Page 34 of The Village Shop for Lonely Hearts

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After returning from visiting Grandma Tilly’s bungalow, Amber grabbed a sweatshirt to put on.

Although it was a brighter day, the sun had less warmth now and the nights were beginning to grow colder. In fact, she had had to find an extra blanket on the bed the previous night.

She peered out of the shop window, where there was a cold mist rising from the river in the low sunlight. Autumn had definitely arrived. Although not, unfortunately, many more customers.

Despite the shop windows looking vastly improved, there hadn’t been a rush of people actually come in. She had spotted a couple of people stopping and staring at the new window display but they appeared hesitant to make the first move and come over the threshold.

Was it any wonder? she thought, shivering in the cool air of the shop.

‘Isn’t there ever any heating in here?’ she asked, stamping her Uggs on the wooden floor to get some warmth in them.

Josh looked up from the box that he had been opening. ‘All the old radiators are hidden behind all of this,’ he told her, waving his arm around at all the stock piled high. ‘I guess I’m sort of immune to it by now. I think Grandma wears thermal underwear, if you wanted to go down that route.’

His grin was positively flirtatious and she found herself blushing furiously in response.

‘I think we’ll leave my underwear out of it,’ she muttered. ‘How come you’ve never thought to sort out the heating in here before now?’

Josh carried on smiling which unnerved her slightly. Grumpy Josh she could deal with. She found smiling Josh was a little unsettling.

‘To be honest, I’ve always thought it was such a health and safety nightmare in here that the whole lot would go up in flames if I tried to switch the radiators back on,’ he told her. ‘But I had a new boiler installed upstairs, so at least the flat stays warm.’

Amber looked around at all the cardboard everywhere. ‘So, where do we start?’

Josh blew out a sigh. ‘I have no idea, to be honest. I’ve dreamt of this day for so long, but now that we’re here I can’t think straight.’

His easy demeanour had dropped suddenly.

Amber looked around, trying to see a clear way through the muddle. ‘Look, how about we just start in the middle,’ she finally said. ‘We’ll just take it one pile of stuff at a time.’

She was surprised that Josh was a bit nervous about tackling the shop, but it wasn’t hard to see why. The sheer amount of stuff in the shop was incredible and overwhelming.

She looked out at the teetering pile of baked bean tins that were piled up on top of a cardboard box. ‘So, we’ve got tinned goods,’ she said.

‘Better check the dates,’ said Josh, with a grimace. ‘I’m not sure how long they’ve been here.’

Thankfully the beans were in date, as were the tinned tomatoes and jars of coffee that they found in the next few boxes.

‘So how about we get all the food together?’ she suggested.

Josh nodded. ‘Sounds like a plan.’

Amber placed them all on the counter for the time being, leaving a space so they could still reach the till.

She suddenly remembered what Grandma Tilly had said about Todd playing music all of the time and looked around at the shop, empty and silent apart from Josh. ‘Why don’t we put some music on whilst we work?’ she asked.

Josh straightened up from the pile of stationery he had been sorting out. ‘Music?’ he said, before clearing his throat.

‘Grandma Tilly said there always used to be music playing somewhere in the shop and flat,’ said Amber.

Josh looked downcast. ‘I don’t think Mum likes to hear it any more.’

‘But your mum’s not here at the moment,’ said Amber, keeping her voice gentle. ‘Anyway, it’s just an idea. I thought it might help pass the time a bit quicker.’

Josh nodded thoughtfully but didn’t say anything, so Amber peered into the next crate.

‘Paint?’ she said. ‘What do you want me to do with that?’