Page 37 of The Village Shop for Lonely Hearts

‘I hope you’re both not working too hard,’ said Cathy, as soon as Amber had picked up the phone.

‘We’re fine,’ said Amber. ‘Don’t worry.’

Josh rolled his eyes at her, having already endured a lengthy phone call of concern.

‘How’s Singapore?’ asked Amber, eager to change the subject.

‘Oh, it’s amazing!’ said Cathy. Amber could feel her smiling down the phone line. ‘Pete’s taking me to Raffles Hotel for tea at the weekend when he finishes work.’

Amber had already got the impression that both the brothers were equally hardworking.

‘I heard from Mum last night,’ Amber told her. ‘She’s so excited.’

‘Me too,’ said Cathy. ‘I’ve got another ten days here and then I’m heading on to New Zealand. I’m not sure how long I’ll be staying there.’

Amber nodded thoughtfully to herself. As she had suspected, Cathy’s holiday was stretching out longer than originally planned. But she found she didn’t mind. She was enjoying helping Josh reorganise the shop.

After they had finished chatting, she handed the phone back to Josh.

‘She sounds as if she’s having a nice time with your brother,’ said Amber.

Josh glanced around the messy shop. ‘Lucky her,’ he said. ‘We’ll both need a holiday after all of this.’

Amber looked around. They appeared to have made more mess than when they had started, or so it felt.

‘Maybe I’m not very good at this,’ she said, her fears and doubts bubbling to the surface as usual.

Josh looked at her. ‘Yes, you are. Don’t lie.’

‘It’s not a lie,’ she told him. ‘It’s just the truth.’

He frowned. ‘Look, if you were so rubbish at your work, they wouldn’t have given you all those amazing jobs.’

‘Which I then lost.’

‘That’s redundancies and a downturn in the market,’ he told her, coming to stand in front of her. ‘That’s not your fault.’

She hung her head. ‘No. I guess not.’

Was he right? Perhaps. Or perhaps not.

She was startled when he suddenly touched her chin and lifted her face up to his. ‘You have a smudge on your cheek,’ he said.

Amber found she was holding her breath as he brushed her cheek with his thumb.

‘Occupational hazard these days,’ she managed to finally say as his blue eyes locked onto hers.

He stared down at her for a second before he abruptly let go and Amber could finally breathe out once more.

‘I thought I’d head over to the pub to see the England match after dinner,’ he said, his voice casual. ‘Do you want to come with me?’

Amber was surprised and pleased to be asked but was still trying to get over her reaction to his touching her cheek so she shook her head. ‘Thanks, but I’m pretty weary,’ she told him. ‘I think I’ll have a shower and then put my feet up here, if that’s OK.’

He shrugged his shoulders. ‘It’s your home too,’ he told her.

Amber smiled to herself when he left an hour later. It did feel a little like home, although she wasn’t even sure where that was these days. When was the last time she had felt at home anywhere? Certainly not in New York. And not even in London before that.

Probably growing up, but even then their houses had been many. Moving around the country chasing her parents’ next dream meant that they had never settled anywhere. But even a temporary home had turned into a sanctuary from the bullying girls who had been her classmates at secondary school.