Page 84 of The Village Shop for Lonely Hearts

Then he pulled her back in close, this time with her head on his chest. She could feel the rasp of his unshaven chin on her hair. Under her hand, she could feel the beat of his heart as his breathing steadied.

It was just for a few hours, she told herself. He was tired and so was she. It had been an upsetting time and this was solace, that was all.

So she curled up her feet on the bench and finally fell asleep in his arms.

34

Amber woke up later that morning to find that Josh had stretched out at some point during the few hours’ sleep that they had managed on the bench and was now almost horizontal as he lay down beside her.

As she tried to stretch her back which was sore from the hard wooden bench beneath them, he too began to wake up.

He slowly lifted his head up, yawning. ‘Good morning,’ he said.

‘Hi,’ she replied, tempted to flatten down her hair which was messed up from the wind and the fitful night’s sleep. ‘What time is it?’

He drew out his mobile from his pocket. ‘Seven a.m.,’ he told her.

She watched as he looked at her and then his gaze went further to where she lay in his arms. He smiled gently at her.

‘People will begin to talk if they find us like this,’ he said softly.

‘Then we’d better get up,’ she told him, blushing.

But as soon as she stood up and out of his arms, she realised that there was nothing she wanted more than to be back in them once more.

The kiss they had shared had been in the aftermath of a harrowing night when the emotions had overcome them. But now it was morning and everything was different.

Josh too stood up and stretched before he went over to the window.

‘How’s it looking out there?’ she asked, before going to join him.

‘Well, it stayed dry in here at any rate,’ said Josh, opening the front door.

Feeling nervous, they headed outside onto the veranda to survey the damage to the village in the morning light.

‘Wow,’ said Amber, staring around in horror. ‘It’s a mess.’

The muddy river water was still three quarters of the way across Riverside Lane but had thankfully not reached either the steps up to the veranda where they stood, nor the front doors of the shops down the lane.

There was a tide of mud, leaves and general debris strewn across the path, but that at least could be swept away relatively easily.

The bank on the other side of the river had not been as lucky, unfortunately. The lane beyond the river was lower and where the river had burst its banks it had spilled across people’s front gardens and was lapping against their front doors. Amber could see hardly any sandbags, meaning that everyone’s property was almost certainly flooded.

Josh was also looking dismayed at the flooding. ‘Think the pub might have just about survived.’

Amber looked across to where the water was splashing against the front steps of the pub. ‘Let’s hope so,’ she said. ‘Belle said the cellar was going to flood though.’

‘Yeah. I think it probably has.’

She looked back down the lane and saw people were beginning to come out of their houses to survey the damage. Everyone looked a bit shell-shocked from lack of sleep and worry.

‘People look shattered,’ she said, turning to Josh.

‘I know how they feel,’ he told her with a weary sigh.

‘Those people that were flooded have spent the night in the pub,’ she told him. ‘They had the spare rooms.’

He nodded. ‘That was a good idea. It’s going to take a while to get everyone’s homes cleaned up.’