Page 87 of The Village Shop for Lonely Hearts

Josh slung on his jacket and followed Del out of the shop and down the stairs.

Amber paced back and forth, half-heartedly buttering some more bread and refilling the coffee machine whilst she waited for some news.

Finally, after half an hour of anxious waiting, Del rushed up the steps and flung open the front door.

‘We found him,’ he said, panting at having run all the way. ‘He was trapped upstairs. Place is flooded downstairs. Josh is getting the boat and we’ll get him out of there.’

‘He’s not hurt, is he?’ asked Amber.

‘Just a bit shaken. Josh wanted you to know,’ carried on Del. ‘I’d best get back.’

Amber had a little cry of relief after he’d gone, then pulled herself together as the next person came into the shop.

‘Hi,’ said a woman, coming up to the counter and holding a bag. ‘I’m Lesley and I live locally. Look, I’ve been doing all this baking for a fair that’s got cancelled. Anyway, that doesn’t matter. I heard that everyone’s been coming in here, so I thought you could give them away to some of the families.’

‘How kind,’ said Amber, looking inside the bag. There were many decorated cupcakes and fruit cakes, all beautifully packaged. ‘These look amazing.’

‘It’s the least I can do.’

As the woman left, Grandma Tilly came back downstairs. ‘How’s it all going?’

‘Look at this,’ said Amber, laying out the cakes and telling Grandma Tilly about the stranger’s kindness.

‘Everyone just wants to help,’ said Grandma Tilly.

Amber looked up as Josh came into the shop.

‘How is Stanley?’ she asked.

Josh sank down onto the crate by the fire. ‘Cold. A little bit frightened, I think. He got a bit confused in the dark and couldn’t find his phone to call anyone. He’s going to stay in the pub until we get his place sorted.’

But as Josh went to stand up, he almost immediately sat back down again, looking pale.

‘You look exhausted,’ Amber told him.

‘Here, have something to eat,’ said Grandma Tilly. ‘I’ll make you a cup of tea.’

He looked down at the sandwich she had just handed him in a sort of daze.

‘Eat,’ she told him gently. ‘You’ll feel better for it.’

The sandwich and the tea appeared to bring him back to life a bit.

‘Thanks,’ he said, once he’d drunk the last drop of tea out of the mug. ‘I needed that.’

‘I’m sure you did,’ she said. ‘You must be exhausted.’

In the warm light of the fire, Amber could see he was unshaven and weary.

Josh looked around the shop. ‘We seem to have been cleared out of quite a bit of stock.’

Amber nodded. ‘They all needed to buy cleaning stuff. And a lot of people were promising to come back in, as well.’

He nodded thoughtfully. ‘Well, maybe that will be good. If they come back.’ He stood up and stretched whilst he yawned. ‘I’d better grab some plywood. Somebody needs their back door boarding up.’

Grandma Tilly took his mug into the storeroom to rinse it out.

As Josh went to head into the back room, he stopped and turned around. ‘You did really well today. Amazing, in fact. The coffee and sandwiches was a great idea. It really helped. You’re a good person.’