Page 26

The soft hum of the cinema filled Tess’s ears as she walked through the lobby. A queue at the popcorn, another queue at the ticket desk, people coming in and out of the bar.

The Eclipse had been back up and running for a few weeks now, and the steady stream of customers was comforting, a sign that the place had turned a corner.

Today, The Bicycle Thief was playing, in part to make good on the promise Tess had made to the moviegoers who had been ejected during the infamous leak.

But this showing was a bit different. What had been a low turnout last time was now an almost full showing.

She spotted Fi at the concession stand, talking to Gloria as she scooped popcorn.

‘Hey, shouldn’t you be in the movie?’ Tess asked Gloria.

‘I’ve already seen the first half. I’m only here for the second half,’ Gloria said.

‘But you saw it months ago,’ Tess said. ‘Do you even remember it now?’

Gloria tapped her temple. ‘Steel trap.’

Tess laughed. ‘You do you, Gloria.’

‘I can’t do anything else with my hip,’ Gloria reported.

‘Hey, what do you think of the place now?’ Tess asked.

Gloria looked around her. ‘I’ve never liked deco,’ she sniffed.

Tess sighed and smiled.

Fi handed Gloria the popcorn. Gloria took it and checked her watch. ‘Alright then,’ she said and headed into the screen.

Tess was about to keep walking when Fi asked, ‘Zara here today?’

‘Err, I think so,’ Tess said very casually.

‘You think so?’ Fi repeated suspiciously.

Tess ignored the tone and kept moving, making a beeline for her office.

‘Tess!’ Fi called out from behind the counter, her voice too loud to pretend she hadn’t heard.

Tess stopped, closed her eyes for a beat, and turned around. ‘What?’

Fi raised an eyebrow, tossing the popcorn scoop into its metal holder with a clang. ‘You’re being weird.’

Tess put her hands on her hips, trying to keep her expression neutral. ‘I’m not being weird. I’m just busy.’

Fi leaned on the counter. ‘Yeah, I’ve noticed. Particularly when Zara’s around.’

Tess’s stomach flipped, but she forced a casual shrug. ‘I don’t know what you’re on about.’

Fi gave a slow, deliberate nod as if pretending to agree. ‘Right.’

Tess clenched her jaw. ‘You can cut that out right now.’

Fi smirked. ‘Cut out what?’

Tess shot her a glare but didn’t respond. She turned back toward her office, walking quickly before Fi could say anything else.

Once inside the chaotic small space (despite the clear-out during the redecoration, it was completely re-cluttered), Tess tried to take a deep breath. But she knew it wasn’t just Fi getting under her skin. It was Zara.

Zara had texted her the day before, saying she had some new marketing ideas to run by her.

That meant another session of sitting across from Zara in the cramped office, the room filled floor to ceiling with that unbearable tension that neither of them seemed willing to address.

But Tess wasn’t going to be the one to crack. No slipping up, no letting on how much she’d been thinking about that almost-moment between them. Cool as ice.

A knock sounded at the door, and Tess’s pulse kicked up. She stood, smoothing down the front of her t-shirt, and called out, ‘Come in.’

The door creaked open, and Zara stepped in, wearing her usual mix of casual confidence and well-fitting business wear. The blazer was buttoned up in a way that really cupped her…

‘Tess,’ Zara said, and Tess thought she’d been caught staring. But then she followed it up with a very normal, ‘Good to see you.’

‘Howdy,’ Tess replied, forcing a tight smile. The fuck? Did she just say Howdy? Tess had wanted to be chill, but that was an overcorrect. She shook it off and gestured to the chair across from her desk. ‘Have a seat.’ She sat back down herself.

Zara took the seat, placing her laptop on the desk. ‘So,’ Zara began, flipping open her laptop, ‘I’ve been thinking about how to reach more of the younger audience, maybe doing some themed screenings for cult classics—films like Pulp Fiction, Fight Club, stuff that draws in that twenty-something crowd.”

‘You mean Violent Bloke Movies,’ Tess replied.

Zara laughed. ‘Women like those movies. I like them.’

‘Yeah, OK. Me too, I guess. Fuck Tarantino, though.’

Zara looked surprised. ‘You should love him. He’s a film nerd, like you.’

‘He took Asian cinema and repackaged it for a Western audience. He’s a hack,’ Tess told her.

Zara tilted her head. ‘But a fun hack, right?’

‘I guess so,’ Tess conceded.

Tess nodded, glad for the straightforwardness of the topic. ‘So what you’re getting at is, we need a younger crowd?’

Zara’s gaze lingered on her for a moment longer than necessary before she looked down at her notes. ‘That’s right. I was thinking about working with local influencers, maybe offering them free passes in exchange for posts about the cinema. It’s a small town, but word-of-mouth still helps.’

‘Yeesh,’ Tess said with a grimace.

Zara smiled. ‘I knew you weren’t going to like that one. But social media is part of advertising. And it’s done a lot for you lately.’

That was true. The media company had rolled out ads across print and digital that were everywhere. Tess didn’t feel they were too gross either. Not that she was going to give them a rave. ‘I guess,’ she shrugged.

Zara smiled like she’d expected that reaction.

For a few minutes, they fell into an easy rhythm, talking through Zara’s ideas to bring in people who still had all their own teeth, their conversation back in its normal semi-combative rhythm.

But now and then, Tess would catch Zara looking at her like she wanted to say something else, something more. And every time, Tess felt nauseous.

Finally, as the conversation lulled, Zara closed her laptop and leaned back in the chair, her eyes fixed on Tess. ‘So, how’ve you been?’

The question felt loaded. ‘Fine,’ Tess answered curtly, immediately regretting the edge in her voice.

‘I’ve been thinking,’ Zara began. ‘About opening night.’

Tess forced herself to stay calm. She couldn’t afford to let Zara know how much that moment had haunted her. ‘Vertigo tends to stay with you,’ she said dryly.

Zara sighed and tried again. ‘Tess…’ she started, then paused as if unsure of how to continue. ‘I want you to know I didn’t walk away easily.’

Tess swallowed, her throat tight. She hadn’t expected Zara to be so direct. ‘Why are we talking about this?’ she asked, more defensively than she intended. She pushed her chair back and stood up, needing to move, needing to get out of the spotlight of Zara’s eyes. ‘It was a weird moment. We don’t have to make it more than it was.’

Zara stood up too, her eyes never leaving Tess. ‘I’m sorry. I thought you maybe were thinking about it, and I wanted to say that it wasn’t straightforward… In another life…’

Tess turned away, staring at the window, at the light filtering through the curtains. ‘I don’t know what you want me to say, Zara.’

‘I don’t want you to say anything.’ Tess could feel her taking a step closer. ‘I just… I don’t want to pretend it didn’t happen.’

Tess kept looking at the window. When she finally turned around, Zara was standing just a few feet away, her expression open, vulnerable. Tess couldn’t handle it.

‘It was a crazy night,’ Tess said, her voice quiet, resigned. ‘I had a mad moment, that’s all.'

Zara nodded slowly, understanding, but Tess could see the disappointment in her eyes. ‘Oh.’

Tess took a step forward, closing some of the distance between them, even though every instinct told her not to. ‘It would be stupid. Very stupid. Complicate everything.’

‘Yeah, it would,’ Zara agreed.

Tess shook her head, feeling a pang of frustration. ‘We’re not going to make this a thing, right?’ she added, her voice harder now. ‘I mean, our professional relationship very nearly works at this point.’

Zara smiled despite herself. ‘I guess so.’

‘Silly to mess with it.’

Zara looked at her for a long moment, her gaze searching Tess’s face. ‘Yeah. That’s exactly what I was trying to say.’

Tess’s stomach twisted. ‘Same page. Great.’

Zara nodded, picking up her laptop and tucking it under her arm. ‘OK,’ she said, smiling. It looked forced. She went to open the door, twisting the handle. Nothing happened. She tried again, rewarded with a still-locked door. ‘Umm…’

Tess tutted. ‘Sorry, this new door handle, it’s a bit temperamental. I’ve been meaning to get them back in to sort it.’

She went over and put her hand on the handle to give it a big wrench and found that Zara had reached for it, too.

Tess’s hand was on Zara’s hand. Her eyes held Tess’s for a brief, electric moment. Nobody moved.