Page 79 of The Village Shop for Lonely Hearts

His dad had often sat on the veranda and played his guitar in the afternoons, especially on a hot summer’s day. Josh had missed that so much that he ached at the thought of it. How different the whole shop was to when his dad had been there, buying and hoarding who knows what, but it didn’t matter. His mother smiled and laughed. His dad sang and hummed wherever he went. There had always been music and laughter in the shop. Now the music had returned and he felt choked with the memories.

‘Are you OK?’ Amber had come to sit next to him and he hadn’t even realised until she spoke.

‘The music,’ he managed to mumble.

Thankfully, she understood. ‘Your dad,’ she said softly, placing a hand on his arm.

He nodded.

‘He was so full of life,’ said Amber. ‘That much I remember. He used to sneak me a biscuit when I was hiding in a corner. Try and tempt me out of my shell.’

Josh turned to look at her. ‘Why are you so shy?’ he asked.

She shrugged her shoulders. ‘I don’t know. We moved around a lot when I was younger because of my dad’s job. It’s hard to keep making friends in new places.’ She hesitated. ‘Girls can be pretty mean when you’re growing up,’ she told him, staring into the distance in a dream. ‘If you’re not trendy enough and all that, well, you get picked on.’

He realised now just how badly she had been bullied.

‘Well, you showed them,’ he told her. ‘London and New York designing amazing windows. You’ve had the glamorous life I bet they would love.’

‘It was never like that,’ said Amber, letting go of his arm to clasp her hands together as she stared down at them. ‘I walked for hours on my own in my free time. I went to all these amazing museums and theatres all alone. I don't know if you have seen the movieLost in Translation, but I felt like one of the characters, just terribly alone in a big city.’

The thought of someone as gentle and kind as Amber being all alone made him feel terribly sad and protective of her.

‘You could have maybe joined in with a few things,’ said Josh gently.

But Amber shook her head. ‘You know me. I can’t do that. I’m not brave enough.’

‘You’ve joined in here,’ he reminded her, giving her shoulder a nudge with his own.

She smiled up at him. ‘I had no choice here. I’m stuck in the shop with the customers!’

‘Perhaps it’s been good for you,’ he told her.

She nodded thoughtfully. ‘Perhaps it has.’ She stood up suddenly. ‘I think I’ll put an extra sweatshirt on. It’s getting cold. And I’ll check on Grandma Tilly as well.’

‘I can stay down here by myself if you want to rest,’ he told her.

Amber shook her head. ‘I won’t sleep with this storm going on. Besides, it’s not fair to leave you by yourself.’

As she headed upstairs, Josh received a call from his mum.

‘Is everything OK?’ she asked, sounding concerned. ‘Apparently you’ve got a big storm coming your way.’

‘We’re fine,’ Josh told her, before reassuring her that Grandma Tilly was safe upstairs in the flat and that the river wasn’t that bad yet.

He hung up, promising to keep her updated.

The wind had begun to whistle and howl outside. With no more customers, Josh went into the back room, where he managed to pull out the inflatable dingy that they had used on the river when they were younger. Once unpacked, he inflated it with a bicycle pump. Hopefully it wouldn’t need to be used, he told himself.

They kept busy through the evening. Amber took down the Halloween decorations and replaced them with the autumnal ones that she had first used. Josh made an inventory of the stock that they had laid out in the shop.

Sometime around eleven o’clock in the evening, Josh made them both a cup of tea.

Amber had pushed the two benches together so that they could move around them. So she sat down on one of them, putting her feet up as Josh did the same on the other bench, facing her.

Amber hugged the hot cup of tea to her chest.

‘This is awful,’ she said, as the wind continued to blow and gust outside.