Page 13 of The Village Shop for Lonely Hearts

Del had a good heart and would always manage to find anything that anyone needed, especially at short notice. But most villagers had learnt over the years that it was best to never ask where anything connected to Del came from in the first place.

‘All right?’ said Del as a way of greeting, between sips from his pint of cider. ‘So who’s that little beauty you’ve brought in?’ he asked, giving a wink and smile in Amber’s direction.

Josh shook his head warningly at his friend. ‘Just passing through, Del. So hands off.’

Del laughed. ‘Might have known you’d keep a pretty girl like that to yourself.’

‘It’s not like that,’ Josh told him, glancing back over to where Amber was sitting. She had certainly grown up into an attractive woman, shining out like a diamond in the grotty under lit pub.

But Del wasn’t listening as he had just switched his attention back to Belle, who had returned with a handwritten note of microwaveable meals.

‘No worries,’ carried on Del. ‘My heart belongs to the lovely Belle here.’

She gave him a grimaced smile. ‘I’ll try to contain my excitement,’ she told him, her voice laced with sarcasm.

‘Not on my account, sweetheart,’ said Del, grinning.

Thankfully Belle was more than capable of keeping Dodgy Del at arm’s-length, such was her strength of character. She rolled her eyes and handed over the list to Josh. ‘It’s not a great choice, but you already knew that,’ she told him.

He sipped from his pint before carrying back the drinks to the table.

‘Thanks,’ murmured Amber, as she took the gin and tonic from him.

For a second, they locked eyes, her brown to his blue and he felt a jolt deep within. A spark of something. He looked away as he dropped into his seat. So she was attractive, so what? He’d dated pretty women before.

But she most definitely wasn’t the type for a fling. And he wasn’t stupid enough to upset his mum any further. Or his own Aunty Denise either. Amber’s mum was an equally formidable character.

So that was where any small amount of attraction ended, he reminded himself. She was going to leave and join her family in New Zealand. He would never see her again, probably.

And he felt even more alone at that thought than ever before.

Josh had told them how awful the food in the pub might be, but Amber was surprised at how bad it actually was.

‘How can they not be able to cook chips?’ she asked, prodding a blackened chip with her fork. It was both charred and burnt on the outside and yet still undercooked on the inside.

‘I think Angie has trouble cooking anything with those false nails of hers,’ said Cathy, nodding in agreement. ‘Still, it’s nice to be somewhere different tonight.’

Amber was surprised. From what she had gathered so far, her godmother didn’t like any kind of change, especially in the shop. And yet here she was, craving an alternative to what must be some very lonely nights in the flat. Especially since Grandma Tilly had moved out, although Amber understood that the stairs had become too much trouble for her unsteady legs. She had appeared very eager to invite Amber around the following day to her new bungalow for a cup of tea. Perhaps Grandma Tilly was a little lonely too now that she was living by herself.

Amber’s gaze wandered on to look at Josh. Did he get lonely as well? There was hardly a vast amount of choice of single women around the village from what she’d seen so far. And it wasn’t as if he wasn’t good-looking. She studied him for a moment. Handsome face. Nice eyes. Wide shoulders.

He suddenly turned his head, as if feeling her gaze on him, and she quickly looked down at her plate, blushing. Thankfully she wasn’t really hungry. Her body clock was still running on New York time and all she really wanted to do was climb into bed and sleep forever and a day.

She suppressed a yawn, which unfortunately Cathy caught.

‘You poor thing,’ she said, smiling. ‘You must be shattered. Let’s get the bill and you can head back to the flat.’

‘You go ahead,’ said Josh, nursing his pint. ‘I’m going to finish my drink, so I’ll pay up in a while.’

He wished them goodnight and then they left the pub.

Outside, it was dark already and the temperature had dropped. At least she still had her leather jacket, thought Amber, drawing it around her as she glanced up. The sky was clear and full of stars. She had missed seeing them in Manhattan, she realised.

Cathy tucked her hand through Tilly’s arm as they went back across the bridge. Amber just prayed that she wasn’t so tired that she fell in again, but thankfully they all made it to the other side safely.

As they reached the shop, Amber heard Cathy’s soft sigh.

‘Is everything OK?’ she asked.