Page 15 of Summer at Croftwood Cinema
‘It’s on me.’ His tone said that there was no question that he was paying.
‘Thank you, that’s so kind of you,’ said the woman and headed over to the table in the furthest corner from them.
‘That was really nice of you,’ Patsy said to him as he tapped his card, paying for his own coffee as well.
He shrugged and gave her a resigned smile. ‘Forgetting her purse on top of whatever else is going on…it was the least I could do.’
He took his coffee and headed back to his laptop while Patsy made the espresso. Such a small but hugely compassionate gesture for a complete stranger to make. Anyone could have done the same but Patsy could count on both thumbs how many people had ever done that during one of her shifts at the coffee house, aside from Oliver who regularly gave away the odd cup to someone who might be having a bad day. Toby was one of the good ones and knowing now what he did for a living, well that was something to remember for another time.
7
WORK FINALLY STARTED on the cinema a couple of weeks later, when spring was in full swing. Matt the architect had wanted far too many meetings for Patsy’s liking and she had quickly lost the will to live. Oliver agreed that as the project manager, he would deal with the strategic decisions. The guilt she’d had at feeling like she was picking and choosing only the interesting bits was quashed as soon as she realised Oliver seemed to have no limit to how many meetings he was prepared to have. She would much rather cover his hours at the coffee house while he did that than have to be involved in endless discussions about health and safety issues any more than she had to be. But with every meeting they had with Matt, the clearer it was to her that she had got him wrong. Not to say that his constant haughty reminders about wearing hard hats didn’t get on every single one of her nerves sometimes, but she didn’t dislike him quite as much as she had in the beginning.
Scaffolding had been erected around the building and some of the greenery surrounding it had been cut back to accommodate that. The first part of the plan was to make good the outside by replacing the guttering and any broken tiles on the roof. The bargeboard and soffits were all being painted and the window had been repaired.
Inside the auditorium, in the stalls, they’d peeled back a corner of the carpet to find a beautiful wooden floor which amazingly seemed sound.
‘The floor is beautiful,’ said Patsy when she and Oliver were waiting for Matt.
‘I know. Matt’s asked me what we want to do. I don’t think we’ve got much choice other than to carpet it again. I mean, you don’t want people clomping around on noisy floorboards in a cinema.’
‘Sorry I’m late,’ said Matt, rushing in looking flustered and with two small children in tow.
‘No problem at all, mate,’ said Oliver. ‘Are you sure you don’t want to do this another time?’
‘There’s never a good time at the moment. They won’t be any trouble.’
He herded his children, a boy and girl who were no older than about five, into the back row of the stalls and spoke to them in hushed tones which Patsy could tell was a major warning to them to behave themselves.
‘So, the floor,’ he began. ‘What do you think?’ He turned around, distracted by the children who were already out of their seats and running across the back row. ‘Flo! Sammy! What did I say?’
The children stopped in their tracks, briefly but then carried on as soon as his back was turned. Patsy could tell he was going to lose it.
‘Do you mind if I give them a job to do?’ she asked.
He raised his eyebrows and grinned. ‘If you can do anything that means they’ll behave themselves for five minutes, be my guest.’ His tone told her he had serious doubts that she’d be able to do anything.
‘Got some Post-It notes?’ She knew he did because his files were covered in them. He handed her a stack which she split in half. She called the children over to her, knelt down and chatted to them for a minute, handing them each some Post-Its.
’The floor. I think it’s gorgeous but too noisy to have in a cinema,’ Patsy said, while Matt was still looking at his children who were now quietly sitting in each chair in turn, having a quiet word with each other and then putting a Post-It note on the chair, or not, before moving onto the next one.
‘What are they doing?’
’They’re marking which chairs are uncomfortable or broken.’
‘You’re a genius,’ he said, exhaling and turning his full attention onto the meeting now that the children were occupied. ‘Okay, you’re right about the floor. I think we need to look at a floor covering that’s as practical as this wooden flooring would be because when it’s being an events space, it’s the perfect solution, easier to keep clean than carpet. But you need soft surfaces to help the acoustics overall, not only to keep the noise of footsteps down.’
‘Have you come across anything that you think could work?’ Oliver asked.
‘I’ll bring some samples to the next meeting. We’re ruling out carpet then?’
‘I think so, but let’s look at the costs as well before we finalise,’ said Oliver.
They walked down the stalls to the area behind the screen so that Matt could explain what was going to happen next with the scene dock doors, passing the children who were solemnly discussing one of the chairs. Matt caught Patsy’s eye and gave her a grateful smile.
‘Thanks. They can be a handful.’
‘They’re not angels like this all the time?’
