Page 10 of Summer at Croftwood Cinema
Ed frowned. ‘But it’s a cinema, isn’t that the only side?’
‘We’re opening it as a sort of boutique cinema with a bar and a food offer and we’re hoping the space will be flexible enough to be a venue we can hire out for functions.’
‘That sounds cool.’ He nodded thoughtfully. ‘But you’re not going to get very far with being a cinema if you haven’t sorted out your projection box.’
Patsy was momentarily stunned that he was being so frank and her first reaction was to be offended. Clearly he thought they were idiots for not having considered the practicalities. But he was right and Patsy recognised her own brand of telling it like it is in Ed.
‘That’s absolutely true and that’s where you come in.’
‘I’d love to have a look at it, if that’s okay. How long’s it been closed? I wonder what kind of kit you’ve got?’ His face lit up as he spoke. He was obviously passionate about this and Patsy felt like she’d struck gold on her first attempt at finding someone who might help.
‘It’s been closed for over twenty years. I wouldn’t even be able to start to describe what’s there, apart from a couple of huge spools sitting behind the projector.’
‘Oh, it’s a tower system, awesome. We use a platter system here but I know how to deal with a tower. It’s a lot simpler.’
‘That’s a good start then,’ said Patsy, with a sigh of relief that she wasn’t going to lose her prized advisor before they’d even left the coffee shop. ‘I’ll get the keys off Oliver and maybe we can meet there in a couple of days? Can I have your number and I’ll text you.’
‘I’ll put it in your phone,’ said Ed, holding out his hand.
Patsy unlocked her phone and handed it over, taking the opportunity to look at him more carefully while he wasn’t watching her. He was actually wearing quite expensive clothes that at first glance, maybe because she had been thinking ‘student’, had appeared scruffy.
‘There you go. So I’ll wait to hear from you?’
‘Great. I’ve got Thursday off, so maybe sometime then?’
‘Works for me, I haven’t got any lectures on Thursday.’
‘Well, thanks for your time, Ed,’ said Patsy, standing up. She felt a bit awkward, should she shake his hand or something?
‘No problem, thanks for getting in touch. It’s great to be able to help with something like this.’ He held out his hand to her. He had a strong grip and when he looked at her and smiled, she could have got lost in his gorgeous brown eyes. And not only his eyes were gorgeous; Patsy felt a surge of attraction that she hadn’t experienced for years.
‘See you Thursday then,’ she said, hurriedly pulling her hand from his grip and leaving before she blushed right to the roots of her hair and he saw exactly what she’d been thinking written all over her face.
On the bus journey back to Croftwood, Patsy couldn’t stop thinking about Ed. It was so long since she’d even thought about a man in that way, the attraction she’d felt towards him had come over her in a wave from nowhere and left her feeling a little bit stunned. Since she’d left Dan and moved back to Croftwood, the last thing on her mind had been starting a new relationship. Things had been so bad with him that she found it hard to imagine what it would be like to have a relationship that you could classify as normal. But today, Ed had made her feel differently, and although it was quite scary, another part of her was excited to know that at least she wasn’t dead inside. She had been attracted to Ed and it had ignited a little spark that she would be very careful with until she knew whether he felt the same.
Of course, he could have a girlfriend, a wife even. It wasn’t unheard of for students, especially mature ones, to be married. It would be odd if he wasn’t in some sort of relationship, Patsy thought as self-preservation kicked in and she sabotaged the thoughts she’d briefly entertained that he could be the man to lead her out of her lonely existence. And did she really want to go out with a student? They might be similar in age but they were at completely different places in their lives. It would never work.
But he seemed lovely. Patsy looked in her contacts and found his number. He’d put himself in as Ed followed by the nerd face emoji which made Patsy smile and remind herself that she’d met him for ten minutes and maybe that wasn’t enough to go on either way. She would see how things went when they met on Thursday and not over-think it in the meantime.
Back at the coffee house, Oliver was sitting at the table nearest to the counter with his laptop open. He looked up when she came in and then seeing it was her, relaxed back again, smiling.
‘Good meeting?’
‘Really good. He’s massively enthusiastic about coming to see what we’ve got, so that’s a good start.’
Toby was the only other person in the coffee house which wasn’t that unusual for the time of day and he made a move to come to the counter.
‘Another coffee, Toby? I can bring it over,’ she called as she swapped her coat for an apron.
‘Thank you, much appreciated. I’ll pay for two next time I come up,’ he said and went back to his laptop.
‘What do you think he does?’ Patsy whispered to Oliver on her way back from taking Toby’s coffee over to him.
Oliver shrugged. ‘He hasn’t been coming in long enough to have found out yet. I did see him heading in the direction of Portland Avenue the other day so maybe that’s where he lives.’
Patsy’s eyes widened. Portland Avenue was one of the nicest roads in Croftwood. If Toby lived there he had a detached Victorian house on a wide, quiet road lined with mature lime trees. Every time one of those houses came up for sale, she and Oliver had a good look at them on Rightmove to see how the other half lived.
‘If he lives there he must be making some serious money doing whatever that is.’ She waved her hand discreetly in his direction.
