Page 8 of Summer at Croftwood Cinema
‘He’s Linda’s nephew,’ Rosemary said, as if that was the only trait needed to be a successful barista. It wasn’t worth an argument. She’d give him a couple of trial shifts on the off-chance Rosemary’s instincts were right.
‘Sure, thanks for the tip-off. I’ll bring your coffee over if you want to take a seat.’
Rosemary tipped her nose in the air and headed over to where she always sat, at a table for two, facing the window so that she could people watch.
‘Putting all this stuff with Amy aside,’ Oliver began, once Patsy had delivered Rosemary’s drink, ‘I want to start planning.’
‘Me too. Let’s not lose the wave of enthusiasm.’
Oliver gave her a pointed look. ‘I am still enthusiastic. It’s just a little glitch.’
‘Okay. Let’s plan then.’
‘So the way I see it working is that I’ll oversee all the refurbishment, any building work and decoration. If you could take on responsibility for the bar area and kitchen that would be great. Then we can work together once we get nearer to the end on all the fun stuff like marketing and branding. What do you think?’
‘That sounds good to me. So, organising suppliers, designing menus, that kind of thing?’
‘Exactly. Because that stuff takes a lot of time and if it’s down to me, I won’t have time to start on it until it’s too late and it’s too important to rush.’
‘It sounds to me like you’re planning on opening a restaurant. What are you going to do about getting the actual cinema up and running again?’ Rosemary called over to them.
Oliver looked at Patsy with wide eyes. ‘We hadn’t even mentioned the cinema. How does she know?’ he whispered.
‘She knows everything,’ Patsy murmured, sliding her gaze across to Rosemary who was waiting, with eyebrows raised, to hear their plan.
‘You are planning to present films?’ Rosemary said.
‘Well, obviously,’ replied Oliver, before whispering to Patsy, ‘God, I hadn’t even thought about that. I don’t think either of us know anything about it do we?’ Oliver said.
Patsy shook her head. ‘That projection room… well, I wouldn’t know where to start.’ Oliver took a large gulp of coffee. ‘Who knows if that stuff is even going to work, let alone whether you can still use it. Maybe it’s something like a glorified DVD player these days.’
‘Worcester University has got a Film Society,’ said Rosemary. ‘I understand it’s very popular. When I worked at the university library a student asked me if we had any books on projecting, because he was learning how to do it. You ought to get in touch with the university, they might be able to offer some advice.’
Oliver swept his arm across to Rosemary as if he was introducing her. ‘Thank you Rosemary.’
‘I don’t mind following up on that,’ Patsy offered. ‘It could be quite good fun to find out a bit more about it.’
‘Okay. God, that could be a money pit that I’ve not even considered. I was so worried about the structure after Matt going on about all these hidden things there could be, even though it looks fine on the outside, I never even thought about that.’
‘Let’s not worry until we know what the situation is. It might be fine,’ said Patsy, as she reached over and rubbed his hand reassuringly.
‘Yeah, I guess so.’
‘Come on, it probably only needs a good clean and it’ll be as good as new.’
Oliver grinned. ‘Thank goodness for you and your relentless optimism.’
‘Someone needs to be the positive one around here.’
Oliver raised an eyebrow and shot her a resigned smile. At least he looked happier than he’d been this morning.
‘And thank you Rosemary. We’d be on the back foot if you hadn’t mentioned that. Can I offer you a pastry on the house?’
‘Perhaps tomorrow, thank you Oliver. I must be off.’
‘Good lord,’ Oliver said when she’d gone. ‘That could have been a disaster. I’m such an idiot. No wonder Amy thinks it’s a bad idea.’
‘It is not a bad idea, but we do need to sit down and make a proper plan. Now, finish your cruffin before the morning rush starts.’
