Page 4 of The Village Shop for Lonely Hearts

Josh knew how she felt. And that Amber’s look was exactly the same as any potential customers wore when they popped in. And why they never returned.

‘I told you those biscuits would be in the way,’ his mum called out over her shoulder.

Josh rolled his eyes as he rebuilt the stack once more. The biscuits had been on special offer at the cash and carry shop. They were cheap and plentiful. But it appeared that the handful of customers that they received each day weren’t in need of family-sized boxes of biscuits. They just wanted some milk and a newspaper. If they could find the fridge, that was. It was hidden behind a stack of cleaning goods.

No wonder there was hardly any money, he thought as they continued past the old till at the back of the shop and through to the stockroom beyond. What profit could be made from such a mess?

He supposed that buying the biscuits had only contributed to the problem of the overstocked shop but he was pretty much resigned to the state of the place nowadays.

His mum headed across the stockroom to where there was a small kitchen in the far corner.

‘I’ve got a towel in here somewhere,’ she said, searching around near the sink.

The stockroom was fairly large as it ran the entire width at the back of the shop. Two-thirds of the area though was filled with yet more unsold stock. The last third, next to the kitchen area, was taken up with a small ride-on tractor.

As always, seeing the tractor reminded him of his father. Even now, he could see his dad tinkering with it, bending over the bonnet, trying to get the engine going. His dad had used the back room as his garage to build the thing from scratch, but it had never worked.

Both Josh and his younger brother, Pete, had spent their teenage years watching and waiting for the grand day that his dad had promised when the tractor would run and they could take a ride on it out on the lanes of Cranbridge. But that day had never come and now that his dad was no longer with them, it never would. But the tractor remained. Nobody could bear to part with it and the precious memories it held.

‘Here you are,’ said his mum, handing a small towel to Amber. ‘Mind you, you could probably use a change of clothes. You must be freezing. Are your suitcases still outside? Josh, go and fetch them, would you?’

Josh went to turn when Amber said, ‘I haven’t got any.’

‘You haven’t?’ said his mum, looking astonished.

‘Travelling light?’ drawled Josh.

She shook her head, blushing. ‘Lost by the airline,’ she finally told them. ‘They’ve sent them to the wrong destination.’

‘Oh! How awful!’ his mum replied, horrified. ‘Such a pain! But not to worry, I’ve got something that you can borrow for now. Let’s head upstairs and we’ll get you warm and dry again.’ His mum looked at Amber for a second and broke into a smile. ‘It’s been too long since I saw you. You know, you look just like your mum did at your age.’

Amber smiled. ‘Thanks. She sends her love.’

‘I do miss her,’ said his mum, still smiling. ‘Come on upstairs. Let’s have a proper catch-up. I want to hear all the gossip about your fabulous life in New York!’

Josh watched them head up the narrow staircase at the side of the shop to the large flat upstairs. It had been such a long time since he had seen his mum so animated, thought Josh. Had she smiled like that since she had finished her cancer treatment? Maybe when the results had come through that the chemotherapy had worked and that the breast cancer was gone. Although, as always, the spectre of the next check-up scan was just around the corner.

And before that? Well, they had all been deep in grief.

There had been so much to sort out after his father had passed away unexpectedly. Thankfully, his brother, Pete, had been around then to help out. But eager to make his fortune, Pete had moved to Singapore and remained there ever since, working the financial markets.

Pete had told them that he hadn’t wanted to leave them behind, but Josh and his mum had insisted that he gave his new life a go. Pete was only younger by two years, but he had always been the baby of the family and treated as such. At least he was living his dream, thought Josh. Pete certainly seemed happy whenever Josh spoke to him, which was pretty infrequent these days.

Life was always so busy that the two brothers hardly spoke. They had always been such a close-knit family in the early days. So much at one point that Pete had tried to persuade Josh to go out there and join him. Josh had even been a tiny bit tempted to go. But then their mum had been diagnosed with breast cancer.

Josh couldn’t leave when she was so ill. Somebody had to take responsibility and he was the elder brother. So he had put his successful career as a sustainability consultant in the European business sector on hold and had left London to stay in Cranbridge these past two years.

And he hadn’t been happy for a single day since then.

Not that it had been easy for his mum either, he knew. The treatment had certainly taken the strength from her. Not that she ever really complained.

He headed upstairs to the flat, whereupon he heard his mum and Amber chatting in the smallest bedroom.

He sighed as he went into his own bedroom to change out of his wet clothes. He shouldn’t have argued with his mum earlier. As always, he felt so guilty when they disagreed. But she just couldn’t get past the loss of his dad. Nothing could be changed in the shop. It all had to stay just like it was. Just like it had always been.

And yet, everything had changed. Pete had left. His mum had been ill. Only Josh remained the same, stuck in Cranbridge and wondering when his life was going to start again.

He had just flung open his wardrobe doors to pull out some drier clothes when he noticed the set of mechanic tools at the bottom. Would the tractor ever get working? He had tried so hard to fix the engine, but it felt like yet another failure.