled her eyes. ‘Do you think I didn’t know that? You said the other day that you were annoyed that you started this place together and now she’s washed her hands of it, it’s no wonder you don’t want the same thing to happen again.’
‘She has no enthusiasm for stuff like this. You were really excited when I told you.’
‘Once I got past thinking you were mad, yes. And I do get why you wanted to go it alone but I can’t spend the day with you if you’re in this mood. Seriously.’
There was a knock at the door.
‘I’ll let you get that so you can practice your cheerfulness,’ said Patsy.
It was Rosemary, the librarian. She always insisted on being let inside before they were actually open. Their breakfast chat was over, so Patsy gathered up their cups and plates and headed back over to the counter where Oliver was already making Rosemary’s regular cappuccino.
‘Morning Rosemary.’
‘Good morning, Patsy. Have you telephoned Jack about the job you’re offering?’
Rosemary was always straight to the point, everyone was used to it but it made Patsy smile because of Rosemary’s assumption that the job was Jack’s purely by virtue of her recommendation.
‘It’s on my to-do-list today. Do you think he’s going to fit in here?’
