Page 77 of Summer at Croftwood Cinema
‘I’m so sorry, Jess.’
‘It’s not your fault. I’m sorry I was part of bringing him back into your life.’
Patsy shook her head. ‘He’d already done that anyway. I don’t understand why he involved you.’
Jess shrugged. ‘Even so, he’s still not up there with the worst Tinder date I’ve ever had. What does he want?’
‘I honestly don’t know but I’m going to find out.’
The lights dimmed and the film began. Patsy stood up.
‘I need to go back down and help. Let’s see if Oliver will walk you home.’
‘No need. I’m going to go down and watch the film with the girls.’
They hugged each other and then headed downstairs.
Oliver appeared when they were halfway down. ‘Hey, Pats, I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Can you give us a hand with clearing backstage while the film’s on?’
‘Sure. Have you seen Matt?’
‘No. Why? Everything alright?’ Oliver asked as they went downstairs.
‘Yes, of course,’ she said, with what she hoped was a reassuring smile. Now wasn’t the time to tell Oliver. They needed to concentrate on the rest of the evening. There would be plenty of time to talk later.
32
AFTER THE FILM, when all the guests had left, Oliver and Patsy were tidying up the stalls while Ed was packing the film up to send back.
‘What happened to Matt?’ Oliver asked. ‘I thought he was coming after his meeting.’
Patsy was worried about him. He hadn’t come back after he threw Dan out and she had been telling herself all evening that Matt was a grown man, more than a match for Dan and quite capable of looking after himself. But still, he should have been back by now.‘Something happened tonight, Ollie. Dan turned up with Jess. Matt threw him out and I haven’t seen him since then.’
Oliver shook his head. ‘What? Dan came here and you didn’t tell me?’
‘I didn’t want it to overtake the launch night. I thought Matt was making sure he’d gone and then he’d be back.’
‘But he isn’t. Christ, Pats. You should have told me instead of letting Matt deal with it on his own.’
That’s exactly what she should have done, it was obvious now. There was nothing more important than making sure Matt was safe and she’d let him go off with Dan alone and said nothing.
She sank down onto the floor and started sobbing. ‘I’m sorry,’ was all she could manage to say.
Oliver sat down next to her and put his arms round her shoulders, pulling her close. ‘I’m sorry. It’s not your fault. I’m just worried about Matt. Let me try calling him.’
They sat there as the phone rang and rang but Matt didn’t answer.
‘Let’s finish up here and go back to mine,’ Oliver said.
‘Ollie, Dan wants my laptop. There’s something on there that he wants and I need to find out what it is. That’s why he’s come back.’
‘Right, we’ll go to yours first and you can get the laptop and pack some stuff. You’re staying with me until we know what’s happened.’
Patsy nodded. It was a huge relief that Oliver was taking charge of the situation. Whatever she’d thought about being strong in the face of Dan, all that had fizzled away now that Matt was missing. She was sure that the only reason he hadn’t come back was because Dan had done something to stop him.
Ed came down to find them. He’d packed the film away and was on a bit of a high given that it had gone so well.
‘Wow, that was amazing! I think we pulled it off!’ He was grinning from ear to ear in a way Patsy had never seen him do before, yet another testament to the fact that he was more interested in the cinema than he was in her but she didn’t care anymore.
