‘Has Alex shown his face yet?’
‘No. I did text him to remind him that his stuff’s still at the house, but he hasn’t replied.’
‘God, that’s so rude. You’re too soft on him, Lois. Just tell him you’re chucking it away if he doesn’t pick him up.’
Lois laughed. Steph always got so het up about Alex. ‘Oh okay, Steph. He’ll know that wasn’t my idea, so he won’t take it as a serious threat.’
‘Well, it’s hard to move on when it’s still hanging over you after, hello, three months nearly four, isn’t it?’
Lois shrugged. ‘Not really. I’ve been seeing Oliver around quite a bit.’ She gave Steph a look that said it was something more than that and enjoyed the reaction she got when Steph’s popcorn erupted over her lap as she sat up to attention with wide eyes.
‘Oliver the guy from the bar? I thought he was with that woman?’
‘He was. We bumped into each other and had a drink on Sunday afternoon a couple of weeks ago, then she came in so I had to leave…’
‘He made you leave?’ Steph almost shouted with indignation. ‘Sorry, I mean, really?’ she said more quietly.
‘I don’t know, I decided to leave because I felt like that was what he wanted, then the next time I saw him he said that he’d not had such a nice time with her as he’d had with me.’
‘Oh my god, Lois! I cannot believe you didn’t tell me this immediately. The bloody film is about to start, and I have to wait two hours for the next part of the story. You’re so mean.’
They both swivelled their legs to the side to let some latecomers shuffle past them.
‘There’s nothing to tell. He’s got something going on with this woman, something that’s more than that they’re old friends and he’s holding back telling me about it.’
‘Well, be careful, because you don’t want a frying pan and fire situation.’ She shoved a handful of popcorn into her mouth then added in muffled tones, ‘but also, if you really feel like he could be The One you shouldn’t let that go.’
The lights went down and although Lois was watching the movie, she wasn’t concentrating on it. She was thinking about Oliver. What if he was The One and she was just letting it pass her by because she was worried about Amy? Amy was nothing to do with her. She wouldn’t even be considering Amy if she hadn’t turned up at the Old Rectifying House.
‘So, what’s the plan, Oliver-wise?’ Steph asked. They’d stayed for a drink since the cinema had a rather cool backstage bar where Patsy, the barista from the coffee house was serving.
‘Well, it’s tricky really because of this Amy woman.’
‘Is he actually dating the Amy woman?’
‘He said not. And that shouldn’t stop me anyway. He said he likes me and there’s definitely something between us so she’s not really my concern.’
‘Right, that does make sense. But can you tell me what you’ve done with my friend Lois?’
‘Shut up. I can be ballsy when I want to be.’
‘You can be, as evidenced once in a blue moon at work but honestly, I’ve never seen you stand up for what you want. That’s not a bad thing, Lois, you’re a nice person, that’s what nice people do but it means you’re not always very nice to yourself.’
‘I don’t know whether being nice is good or not now,’ she said, thinking that Steph’s advice was even more brutal than usual tonight. She shushed Steph as Patsy came over to serve them.
‘What can I get you?’
‘Two pints of the IPA please,’ said Steph.
‘Sure.’ Patsy started pulling the pints. ‘You’re Lois, the new library manager, right? I’ve seen you in Oliver’s.’
‘That’s me. You must be Patsy.’
‘Nice to meet you. Oliver’s really enjoying the book club. Well, not the reading part,’ she said with a grin, ‘but the organising part. He loves having something to keep him busy.’
‘He’s been brilliant letting us use the coffee house.’
‘He loves being involved in everything, that’s how we ended up with this place.’
