Page 51 of The Village Shop for Lonely Hearts

Josh sighed. ‘All that? We’ve only got until the end of the year, otherwise we’re going to lose the whole place anyway.’

‘Then we’d better work quickly, don’t you think?’ Amber broke into a smile which lit up her whole face. ‘I really do think we can make it pretty.’

Josh ran a hand through his hair. ‘I’m no good at the prettying bit.’

She laughed. ‘Yeah, I think you should probably leave that stuff to me. But you know some DIY, don’t you?’

‘I’ve done some building work as well to make ends meet over the years,’ he told her. ‘So I can paint and fix the place up.’

‘Good,’ said Amber. ‘Let’s get started.’

She looked as if she was going to bolt, so Josh reached out and held her arm. ‘Not so fast,’ he said. ‘The trouble is that you can make it pretty, but what are we going to sell?’

‘The stock we’ve got already,’ she replied.

‘Sellotape and rolls of material?’ he reminded her. ‘You saw all that stuff yesterday. It’s so random.’

‘Yes, but nobody could find anything or see what they wanted to buy because it was all such a jumble.’ Amber tapped her chin in thought. ‘It shouldn’t just be a convenience shop. It’s a lifestyle shop as well.’

He rolled his eyes. ‘Could you sound any more New York?’

She smiled once more and he was reminded how beautiful she was up close.

‘Shall we see what paint we’ve got out the back?’ she said. ‘We might as well use what’s available.’

Josh sighed. ‘Am I going to have any kind of say in any of this?’

‘No,’ she said. ‘And I can always ring your mum if you’re going to make trouble. She’ll be totally on my side.’

He shook his head. ‘I can’t believe you pulled the mum card to get your own way.’

She was still smiling as she walked away, her ponytail swinging behind her as she went.

Josh remained sitting down and looked at Amber’s design once more before staring up and around the shop. He just couldn’t see it ever looking any better. But what did they have to lose?

Deep down, he still didn’t feel as heartbroken as he should be over the possible closure of the shop. What was bothering him more was that he didn’t want to upset Amber.

21

Amber stared around the shop and then down at the different pots of paints that Josh had brought out, trying to see how it could best be decorated. She was still quite amazed that Josh had run with her idea of redecorating the place. She just hoped he hadn’t overestimated her limited abilities.

‘They’re all various shades of white,’ said Josh, raising an eyebrow at her.

Amber nodded. ‘White will do. Especially if we can paint some of the shelves as well.’

‘The aluminium ones?’ he asked.

Amber shook her head. ‘They’re a bit 1970s, don’t you think?’

‘They’re probably older than that.’

‘You’ve got all that wood in the back lane,’ said Amber, glancing at the back room. ‘Can’t we add to the existing wooden shelves? We can sand them down. They’ll look nice and rustic. Plus they’ll match the wooden beams.’

Josh glanced up. ‘I thought maybe we could paint them white as well.’

‘No!’ Amber was horrified. ‘They’re warm and give the place character.’

‘OK.’ Josh blew out a long sigh. ‘You’re the boss.’