Page 71 of The Village Shop for Lonely Hearts

‘Listen,’ Josh told her. ‘Why don’t you both take a coffee out into the fresh air? It might help wake you up.’

‘What about the shop?’ asked Amber, looking at him through bloodshot eyes.

‘Yes, you really look as if you’d be up for the job this morning,’ Josh told her.

She shuddered, shaking her head. ‘Maybe you’re right. Are you sure you’ll be OK on your own?’

‘I’m sure.’

She gave him a small smile and then very slowly rose from her chair and moved back around the counter, still clutching her coffee.

Amber made it as far as the tractor before reaching out to hang on to Belle. Then, clutching onto each other, they slowly made their way outside.

Once they had left, Tom turned around to face him, grinning. ‘I must say, it makes a change for someone else to be suffering with a hangover around here. You’re OK, I take it?’

Josh nodded. ‘I stuck to the beer.’

‘Wise move.’ Tom glanced at the front veranda where Amber and Belle were now sitting on one of the benches. ‘It could work, you know,’ he added softly. ‘The two of you working and living together.’

‘We do that anyway,’ Josh told him.

‘You know what I meant,’ said Tom in a pointed tone. ‘She’s lovely, single and she’s a great partner for you here in the shop.’

But Josh found he was shaking his head. ‘She’s just passing through. As soon as my mum gets home, Amber will be off to join her parents in New Zealand.’

Tom frowned. ‘Has she booked her plane ticket yet?’

Josh shook his head. ‘No. I don’t think so.’

‘You’d think if she really wanted to leave, she’d have booked it by now,’ said Tom. ‘You know, if she wasn’t enjoying her time here? She looked pretty happy last night, don’t you think?’

Josh had a brief memory of her asking him to kiss him in the darkness of the flat upstairs. It had taken every bit of his self-control to not take her in his arms. It was the fact that she’d asked for a kiss when she was drunk that was the problem. And he was too much of a gentleman to take advantage of her like that.

‘Think about it, yeah?’ said Tom, whilst Josh stayed silent. ‘Don’t become full of bitterness and regrets like me. There’s only room in this village for one broken heart at a time.’ He picked up his coffee and walked out of the shop, leaving Josh still standing behind the counter.

Was Tom right? Was Amber really delaying booking her ticket because she wanted to stay? Had drunken Amber revealed her innermost feelings by asking him to kiss her? Or was it just the home-made punch putting words in her mouth?

Josh hoped he would find out sooner or later. And that it hadn’t just been the punch. Amber had got under his skin. And he found he rather liked it.

29

‘Whose stupid idea was it to come outside?’ said Belle, closing her eyes to the bright daylight as they sank onto the bench together with a groan.

‘Not mine,’ muttered Amber, pulling Grandma Tilly’s blanket around her shoulders in deference to the cold air. ‘What on earth was in that punch?’

‘Not my fault,’ moaned Belle. ‘My relatives can take the full blame for that monstrosity. I don’t know what they put in there.’

Amber leant back against the seat and sighed. She didn’t want to admit it, but she did feel a little better for being outside. She listened to the birdsong and felt the gentle breeze across her face. The countryside was certainly growing on her.

‘Hi.’ They both looked up to see Molly hanging onto the handrail of the steps. ‘Help me.’

‘You look like I feel,’ Belle told her, smiling despite her pain.

Molly grimaced. ‘I feel so rubbish,’ she said, climbing up the steps to lean against the rail in front of them.

‘Tom said you called in sick,’ said Amber.

‘I had to come in,’ said Molly, rolling her eyes. ‘Kate said she needed some photocopying done and it was urgent.’