Page 1 of Summer at Croftwood Cinema
1
PATSY CLEMENTS WAS just about ready to throttle Oliver. He’d said he would be an hour and that was over two hours ago. Admittedly, Oliver’s, the coffee house which Oliver owned and Patsy worked in, had been busier than usual for a Thursday lunchtime and neither of them would have expected that in the middle of March but still, she couldn’t help being annoyed with him.
‘I’m so sorry Pats,’ he said, flustered as he came through the door, immediately swapping his coat for one of their distinctive canvas aprons which had ‘Oliver’s’ emblazoned across the front.
‘That’s two ninety-five, please,’ she said to her customer before turning to Oliver and brushing some dust off the sleeve of his trademark floral shirt. ‘It’s fine, don’t worry.’ Because annoyed as she was, he was her best friend and would do anything for her, so she pushed her irritation aside and carried on serving.
They worked through the rest of the lunch queue together before a lull gave them a chance to talk properly.
‘That was busy for a Thursday,’ Oliver said, beginning to tidy away some of the mess that had built up behind the counter. ‘I’m sorry, I would have been back sooner except…’
‘What?’
He had a mischievous look on his face which told Patsy that he’d been up to something. Almost straight away she got caught up in his excitement, and was keen to hear whatever it was.
‘I bought the cinema!’
‘What, you mean you’ve hired out a whole cinema?’ She had no idea why he would do that. It must have cost a fortune.
‘No, not hired it out, I’ve actually bought the cinema here, in Croftwood!’
‘What? Who buys a cinema?’
Oliver took her hands in his, his eyes bright. ‘Me, Pats. I do.’
‘You mean the one in the park? Hasn’t it been closed for years?’
‘Yes, it’s been closed since 1997. And… it’s mine!’ He crouched down slightly as if he was about to grab her and swing her around or something equally exuberant.
‘You’ve bought the cinema in the park? Are you bonkers? It’s derelict. What are you going to do with it?’ As she said the words, Oliver let her hands fall, along with his face. The tiny pang of guilt that she felt for bursting his bubble was quickly overtaken by common sense, because she knew she was right. It was an old 1920s building on the edge of the park and had been neglected for years, long before its doors had closed.
‘Come on Pats, it’s not derelict. It’s completely intact apart from the window. Once the foliage is cleared, it’ll be fine.’
‘So you’re going to open it as a cinema?’
‘Yes, but more than that.’ His eyes were shining again and Patsy knew that whatever she thought, he was behind this idea and nothing was going to stop him. ‘Even when we run it as a cinema, we’ll offer food, have a proper bar, really nice seats, you know, make it into a real destination. And it’ll be flexible so we can use it for functions and events.’
‘Well, that does sound cool. So you and Amy are doing it together?’
He shrugged, looking a little sheepish. ‘She knew I was planning to go to the auction but I didn’t let on how interested I was in the cinema. The thing is, after we went in on this place together, she lost interest… I want this to be mine. And actually, Pats, I was hoping you’d agree to help me get it up and running.’
Riding on a surge of infectious enthusiasm from him, her first instinct was to accept, especially now she’d heard his vision for the place but it was immediately replaced by a reality check.. ‘I’d love to say yes, Ollie but you know things are a bit tight.’
‘It’s not about the money. I haven’t got time to be across all of it myself. I need help and it needs to be someone I know I can get along with and someone who won’t take any messing around from me or anyone else.’
She smiled, loving how Oliver turned her no nonsense frankness into a positive trait. Something that she knew he found mildly infuriating, he also realised might be useful.
But however brilliant it sounded, Patsy wasn’t sure she could accept. For the past three years since she’d returned to Croftwood and started working for Oliver, she’d been careful to keep her life simple. She didn’t earn a fortune working at the coffee house but it was enough to cover the rent and bills on her tiny flat and to keep her in knitting wool. Having got herself into a position where she was self-sufficient and felt safe, she wasn’t sure she was brave enough to push herself out of that comfort zone, however tempting.
‘I don’t know anything about renovating derelict buildings, or about running a cinema. How much use can I be?’
‘To be honest, it’s pushing my budget to get someone professional in to help but if you’re willing to mix it up with working here, I can manage to pay you barista wages for the extra hours and I’d make it right for you financially once it’s up and running. A stranger isn’t going to do that for me on a promise.’
That sounded more feasible. ‘Let me think about it,’ she said, pulling him into a hug. ‘Congratulations, it’s really exciting even if it sounds like I’ll be left in the lurch with this place even more often.’
Oliver grinned. ‘It’ll be fine. I’m going to turn the flat into a project office so I’ll be around all the time.’
‘You’re giving up your bachelor pad?’
