Page 5 of Summer at Croftwood Cinema
‘Well, aside from the pigeon, it’s won me over,’ said Patsy. ‘I forgot to ask earlier, what did Amy say?’
Oliver looked at her and bit his bottom lip.
‘You haven’t told her?’
‘I will. I just…’
‘You’re scared?’ She gave him a gentle shove and smiled at him to let him know she was teasing, even though she didn’t think she was far from the truth.
‘I just need to find the right time. You know what it’s like.’ For a moment, he looked lost in thought but then the brightness was back. ‘I’m so excited, I can’t wait to see how it all comes together.’
Patsy was feeling the same way. Seeing the building had started her thinking about what they might offer by way of food and drinks. She could envisage a drinks bar in the foyer next to the ticket booth, which she hoped would stay because she loved the nostalgia of it.
Patsy’s phone buzzed with a text from Beth to say that The Croftwood Haberdashery’s order was ready to be delivered.
‘Come on, Ollie. We’ve got to get back to the coffee house to sort the delivery for Jess.’
She linked her arm through his as they speeded up their stroll, thinking that very soon there might not be enough hours in the day for either of them. They really needed to get Jack or someone else on board as their third barista as soon as they could if they were going to have the time to devote to the cinema, because it was going to take a lot of it.
3
OLIVER HAD INVITED Patsy round to Amy’s for dinner so that they could make a start on a proper plan for the cinema. He’d offered her their spare room for the night so that she didn’t have to take the last bus home from Worcester which was at the ridiculously early time of 10.30 pm, so she’d packed an overnight bag and a bottle of wine and was looking forward to eating something she hadn’t cooked herself for once.
Since they’d looked around the cinema, she’d had lots of ideas that she wanted to share with Oliver but they never had a chance to talk when they were at work. Their shifts did overlap but that was because the two of them both worked lunchtimes, the busiest part of the day. Today, Patsy had stayed all day so that Oliver could go to the wholesalers and she could get a lift to Worcester with him once they’d closed.
‘Have you talked to Amy yet?’ she asked, as they both climbed into his Mini and she chucked her bag over onto the back seat.
He looked at her and she knew the answer before he could say anything.
‘Oliver! We can hardly have a planning meeting at Amy’s house if she doesn’t know anything about it. She’ll go mad.‘I’ll tell her as soon as we get there. It’ll be fine.‘Oliver! It will not be fine. She’ll think we’re in it together and we didn’t tell her.’
‘I’m… okay. I don’t think she’ll be happy about it but it’s business. My business.’ He paused and glanced at her. ‘And she can’t go off on one if you’re there.’
‘You chicken. Why does she think you’ve invited me?’
Another sheepish look from Oliver told her everything
‘Oh for chrissakes Ollie, grow a pair. She’s your girlfriend. If you can’t talk to her, what are you even doing?’
‘I know, I know,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘Look, just come back with me, I’ll say your heating’s broken down and you need to stay. And then I can tell her while you’re there and you can pretend I’m telling you for the first time too. Please.’
He attempted to look forlorn but she frowned at him, making sure he knew it was a lot to ask but he grinned, knowing equally well that she would do it for him.
‘I can put on my best acting skills for the night, I suppose but it feels a bit weird staying the night without being invited.’
‘It’s fine,’ he said, glancing over at her. ‘I’m inviting you. You’re my best mate, Pats. It’s not that weird to invite a friend over. If it makes you feel better, pretend that it’s my house.’
‘I hope it’s nicer than that. I think Amy’s taste probably runs to a higher standard than your man cave.’
‘There you go, back into your stride now.’ He grinned as he looked in his rear-view mirror.
That was the best thing about working with Oliver: the banter. They could be completely honest with each other. Well, day-to-day stuff that didn’t matter, at least on her part. Her personal life was non-existent and that was part of the reason she could be so open about everything else because there was nothing to hide. If he wondered why she never pursued relationships or showed any interest in men, he never said. He never pried, never asked anything about her, and she appreciated that massively. The fact that his life played out mostly right in front of her, in the coffee house, was part of the reason why she had so much to say and he took it in the spirit it was intended.
‘So what did you think of the cinema?’ she asked him. ‘Was it what you’d expected?’
‘Yes, I think it was. It was a bloody relief that there were no nasty surprises. I know after the roasting I got from Matt about how naive I’d been to go in head first without checking it out thoroughly that I was really lucky, but I had a good feeling, you know?’
‘Mmm, I know what you mean. As soon as we walked in, I could totally imagine how it could look. Maybe a bar next to the ticket booth. We will keep that, won’t we?’
