Page 64 of The Village Shop for Lonely Hearts

‘You can borrow something of mine,’ Molly told her.

She was ever so young and sweet, thought Amber as she thanked her. But filled with so much more confidence than Amber could ever hope to have.

‘Thanks for the coffee,’ said Molly. ‘See you later.’

She waved goodbye and walked out of the shop with Belle, chatting excitedly as they left.

Amber heard a noise and looked up to see Josh watching her.

She raised her eyebrows in question to him.

‘Yeah, yeah,’ he drawled. ‘You were right about the coffee machine. You have a talent, by the way. For sales, I mean.’

‘I don’t know about that,’ she told him, blushing.

‘I do,’ said Josh. ‘You’ve already upped our takings today thanks to the coffees and a large box of biscuits as well.’

‘I’m not sure it’ll make that much of a difference,’ she told him.

‘Maybe not,’ he replied. ‘But it’s nice to have a tiny bit of positivity around here.’

She nodded, still wondering whether she could bail out at the last minute. ‘Will you go to the party? It’s fancy dress apparently,’ she told him.

‘I will if you will,’ he said.

Amber was surprised. ‘And you’re going to dress up?’

‘Absolutely,’ he told her. ‘I’m going as an impoverished shop owner.’

‘Humph,’ she said. ‘Molly was thinking that we could dress up properly.’

‘Yeah, you enjoy that. I’ll be at the bar with my pint,’ he said, nodding at the pumpkins. ‘You’d better get carving then.’

‘Aren’t you going to help?’ she asked.

‘You’re the artistic one,’ he told her.

Amber looked around at the whole shop. ‘I guess we should decorate the whole place for Halloween as it’s the 31st on Saturday,’ she said, tapping her chin as she thought of what could be done.

‘That’s your department,’ he told her.

Amber decided to put the problem of what to wear to the fancy dress party to one side whilst she decorated the shop. Carving the pumpkins was quite easy, thanks to a YouTube tutorial. She placed three pumpkins on both sides of the door and on the side of the step, as well as some tiny squashes which she carved and placed in the window display.

‘I hope you’re going to pay for all that stock,’ said Josh.

‘You can take it from my marketing budget,’ she told him, to which he laughed.

‘Here are the blankets,’ said Grandma Tilly later that day, carrying in two beautiful orange and red-coloured knitted throws.

She had only just finished the Christmas ones for Amber the previous week so she must have started on the new blankets straight away.

‘They’re lovely,’ Amber gushed, reaching out to stroke one of the little tassels that Grandma Tilly had added. ‘Thank you so much.’

‘It’s nice to feel useful,’ Tilly told her. ‘If only for a short while.’

‘Why don’t you stay for a coffee?’ asked Amber. ‘Or I can do you a hot chocolate?’

Grandma Tilly looked pleased. ‘A hot chocolate would be lovely,’ she replied, heading over to have a look at the coffee machine.