Lottie opened her mouth to tell him that she’d never be so underhanded when he turned to her and gave her an almost imperceptible wink.
‘I suppose you’re right, Mr Ryman,’ said the mayor. He turned to Lottie. ‘It would only be right to honour the wishes of our dear Elsie. May I suggest, though, that we reassess the situation once the auditions have taken place and we’re aware of the community’s response?’ He glowered at Ms Powell.
‘Agreed,’ Ms Powell answered and Lottie wondered if there had been a note of uncertainty in her voice.
Mr Ryman nodded.
‘Your title will therefore be Acting Chairman, Miss Webster, until this trial period is over.’
Lottie nodded in agreement. It was as good as she was going to get.
‘Meeting adjourned then.’ The mayor stood up, shoving his seat back. He pushed the papers into his briefcase and luminous Post-it notes flew onto the floor. Ms Powell followed him to the door chattering in his ear.
Mr Ryman lingered behind the others as Lottie switched off her laptop and began to unwrap the mass of cables that had somehow twisted themselves around each other. ‘I’m very sorry that your nan passed away, Miss Webster. My condolences.’
‘Oh. Thank you.’ Lottie kept her eyes down, worried they would fill with tears as her body relaxed with relief.
‘She was a very energetic and likeable woman,’ Mr Ryman continued, trying to catch her eye. Lottie hoped he would get the hint that she didn’t want to talk about this right now.
‘Yes, she was.’
‘I attended the funeral you know?’
At this Lottie looked up. She hadn’t recalled seeing him there. ‘Did you?’
Mr Ryman gave her a warm and friendly smile. ‘I thought it was a lovely service. I guess I’ll see you at the next committee meeting then.’ He held out his hand, and she gave it her strongest shake.
Lottie remembered Sid telling her about the carriage clock and she felt like she’d misjudged Mr Ryman. Perhaps he was just rubbish at buying presents.
‘Can I just ask,’ said Lottie, releasing his hand, ‘why has the theatre sat empty for the last few years? Why couldn’t my nan make any progress?’
Mr Ryman studied the clasps on his briefcase before looking up. ‘Your nan tried everything she could to get things going again. To begin with, the committee kept changing and no one could agree on a way forward and then, when the mayor joined the committee, people started leaving and it dwindled to just us. He can be quite … negative sometimes. And forthright.’
Lottie nodded as a smile crept over her face. ‘I did get that impression.’
Mr Ryman tucked his briefcase under his arm. ‘Well, goodnight then. See you next time.’
‘Yes, goodbye.’
Lottie sat down in the empty room and exhaled a long, deep breath. For the first time all day she could breathe properly. Her nan had brought her luck tonight, Lottie could feel it – she was definitely watching. The tension in Lottie’s neck and shoulders had given her a headache, but at least now she could go home, have a glass of cold white wine and relax in the bath. There was just one thing she needed to do first. She grabbed her phone and dialled Sid’s number.
‘So, how’d it go?’ he asked with a mouthful of food, probably peanuts if she knew him at all.
Lottie slumped backwards and laughed with relief. ‘I only went and pulled it off, didn’t I?’
Sid watched the credits roll – everyone else was leaving but he knew to hang on. He’d seen enough of the Marvel films to know there was a secret scene after the final credits, a bit of a teaser for the next movie and all those other people were going to miss it. Ha! Idiots.
He sat back eating the last of his popcorn as he watched, excitement building in his stomach. It didn’t disappoint. But then he realised it was actually quite depressing, he was going to have to wait ages for the movie to be released. Still there was the new Batman film coming out soon and he and Lottie were going to see it.
Once the lights had come up he brushed the popcorn from his chest and peered down at the piles scattered around his feet. Using his foot, he pushed some in front of the chairs next to him. He wasn’t trying to make more mess for the nice guys who worked there, he just didn’t want them knowing that all of it was down to him. In his defence though, hand to mouth motor skills were quite difficult in the dark.
Sid grabbed his coat and made his way out into the foyer, giving a double take when he saw Selena standing with a group of friends. They were all as glamorous as she was with perfectly coiffed hair and matching outfits. One girl even wore a miniskirt even though the weather was cold and damp. He didn’t know people dressed up for the cinema. What was the point? It was dark and everyone’s eyes were on the screen.
Selena glanced over. She wasn’t wearing a miniskirt like her weird friend, just normal jeans and a T-shirt. It was a bit tighter than Lottie wore hers but still nice. Her hair was tied up in a strange, sprouty bun thing on the top of her head but it suited her, and her dark eyes were studying him. All the roundness her face had carried in their youth had gone and she now had delicate cheekbones. Selena smiled, said something to her friends and made her way over to Sid. ‘Hi again.’
Sid nodded and shoved his hands in his pockets. ‘Hi.’
‘Did you enjoy the movie?’
Sid’s expression grew serious as he considered. ‘Yeah, it was good. A bit slow in the beginning but once it got going it was fun. Did you?’
‘Yeah.’ Selena bit her bottom lip. ‘But we only came for Chris Hemsworth. Well, they did.’ She pointed to her friends.
‘Oh, right.’
She chuckled. ‘I did enjoy it though. Like you said, a bit slow at the start but it got better. Did you watch the secret scene?’
Sid’s eyes widened, surprised that she knew. ‘Yeah. Did – did you?’
‘Always!’ She gave a big grin and something happened to Sid’s heart. ‘So many people don’t know about it. It makes me laugh when they get up to leave as soon as the credits start and look at me like a weirdo for staying put.’
‘Me too! Do you come to the movies a lot?’
She nodded making the sprouty bun thing wobble. ‘When I can. I like a good action film. I’m not keen on all those depressing artsy type things designed to make you bawl your eyes out.’
‘Me neither,’ he said and could feel the silly grin on his face pulling at his cheeks. Sid scratched his head, urging himself to think of something to say. He loved movies, she loved movies, surely he could think of something.
‘Where are you off to now?’ Selena asked inching forwards. Sid was grateful he hadn’t had to think of something. He’d have probably sounded stupid or said something pointless.
‘Just home.’
‘Oh, and where’s that?’ She edged closer.
‘One of the flats on the seafront.’
Her eyes opened wider. ‘In one of those nice old houses?’
‘Yeah.’ He registered the surprise on her face. ‘I came into some money and bought one when housing prices were still low.’ God, he