Page 84 of Summer at Croftwood Cinema
‘Will do. Right, I’d better go before I miss the next bus. Are you okay?’
She knew he was asking if she’d be okay alone. ‘Thanks, Ed. I’ll be fine.’ It was the middle of the afternoon so she would be. The park would be busy as well but even so, she was starting to feel like Dan was losing his grip on her and she wanted to lean into that feeling.
She packed her boxed-up pizza into her bag, made sure all the lights were off and stepped out into the sunshine. Not only was it glorious but it was even more so for the fact that she was heading back to Matt. Hopefully she could persuade him to sit in the garden for a while or maybe even venture into the woods for a stroll before they got stuck into whatever they decided to watch tonight.
Patsy locked the door, double-checked it and headed off through the park in the direction of Matt’s house. It was a longer walk than to her’s, but still a lovely one, taking in the outskirts of town where the pavements were bordered by hedgerows full of rosebay willowherb and cow parsley. By the time she’d reached Matt’s road, she was hot, and ready for a cold glass of beer or wine.
She heard a noise behind her and turned, thinking that something might have fallen out of her bag. She caught sight of someone diving behind a tree. Her breath caught in her throat. She was fairly sure it was Dan because who else would be following her in broad daylight? She stayed where she was, ready to see when he moved again. There was no way that she was going to lead him to Matt’s front door.
Thank god she hadn’t got that far.
After a couple of minutes, she almost felt like laughing. The thought of him hiding behind the tree seemed to take away the menace and was quite funny.
‘Dan!’ She began to walk back up the road towards the tree. ‘I know you’re there. You might as well come out and say whatever it is you’re here to say.’
She’d almost reached him, her heart beating hard now at the thought of actually confronting him. She sounded a lot more confident than she felt. He stood up from where he’d been crouched and stepped out onto the path.
‘What are you doing?’ she said, her voice full of derision.
‘Look, all I want is the laptop.’
She could see that he was struggling to keep his temper under control and that scared her but she’d been in this situation before, many times.
‘I don’t have it.’ Well, it wasn’t with her.
He exhaled impatiently and took a step towards her, his fists clenched.
‘Haven’t the police been in touch? I would have thought beating someone up was against the terms of your licence?’ It took everything she had to stay where she was, sounding like she was in control.
He looked shifty for a second, then said, ‘There’s no proof.’
Patsy laughed. ‘I’m not sure your word against his is going to go in your favour to be honest, especially when I tell the police that you’ve been intimidating me as well.’ It was a bold move. It could have gone either way, and as soon as she said it, Patsy felt like an idiot for even thinking about provoking him but it went in her favour and surprisingly, and much to her relief, he began walking away, backwards.
‘I know you’ve got it. I’ll be back for it, Cleo, sooner or later.’ Then he turned and Patsy watched him until he was out of sight, certain that he wasn’t going to see where she was going. It took all of those few minutes for her to gather herself but the overwhelming feeling she had was triumph. Finally she’d stood up to him and he’d backed off. Sadly, she also wondered whether if she’d had the guts to do that years ago, things could have been very different.
By the time she got back to Matt’s, the enormity of what had just happened started to hit her. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, she realised how lucky she’d been to manage to see him off.
‘You should have called the police,’ Matt said. He was cross. ‘He never should have been out, I thought they’d have recalled him to prison by now.’
‘It was fine,’ she said, trying to reassure him when all he could think was that she could so easily have ended up like him. Beaten black and blue. ‘All he wants is that laptop. I need more time to find out why.’
Matt ran his fingers through his hair, tugging it in frustration. ‘Give him the bloody thing, if that’s what he wants. Whatever it is, it isn’t worth putting yourself in harm’s way.’
Patsy went to him and gently cupped his face in her hands. ‘Matt, I can’t let him win again. This is the only thing that he’s wanted that I’ve ever been able to hang onto. He took everything from me. Everything. I have to do this.’
Matt took her hands in his and gently pushed them away. ‘I can’t be part of this, Patsy.’ He had tears in his eyes. ‘I can’t expose the twins to this, to the fact that he might be following you. If I was okay, they could have been with us today. They could have ended up being another bargaining chip in his bid to get that bloody laptop.’
Stunned that she hadn’t realised before, she said, ‘I’ll give him the laptop.’ Nothing was more important than making sure the twins were safe. Matt was right, they could have so easily got caught up in this mess. Dan could have found out where Matt lived and they couldn’t risk that happening again.
With tears beginning to run down her cheeks, she nodded and stepped away from him. ‘No, you’re right. I totally understand.’ She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. ‘I’ll get my stuff and go to Ollie’s. It’s safer that way, just in case.’ Before Matt could say anything, she turned and went upstairs, managing to hold in the sob that was ready to engulf her until she had closed the door to the spare room she’d been sleeping in and was safely locked in the ensuite bathroom.
She sobbed for what could have been. For what she might have had with Matt if only she’d been able to face up to her past and deal with Dan sooner. For wasting three years doing nothing except hiding. Of course he was going to catch up with her one day. If not now, next year, the year after and whenever it was, it was always going to be like this. An unwelcome intrusion, something she should’ve faced three, four, five years ago.
When she’d stopped crying, she splashed some cold water on her face, not that it helped. Her eyes were bloodshot and swollen. Matt wasn’t an idiot. He knew it was going to be hard for both of them to walk away from something that had felt so full of promise. But he was doing it for his children, and Patsy loved him even more because of that.
‘Okay, well ring us if you need anything,’ she said as brightly as she could manage before she shoved her sunglasses on and picked up her bag.
Matt got up from the sofa. His eyes were still so bruised, it was hard to tell if he’d been crying or not. He took her in his arms, his hand on the back of her head. It felt like more than a goodbye and Patsy choked back another sob.
