Page 76 of Summer at Croftwood Cinema
Patsy stared in horror at Dan. But it had stopped Matt in his tracks and he came back and stood in front of her, allowing her to move away from Dan.
‘I didn’t recognise you, ‘Matt said coldly. ‘And I’m certain you weren’t invited.’
‘He’s with Jess,’ Patsy said in a low voice behind him.
‘Patsy, perhaps you could let Jess know that her escort has left without her.’ Matt began to walk towards Dan, forcing him to back up to the top of the stalls.
He was holding his hands up, ‘Look, I’m not here to see her.’ He almost spat with vitriol in Patsy’s direction but now that Matt was in charge, she could see the smugness evaporating from Dan.
‘I don’t know what other reason there would be.’ Matt said.
Dan braced himself on the door frame and ended up chest to chest with Matt who was physically leaning into the doorway to stop Dan from flying back in.
‘You owe me, Cleo! I want that fucking laptop back!’
Matt finally shoved him out into the foyer, causing Dan to stumble backwards and fall.
‘Matt! Be careful!’ She ran to the foyer, terrified that Dan would turn on Matt and they’d end up fighting. But Dan was walking out of the door, with his hands aloft.
‘I’m going, okay?’ She heard him say to Matt.
Matt turned to her. ‘Don’t worry,’ he said, with a reassuring nod. ‘I’ll make sure he goes.’
Patsy nodded back, then stunned, she went to find Jess. What did he mean about the laptop? It was an old laptop that she’d known he never used. She’d been so sure that he wouldn’t even have noticed it was gone, otherwise she wouldn’t have taken it. But now she wondered why he was interested enough in it to mention it. If that was the reason he’d tracked her down, there was more to it than a crappy old laptop.
Jess was sipping a glass of champagne with the Knit and Natter group but Patsy could see that she kept looking around, wondering where her boyfriend was.
‘Jess…’
‘Patsy! This is brilliant, a real step-up, even from last week’s practice. Congratulations.’ Then she frowned. ‘Are you okay?’
‘I need to talk to you.’
She led Jess into the stalls where thankfully there was no sign of Matt and Dan but people were beginning to take their seats ready for the film. It wasn’t the place for such a conversation.
Patsy took Jess through the corridor that bypassed the stalls and the foyer and they headed upstairs to the circle which was out of bounds for the night to everyone else.
Patsy sat down with her back leaning against the wall and Jess sat next to her.
‘What is it? Has something happened?’
‘It’s about Dan.’
Jess looked puzzled and smiled in confusion. ‘Sorry, who’s Dan?’
‘Your boyfriend.’ Of course he hadn’t used his real name. If Jess had had the presence of mind to google him, which she might well have done, Dan James would probably have resulted in the truth coming out.
‘Joe. He told me his name was Joe.’ She sighed in a way that said she wasn’t all that surprised. ‘You know him?’
Patsy nodded. ‘He’s my husband.’
‘Oh my god. Your husband?’
Patsy told Jess everything and in return Jess told her what she knew. Between them they worked out that Dan had appeared on Tinder right after he’d shown up in Croftwood the first time.
‘He’d have known that if I lived near a knitting shop I’d be in there,’ Patsy said.
‘And I had knitting on my profile. It’s not the most attractive trait but I always thought if it didn’t put someone off, it was a sign they were one of the good ones.’
