Page 75 of Summer at Croftwood Cinema
As she waited for a pint of draught lager to pour, she glanced around at the guests, wondering who might be coming that she knew from the town. She spotted Rosemary with Linda and Steph from the library, who gave her a quick wave and Jess was there but Patsy couldn’t spot the man she’d planned to invite..
She began pouring another pint and looked up in time to see a man approach Jess and wrap his arms around her from behind, making her laugh. Patsy smiled, thinking how nice it was to see Jess with someone and looking so happy. The man twirled her around and leaned in for a kiss. When he pulled away, Patsy’s face fell, along with the glass in her hand.
It was Dan.
Muttering some incoherent excuse to Simon, not even noticing that she was leaving a smashed glass and a puddle of lager in her wake, Patsy stumbled out from behind the bar and back into the corridor that led to the kitchen and foyer.
She leant against the wall, her breath heaving and her heart hammering in her chest. What was he doing here? Was he really with Jess? It couldn’t be that simple. Not where Dan was involved.
She managed to get her breathing back to normal and tried to think about what she was going to do. The plain fact of the matter was that she was running the party and couldn’t slope off to avoid him. And what had she said about being strong enough to cope if he turned up again? Well, she was going to have to pull herself together, somehow try and make sure that when she walked back into that room that she was prepared to see him, not let him see that she was rattled, and she would treat him like any other guest at the party.
But first she needed to check that she looked the part after the shock she’d had. She walked through the kitchen to the foyer and retrieved her bag from the cloakroom, heading into the ladies but bumping into Ed who was coming out of the gents.
‘Are you alright?’
‘Yes, I’m fine. I thought I’d better touch up my lippy.’ She couldn’t let on that Dan was here. If Oliver or Matt found out, they’d want to throw him out and at the very least, a scene like that could ruin the party. No, better to keep it to herself. But she wished more than anything that Matt was here. He was at a planning meeting at the council so was going to be late. All she wanted to do was be in his arms where none of this stuff mattered.
‘Come on,’ she said looking at her reflection in the mirror. ‘He can’t do anything to you.’ She just wished she could make herself believe that. She practised a bright smile but could see in the mirror that she was struggling to look calm. At least people would think she was stressed out about the party. But if she went in looking like this, Dan would know he’d rattled her. She forced herself to drop her shoulders and took a few calming, deep breaths into her belly instead of anxiously into the top of her chest.
Patsy handed her bag back to the cloakroom assistant and took a deep breath before she headed back into the stalls.
‘Hey, Pats.’ Oliver was walking towards her and she felt a wave of relief that she didn’t have to face Dan alone.
‘I think it’s time to do the champagne, Ollie.’ She grabbed his hand before he could disappear anywhere else and they walked down to the backstage together. Patsy stationed herself next to the champagne fountain and Oliver stood next to her which meant she could concentrate on him rather than allow her eyes to wander to see where Dan was.
‘Alright, Pats?’ He rubbed his hands together with anticipation. ‘God, our first proper event. Crazy isn’t it?’
She nodded. ‘You do your speech now and then can you help me pour the champagne?’
Patsy kept her eyes on Oliver as he spoke. She didn’t hear his speech because all she could think about was Dan. But she tried to keep a smile on her face as she watched Oliver’s joy, wishing she was sharing it.
Then everyone cheered as Patsy and Oliver carefully began pouring champagne into the glass at the top of the pyramid and it flowed just as Patsy had hoped it would, into all the glasses below. Everyone was clapping and watching. It should have been a relief that things were going to plan, but all Patsy could feel were Dan’s eyes boring into the back of her, even though she had no idea where he was actually standing.
Once all the glasses were full, Oliver and Patsy began handing them out to the guests and people started to help themselves once the first couple of layers had been dished out. Then Patsy took the opportunity to leave the room to catch her breath again.
Matt would be here soon and in the meantime she could seek sanctuary for a few minutes in the projection box. At least Oliver was around now to help manage things and there was still half an hour until the food came out.
‘Cleo.’
She turned around to find that Dan had followed her out into the stalls. There was no-one else around.
‘I can’t stop,’ she said, sounding as matter-of-fact as she could manage. ‘I don’t know what you’re doing here but I’m working. You should leave.’ She carried on moving towards the door to the foyer but he kept coming towards her. Could she make a run for it? Run up to the projection box and lock herself in with Ed?
‘It was a genuine invitation, pure coincidence,’ he said with a smug smile. He continued moving towards her as he spoke.
‘Right. Well you’d better get back to the party then.’ She felt for a split second that she was finally gaining control of her emotions. Maybe she could hold a conversation with him without having a panic attack.
‘It’s quite something you’ve got going on here. I’ve been hearing all about it from your friends in the knitting club. Landed on your feet, haven’t you? Perfect time for a divorce. Get rid of me before you have to start sharing.’
‘You’ve got a nerve! After all you took from me…’ She was suddenly so angry, that tears were threatening and she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction. She took a deep breath and said, ‘I don’t owe you anything and I don’t want anything from you other than a divorce.’
‘Hey, Patsy.’
She turned to see Matt heading towards her and had never felt so relieved to see anyone in her life.
‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.’ He smiled at Patsy and she realised in horror that he was going to walk straight past her to the backstage bar. So much for telling him she didn’t need rescuing.
‘No worries, mate. I was just catching up with my wife.’
