Page 54 of Christmas at the Movies

Owning a cinema was hard work. Over the years, they’d had to use all their ingenuity to find ways to keep it going. There had been plenty of tough times, but they were greatly outweighed by the good times.

A bit like their marriage.

‘But the cinema’s held you back all these years,’ said James.

‘I don’t think it has, actually,’ said Sarah.

She’d been reflecting on this a lot over the past few weeks, as she worked on the script and watched the film-festival movies.

She might have believed that in the past, but not any more.

‘All those films we’ve shown here over the years – even the terrible ones – have taught me so much about cinema, and the craft of storytelling.

The reason I struggled to finish anything before was that I wasn’t ready. Now I am.’

She was going to rework The Ghost Writer and had already started.

Instead of making the heroine a girl in her twenties, she was going to make her a middle-aged woman, like herself.

Someone who had been through a lot in life – but still believed in the healing power of love.

And once she was finished with that, she’d write another screenplay.

Her mind was fizzing with the stories she wanted to tell.

Stories about ordinary people, inspired by her friends in Plumdale.

Every one of them was an everyday hero, whose story deserved to be shared.

James looked at her, his eyes shining with pride. ‘I believe in you, Sarah. And I am so, so proud of you.’

How could she have ever doubted that he wanted the best for her?

Just then, the projector came to life. The cinema’s curtains drew open with a swoosh and the advertisements began to play.

‘You’ve been telling a story too,’ said Sarah, smiling at him. ‘The story of our life together. That’s what the film festival has been all about, hasn’t it? Celebrating all the special moments that we’ve shared.’

‘I wasn’t sure if you realised…’ said James.

She had figured it out while watching An Affair to Remember. Suddenly, she’d understood why James had chosen all of those films. He’d curated a history of their love in movies, just for her. ‘It was the nicest Christmas gift anyone has ever given me.’

‘Oh, Sarah …’ James reached for her.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him with as much passion as she’d felt the first time their lips had locked outside the Prince Charles cinema, on another Christmas Eve long ago.

Cinemas had been the setting for their love story, and none was more special than the Picture Palace. Sarah would never want to give it up.

From their eyrie in the projection booth, Sarah looked down at the audience. Iris was sitting with Sam and Mateo, who was studiously ignoring all the sneaky selfies the other movie-goers were taking. She supposed he must be used to it.

‘Oh, look, there’s Kath,’ said James.

Accompanied by her girlfriend and her dad, the politician was making her way to her seat, shaking hands with her constituents with one hand, while holding a bag of sweets with the other.

Sarah spotted Nick sitting with his new friends, laughing and throwing popcorn at each other.

It wasn’t just the youngsters in high spirits – Geraldine and the other Golden Oldies were sitting together, surreptitiously passing Pam’s flask around.

Ian and Hermione came into the auditorium holding hands, looking blissfully content.

‘Looks like Holly and Aaron weren’t the only couple to fall in love this Christmas,’ said Sarah happily.

There was no sign of her daughter and her new boyfriend, and Sarah decided not to think about where they were – or what they might be doing!

Aaron had been incredibly heroic tonight and she’d seen how much he cared about Holly.

Enough to stand up to a famous and powerful director.

They had her blessing, not that they needed it.

Holly was old enough to follow her own heart.

Whatever the outcome of her romance, Sarah would be there for her – the way her mother had always been there for her.

Finally, it was time for the feature presentation. As romantic music played, the film opened on a shot of Chicago skyscrapers and a train squealing along an elevated track. Sandra Bullock and Bill Pullman’s names appeared and then the title – While You Were Sleeping.

Of course, thought Sarah. It couldn’t have been anything else but the film they’d seen the night they first found each other, two lonely singletons who loved movies. Her heart swelling with love, Sarah snuggled against James and thought how lucky they were to have found each other once again.

‘Hark! The herald angels sing!’ sang the audience as Olwyn accompanied them on the cinema organ. There was always a carol sing-along after the final Christmas movie. Olwyn brought her organ concert to a conclusion with a rousing rendition of ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’.

Sarah and James had gone downstairs to join in the carols and indulge in some mulled wine and mince pies. Sarah knew how blessed she was to have her family – both real and found – with her tonight.

‘The new sound system sounded amazing,’ Roger remarked, jangling a collection bucket for the refugee charity in France. Sarah added some coins to the bucket.

‘I see Holly and her young man have finally got together,’ said Geraldine, peering at them through her red-framed glasses.

Sarah followed her mother’s gaze to where Holly and Aaron were kissing under a sprig of mistletoe.

Nick pulled a face. ‘Ugh! They should get a room.’ Then he ran off with the twins to get more mince pies.

Geraldine nodded sagely. ‘Indeed the Zulu people of South Africa build special courting huts so young couples can have a private place to be intimate.’

‘They can use the garden shed to canoodle,’ suggested James. ‘Although my bike takes up a lot of the room in there.’

‘I bet you wish you were going somewhere exotic for Christmas, Mum,’ said Sarah. Geraldine was staying in Plumdale this year, because Meg’s family had decided to visit her dad in Spain.

‘Oh, I don’t know,’ said Geraldine. ‘Plumdale is growing on me. I think I’m going to be very happy here.’

Sarah took her mother’s hand. It was bony and covered in age spots, but her grip was strong – as was her love.

‘Happy Christmas, Mum,’ she said. ‘I’m so glad you’re here too.’

Eventually, the audience started to drift home, to fill stockings, leave mince pies out for Santa and put presents under the tree, which they’d finally put a few nights earlier.

It had snowed while the film had been playing – real snow.

It sparkled brightly under the neon light of the cinema marquee.

Holly and Nick had walked ahead, their daughter’s arm slung affectionately over her not-so-little brother’s shoulder.

‘What if you hadn’t got the time wrong?’ said Sarah as James locked up the cinema door.

‘If you didn’t end up seeing While You Were Sleeping, we never would have met that day.

’ She still had the ticket stub tucked into an old diary.

She’d known even back then that it was a special night – that the cute film buff was going to play the leading man in her life.

‘Oh, we would have met,’ said James confidently. ‘At some other movie. At some other cinema. On some other day.’

‘How can you be so sure?’ asked Sarah.

‘Because we’re soulmates,’ replied James. Putting an arm around her shoulder, he gestured up at the stars twinkling in the night sky. ‘It was written in the stars.’

If it had been a movie, violin music would have begun to swell.

The camera would pan out over the snow-dusted village and the credits would begin to roll.

But James and Sarah’s love story wasn’t a movie and it wasn’t ending here.

This was just one more scene in their story.

Because sometimes, real life was even better than the movies.