Page 60 of The Village Shop for Lonely Hearts

Molly shook her head. ‘Oh no! I’m not talented enough for that. I’m the receptionist, telephone operator, bit of everything really. Kate is the real journalist. She’s always out and about though. Then there’s a couple of part-time staff as well. I’m sure I’ll be in often enough for the coffee run, in any case.’

‘Talking of which, I’d better see where it is,’ said Amber. ‘See you soon.’

‘Absolutely. We’ll be desperate for lunch at some point.’ Molly headed out into the rain. ‘Ugh. Will it ever stop raining?’

Amber had to agree with Molly. The weather continued to be cold and miserable. The river was certainly looking higher than when she had first arrived. It was almost up to the bank and was flowing faster than she had ever seen it.

Amber headed back indoors, where Josh was just coming out of the back room.

‘What’s going on out there?’ he asked.

‘The local newspaper are moving in next door,’ she told him. ‘They’ve just turned up in Del’s coach.’

Josh nodded thoughtfully. ‘I did hear a rumour in the pub that they were moving in soon. Well, hopefully that means a few more customers, eh?’

She hesitated. ‘Talking of which, they were asking about a coffee machine.’

He laughed. ‘Yeah, we’d all like one of those.’

‘So I sort of lied and said we had one.’ Seeing his face drop, she quickly added, ‘But I was thinking that it might not be a bad idea. Everyone likes a takeaway coffee these days.’

He raised his eyebrows. ‘Seriously?’

‘I thought that perhaps if we could diversify a bit.’

‘We’ve got a tractor in the shop. How much different do you want it to be?’ But his smile softened his words and he blew out a sigh as he thought hard. ‘I’m supposed to be buying some more stock.’

‘We’ve got all the stock we need,’ she told him. ‘We can barely move for it. But perhaps getting them in through the door with the lure of a coffee might get them to start browsing our many varied goods that are already here. And there’s a lovely big gap on the table behind the counter where it could go.’

He nodded thoughtfully. ‘I’ll think about it,’ he told her.

‘OK, but if they come in and ask for a coffee later today…?’ she asked.

‘Tell them it’s being serviced and to come back tomorrow,’ he told her, rolling his eyes. ‘I said I’ll think about it, OK?’

‘Well, maybe not for too long,’ she urged him. ‘Otherwise they might buy one for themselves.’

‘I doubt it,’ he said. ‘From what I’ve heard, the newspaper is in as much trouble as our shop is.’

As she went back towards the till, Amber smiled to herself. Josh had said ‘our’, she realised. Perhaps he was talking about his mum and himself, she reminded herself. But it certainly felt nice to be part of a team for once. She hadn’t had that in her jobs before. She had always felt isolated. But then she had always been stuck in the back or front window. Here she was talking to customers and liaising with people. She had thought that she would hate it. But she was finding she actually quite liked it.

‘By the way, what’s happening with this?’

She spun round to find Josh standing next to the tractor, which was still covered with a heavy cloth.

‘It’s a surprise,’ she told him. She continued to look at him with hope in her eyes.

He sighed at her silent question. ‘Fine,’ he said eventually. ‘Do what you want. At least I don’t have to look at it.’

Amber gave a small whoop of joy. She had been desperate to make a display of the tractor and finally he was allowing her to do so. And she knew exactly what colour it was going to be painted in.

‘Red!’ exclaimed Josh later that day when she opened up the can of paint and showed it to him. ‘I didn’t realise you were serious when you coloured it bright red on your bit of paper.’

‘Isn’t it wonderful? Like a real postbox red,’ said Amber, beaming.

But Josh was looking even more alarmed than before. ‘I thought the idea would be to try and camouflage it, not highlight it.’

‘Why would you want to hide it?’ she asked. ‘It’s a display.’