by Heidi Rice
After closing the window, he flicked the lock. ‘I’m going to employ a locksmith to make this more secure,’ he murmured. ‘I don’t want anyone else calling on you late at night.’
Her heart burned at what he had implied without realizing it.
Very soon, there would be no reason to leave her window unlocked, because no one would be calling on her anymore.
Chapter 17
‘Ms Graham, Ms Ryan, thanks a bunch for coming in today and for putting together your presentation. Phil and I thought it was really cool,’ Jamie Callagher, the CEO of The Rialto indie cinema chain sent Ruby a relaxed smile. With his goatee beard, his messy hair and his more casual than smart hipster clothing, Callagher looked like Richard Branson’s geeky younger brother. Or rather, exactly like what he was – a movie buff who had managed to turn his favourite hobby into a money-spinning brand.
Cool? Had he said cool? Was that good, or code for crap?
‘I’m so glad you enjoyed it,’ Ruby said as the spiced caramel latte she’d been given by the receptionist turned into a spiced caramel nuclear bomb in her stomach. When she and Jacie had gotten the call to come back into the company’s head office this afternoon neither of them had been able to eat a bite.
They’d spent weeks working their asses off on the proposal they had delivered this morning, Jacie doing the lion’s share of the work on the financials while Ruby worked on a PowerPoint presentation of everything The Royale had to offer. They’d been brutally honest about the theatre’s financial liabilities, but after all the hard work Luke had done bringing the aging décor back up to scratch, the beauty of the theatre had shone through in the series of shots she’d taken over the last week.
Luke.
Just the thought of him had Ruby’s anxiety ramping up another notch. Was today his last day of work? She didn’t know, he hadn’t said anything this morning when they’d had breakfast together, but there had been a moment when she’d caught him watching her as she had laid their plates down on the table in the living room and what she’d seen had made a sharp pain stab under her breastbone. A sharp pain that felt like loss. Perhaps avoidance wasn’t so great after all, because not knowing was starting to turn her into a basket case.
‘So, Phil and I have got an answer for you …’ Jamie said, and Ruby wrangled her thoughts back from the topic of Luke.
The young CEO glanced at the man sitting next to him, who Ruby had thought for a minute might be his twin when they had arrived to do the presentation that morning – except where Jamie never stopped talking, Phil had yet to say a word.
‘When something this hot comes our way, we don’t like to mess around,’ Jamie said. ‘So we have a counter offer for you.’
‘You do?’ Ruby said.
‘Fantastic,’ Jacie said at the same time. ‘What is it?’ her assistant manager asked.
‘We totally get that The Royale is special,’ Jamie said, leaning forward to emphasise his enthusiasm. ‘And the place is looking great. You’ve got a business we think The Rialto brand can enhance considerably. And from your preliminary numbers we definitely think it’s well situated to expand our reach in the West London area. It’s kind of close to our venue in Holland Park, but we’ve been thinking of changing that to a first run theatre so adding The Royale to the portfolio as a venue for classics and retrospectives would totally work.’
‘That’s wonderful,’ Ruby said, letting Jamie’s enthusiasm inflate the bubble of hope under her breastbone and push out the pain of Luke’s impending parting. Turning The Royale into another Rialto cinema hadn’t been what they had offered, that sounded like a takeover rather than the fifty percent buy-in that she and Jacie had proposed so they could cover the theatre’s debts. But she was happy to hear him out.
‘We thought the name The Rialto Royale would build on your local clientele while giving the venue a hit of extra Rialto cool points …’ Jamie grinned.
But we don’t need your cool points, we’ve got enough of our own.
‘Why don’t we call it The Royale Rialto,’ Jacie said, the flat tone saying exactly what Ruby had been thinking. ‘Seeing as it’s been The Royale for a lot longer than you’ve been in business.’
Jamie’s grin sharpened. ‘That’s not going to work for us,’ he said easily enough, and Ruby realised Jamie Callagher was nobody’s fool. He knew The Royale was in trouble, that he had the upper hand in these negotiations.
‘That’s okay, Jace,’ she said, sending her assistant manager her best cease-and-desist look. ‘I think the name change sounds wonderful,’ she added.
They needed The Rialto on board as investors, or the only option was to sell the theatre to developers and close The Royale forever – while working on the presentation she had contacted every possible investment prospect she could think of, and she hadn’t even gotten a call back from the others.
‘Okay, cool,’ Jamie said, his silent partner Phil remaining silent but sending Jacie a hard stare which was making the spiced caramel bomb in Ruby’s stomach start to implode. Something wasn’t right about all this, because she was getting the impression Jamie and Phil were wolves in hipster clothing.
‘Now, we’d really like to move on this ASAP. We’ve spoken to a developer and they think the best use of the space is to gut the upstairs flat and add a floor, so we can create some rental units to increase the theatre’s operating profits,’ Jamie said, his enthusiasm becoming turbo-charged. ‘It’ll take a while to get planning permission and do the rebuild.’
Rebuild? They hadn’t mentioned anything about a rebuild, or gutting her home.
‘So we’d need to finalise the purchase in the next couple of weeks to get going on that and re-open before we hit the lucrative Christmas season.’ Jamie was still speeding up. ‘We’re prepared to be generous to you and your staff to expedite the deal. We’re proposing double the asking price you specified plus an extra five percent.’ Pulling some paperwork out of a file in front of him, he passed the contract across the table. ‘It’s all there in black and white for you to look over, but for this to work for us we’d need to close the deal a week from now.’
‘I’m sorry? What?’ Ruby said, dumbly. ‘Did you say you want to pay me double what I asked for plus five percent for fifty percent of the business?’
Jamie’s wolfish grin took on the precision of a killer shark. ‘No, Ruby … Is it okay if I call you Ruby?’
‘Yes, of course,’ she said, the bubble of hope turning into a lead weight.
‘Ruby, a partnership isn’t going to work for us. That’s not how we roll at The Rialto. We’re only interested in purchasing one hundred percent of The Royale and running the cinema with our own team in our own way.’
‘But we’re not offering you a hundred percent—’ Jacie’s outraged shout barely registered as Jamie interrupted her, his killer smile making the lead weight in Ruby’s stomach collide with the nuclear bomb.
‘Plus, we checked out the loan agreements on the theatre, and we know you’ve got to pay off the theatre’s debts by June 20th. So it’s not like you’ve got a lot of time to find a better offer.’
***
‘Jesus, and to think I once thought Luke Devlin was the Antichrist. The man’s a fricking saint compared to Jamie and Phil the Evil Hipster Twins,’ Jacie stared glumly into her lemon-tini as they sat on the stools at the end of the bar in Brynn’s Babes a half hour later. ‘What the bloody hell do we do now?’
‘We move on to Plan B,’ Ruby said, knowing there was no Plan B.
‘Is there a Plan B?’ Jacie asked, the flash of hope in her expression making Ruby want to cry.
‘There are other cinema chains, and other possible investors …’ All of whom she had already contacted. They were all out of viable options, but Jacie and the rest of the staff didn’t need to know that … yet.
‘You think that’s a possibility? Aren’t we running out of time to find someone else?’ Jacie frowned. Unfortunately, her assistant manager was not an idiot.
&
nbsp; ‘Leave it with me, okay. I can make a few calls. We have a week to make a decision on this offer.’ A week during which she might be able to negotiate something to at least save her staff their jobs. Surely Jamie and Phil would have to hire a whole new team, but why bother if the staff were already there? Unless they were planning to rehire on reduced salaries – which she wouldn’t put past them. But perhaps Ruby had some leeway there if she offered to take a lower sales price for The Royale, maybe she could guarantee her staff their jobs and salaries. But what about her own job at The Royale? Somehow she doubted she would be able to persuade Jamie and Phil to keep her on. And did she really want to? Taking orders from The Rialto’s head office would be very different than being her own boss, or taking orders from Matty.
She took a hefty sip of her own lemon-tini to fill the hole in her stomach left by the afternoon’s nuclear explosion.
The thought of being forced to leave The Royale, start a new life, a new job, somewhere else without everyone who had become like a family over the years had been hanging over her for two and a half months. But the possibility wasn’t just a possibility anymore … It was more like an inevitability.
‘You’re not seriously considering their offer are you? That would mean the end of The Royale as we know it,’ Jacie said, the dejected look back.
Yes, she was seriously considering it, because the alternative was closing The Royale down altogether.
‘We’ve got some bargaining power,’ she said. ‘I don’t mind who owns The Royale as long as we can stay together here and keep the cinema open.’
‘You really think those two smug wankers will bargain? They didn’t look like the bargaining type to me,’ Jacie said.
‘We’ll see,’ Ruby said.
‘Should we cancel our Babs and Bob night tomorrow?’ Jacie said.
‘Absolutely not,’ Ruby replied. ‘It’s a Matty’s Classics night.’ And they might not have another now, she thought miserably. ‘Brynn’s offered to do the theme tune in the foyer before the show. Plus, everyone will already have their costumes.’
The dress-up theme was your favourite Robert Redford or Barbra Streisand character to celebrate the penultimate Matty’s Classic, the iconic movie in which the two actors had linked up for the one and only time in their careers. She was expecting a lot of Yentls and Funny Girls and probably a few Sundance Kids.
‘I’ve already sourced mine,’ Ruby added, because in between working her bum off on yesterday’s presentation for The Rialto and having a wild affair with Luke Devlin in the last twenty days, she’d also managed to find a close replica of Streisand’s dress in the El Morocco scene at the beginning of the movie.
‘Yeah, me too,’ Jacie said. ‘Okay, I guess you’re right. It’s not over till it’s over.’
Tears stung Ruby’s throat at the question in Jacie’s voice and her heart weighed several tons in her chest because the end of The Royale wasn’t the only ending coming towards her at warp speed.
The door to the bar opened, letting in a stream of sunlight that backlit a tall figure in jeans and a checked shirt she recognized instantly – magically conjuring up the other ending she had been avoiding for days.
Luke waved to Brynn, who was serving behind the bar, then headed towards them. He wasn’t wearing his overalls.
Ruby’s throat began to hurt. She finished her lemon-tini not sure if she could cope with losing Luke today, too.
Jacie, probably sensing her dip in mood, shifted round. ‘Hey.’ She lifted her hand in greeting.
‘Hi Jacie, Ruby.’ Luke nodded. He reached into his pocket and produced the set of keys Ruby had given him nearly six weeks ago now.
The weight in her stomach became a chasm.
‘Hey, Jacie, do you mind if I speak to Ruby in private?’ he said.
Jacie stared at the keys, obviously figuring out the significance of them too. She sent Ruby a searching look, the stubborn expression on her face telling Ruby that she had her back – if Ruby needed it. For one desperate moment Ruby considered telling her friend to stay, to avoid the inevitable for a few moments more, but she forced herself to nod, the time for avoidance was over.
Jacie took the hint. ‘Sure, I’ve gotta go open the cinema for the evening showing anyway. I’ll leave you two to it.’ Sending Ruby one more fierce look, she left.
‘Your assistant manager is a tough nut to crack,’ Luke said as he watched Jacie leave. ‘She still doesn’t like me much.’
Jacie liked him a lot more than he would ever know. And she wasn’t the only one. His calm, practical presence over the last six weeks as he worked his way methodically through the checklist of repairs had endeared him to everyone. He’d become a part of their community without even realizing it. And everyone would miss him. Even Jacie.
‘Actually, I think she likes you a lot,’ Ruby said, knowing it wasn’t just Jacie she was talking about.
Avoiding dealing with his inevitable departure in the last few days had been hard, but not as hard as facing it. After all the qualifying and talking sense to herself she’d been doing in the last days and weeks, ever since this affair had begun, why was she finding it so hard to breathe evenly right now?
He placed the keys on the bar between them and climbed on to the stool Jacie had vacated. ‘How did the meeting go, with The Rialto?’ he said.
‘How did you know about that?’ she asked, a guilty flush hitting her cheeks.
The yearning she had been burying for days threatened to spill out of her mouth. She would have loved to ask Luke’s advice, to get his take, to lean on him and hope he could find a solution. But she couldn’t do that. She had no claim on him, they’d established that without a doubt over the last three weeks. Her ribs began to ache as she had to force the breaths in and out of her lungs.
‘Are you kidding me?’ he said, a wry smile twisting his lips
She dragged her gaze from his mouth, to find him watching her.
‘Gerry and Tozer aren’t the most discreet guys on the planet,’ he added.
‘Hey, Luke, you want a drink?’ Brynn asked, having returned from the storeroom. The bar was almost empty at five in the afternoon, which was why Ruby and Jacie had escaped here to debrief after their meeting.
‘Sure, I’ll take a Sam Adams.’ He glanced at Ruby’s empty glass. ‘You want another?’
She didn’t, really. Drinking in the afternoon was not a good idea, especially when you had a ton of heartache to process, and your breathing was already severely compromised. The one thing she could not do was let on to Luke how much she was going to miss him. Because then he would feel beholden, and that was the one thing she didn’t want. They’d both gone into this with their eyes wide open. If she went to pieces now in front of him, all that would have been a lie.
But the thought that this was almost certainly going to be her last drink with Luke had the reply popping out of her mouth. ‘Yes, thank you.’
Maybe she was pathetic for wanting to prolong the agony, but so be it. And a drink might help her to get through this with her dignity intact.
‘You didn’t answer my question,’ he said. ‘How did the meeting go?’
‘Good,’ she lied smoothly, avoiding eye contact. ‘I think we’ve found an investor. And a solution which will work for everyone. I’m …’ She paused, drawing on all the acting talent she had ever possessed to put the right amount of enthusiasm into her voice. ‘I’m excited. This is going to be a new chapter for The Royale, and hopefully a lucrative one. We should even be able to give you something for your share.’
He frowned, his searching gaze only making the blush on her cheeks hit critical mass. And the pain in her lungs more pronounced.
Thank goodness for the dark lighting.
‘I told you, I don’t want a cent,’ he said. ‘You can invest my share back into the business if there’s any left after the debts are paid.’
‘You don’t have to do that,’ she said. Although she knew on one level he did, and it only made her sadder.
Taking nothing from the sale would sever any ties he had to the theatre, to Matty, and perhaps most importantly, to her. And while she knew that’s the way it had to be, for both of them, it didn’t make the stabbing pain every time she drew a breath any less vicious. ‘Matty wanted you to have half,’ she added.
‘He didn’t know me, Ruby’ he said gently. ‘We both know that bequest had everything to do with Matty’s love for my father and you, and nothing to do with me. From what I know about my uncle now, he was big on romantic gestures. But he also loved you like a daughter,’ he said with an authority that made her throat burn as well as her lungs. While Luke had spent his days doing up The Royale, he’d come to know what a special person Matty was, and that made her so happy. Or it would once she got over the pain of losing him, too.
‘He wanted me to have a stake in The Royale for the sake of that lost love affair and because he wanted me to help you out,’ Luke continued. ‘I get that. And that’s why there’s no way I’m taking anything out of the theatre now, when you guys need it. Okay?’
She smiled and swallowed down the tears threatening to spill over her lids. ‘You’re much more emotionally intelligent than you look,’ she said, stupidly moved by his declaration.
‘I had a good teacher,’ he murmured.
She nodded, knowing she couldn’t speak, or all of her best efforts to remain dignified and not desperate would be for nothing.
Don’t you dare cry. Don’t you dare make a scene. Not now, when you’re so close to finishing The Ruby Movie the way it has to be finished.
‘Here you go, guys,’ Brynn arrived with the fresh drinks. Ruby took a gulp of hers and swallowed. The sweet citrus tang somehow allowed her to ignore the pain in her chest.
Saved by a lemon-tini.
‘What are you two going as for Babs and Bob night?’ Brynn asked.
Ruby pressed a shaky finger to her nose. ‘That’s for me to know and you to find out,’ she said, hoping no one could hear the tremble in her voice. ‘What are you going as Brynn?’
