Bridie looked at Oliver wide-eyed. So, she hadn’t passed by, and looked in the theatre by chance, catching her inside. When she saw her mum, Bridie’s immediate thought was that Layla couldn’t keep a secret, and now everyone knew. But she realised it hadn’t been Layla.
She turned to Oliver. ‘How could you!’
‘Seriously, it’s not what you think.’
What Bridie was thinking was that this was Oliver’s revenge for not letting him invest, choosing Jack over him. She’d expressly asked everyone, including Oliver, to keep this a secret, and now he’d gone and told the one person who was about to try and scupper her plans for the theatre. Assuming she knew that Bridie owned the place.
‘So, itistrue,’ her mum said, before Bridie had a chance to ask Oliver how much she knew.
Bridie narrowed her eyes. ‘What’s true?’ Bridie asked, avoiding eye contact.
‘That you own the theatre.’ She pointed.
Bridie had the key in her hand. She felt like throwing it at Oliver. ‘How could you!’ she exclaimed again.
He held out a placating hand.
Her mum stepped forward. ‘Don’t blame Oliver.’
Bridie rolled her eyes. That was just what she would have expected her mum to do – side with Oliver.
‘I walked into the café and saw him sitting alone,’ she continued, ‘so I joined him, asking where you were. I thought you’d be there too. Then he said you were obviously too busy with the theatre.’
Oliver quickly added, ‘It just came out.’
‘The theatre?I said, wondering what on earth he was on about. I wouldn’t let it go. Eventually, I got it out of him.’
Bridie looked her mum up and down. She still couldn’t believe she was there, standing right in front of her in the doorway of the theatre. She expected her to be on the phone to Bridie’s dad any minute. Soon, her whole family would know and would be judging her, and telling her what to do with the theatre, and saying that she’d never stage a play there – that it couldn’t be done. She swallowed. This was the last thing she needed. ‘What do you want, Mum?’ It was a stupid question.
‘I want to know why you’re here with him.’ She pointed rudely at Jack.
Bridie said, ‘He’s my friend.’
‘I thought Oliver was your friend?’
‘Please forgive me,’ Oliver said, stepping in to Bridie’s silence.
Her mum butted in before Bridie had a chance to respond. ‘Why don’t you want anybody to know about the theatre, apart from your friends?’ She looked at Jack with disdain.
Jack sidled past the three of them, whispering in Bridie’s ear, ‘I’ll get my guys started on the renovations.’ And with that hewas gone, leaving her to her mother’s probing questions and disapproving glare.
Chapter 37
‘Well?’ she said, arms folded again, waiting for an explanation.
‘I wanted to surprise you and Dad for Dad’s retirement present with a show at this very theatre.’ If she sounded sincere, it was because that was exactly how she felt. Although she did have an ulterior motive:confrontwould be a more appropriate word. She wanted to confront her dad over what he had done. He’d kept a secret for all these years. In fact, they both had. So why couldn’t she have hers? It was too late for that now, though.
She watched her mum’s expression change. ‘Well, that’s … that would be quite something, wouldn’t it? Reopening this old theatre.’
‘Yes, wouldn’t it?’ Bridie said, catching something in her mum’s expression, in her voice, which told her she didn’t think it was a good idea.
Bridie’s mum stepped inside the foyer, and Bridie could have sworn she saw her shudder. She said, ‘It hasn’t changed a bit.’
‘Yeah, apart from the leaky roof and dodgy electrics,’ said Bridie. ‘That’s what Jack is here for, to fix the place up – that’s all.’
Her mum turned round to look at her. ‘I don’t understand. Did you come into some money we don’t know about and buy the theatre as a little pet project, something to do?’
Bridie narrowed her eyes, wishing her mum would just leave. She sounded so patronising. She did not have to explain herself and what she was doing there. ‘I’ll make you a deal. I’ll tell you, if you promise not to tell Dad, or anybody else.’
