Page 89 of The Village Shop for Lonely Hearts

‘Of course you are,’ she said. ‘You’re a good person, Josh. Listen, I’ve been thinking and worrying about you all day. I’d have hated for anything to happen to you, knowing how unhappy you are.’

‘Mum,’ he began, but she wasn’t listening.

‘Look,’ she carried on, talking over him. ‘It was my parents’ shop and then it was ours. But it was never your dream. That was elsewhere.’ He heard her take a deep breath. ‘Perhaps it’s time to let it go. To leave the shop behind, I mean. I promise I won’t be upset. I just want you to be happy.’

‘OK, but now you need to listen to me,’ said Josh. ‘I know I’ve been unhappy and have wanted to leave. But something’s changed. I think I could do some good here. Make a life for myself here in Cranbridge.’

As he said the words out loud for the first time, he knew in his heart how much he wanted to stay. He wanted to belong to a community that helped each other out during the worst of times. If any good could have come out of the village being flooded, it was that he liked feeling part of a team. That they were all in this together.

He heard his mum sob down the line. ‘I don’t want to force you to do something you don’t want to do.’

‘The thing is, Mum,’ he told her, ‘I really think that I want to stay. I love the shop. It’s my home, and so’s the village. I’ve got friends here.’

There was a pause whilst his mum smothered what he assumed were tears. ‘If you’re sure,’ she finally said, in a shaky voice.

‘I am.’

‘You can’t do it by yourself though,’ she said softly. ‘You’re going to need help.’

He nodded and smiled as he turned to look up at Cranbridge Stores in front of him. ‘And I know just the person to ask,’ he told her, as he watched Amber through the window.

36

After talking to his mum, Josh felt ready to face the afternoon.

In fact, despite barely having more than a couple of hours’ sleep the previous night, he was raring to go. The situation was awful but new and different customers had come into the shop. It had been transformed and, in spite of his reservations about Amber’s design, especially the tractor, everyone had been very positive.

He just needed them to keep coming in after life had hopefully resorted back to normal for everyone. But how?

He and Amber stood in the middle of the shop, which was half empty, such had been the high level of customers.

‘The first thing we need to do is restock,’ he said.

Amber nodded. ‘I’m sure more people will need to come in again for more cleaning stuff. Everywhere is such a mess.’

‘Good. I mean, not good, obviously,’ he said quickly. ‘I don’t want to capitalise on anyone’s misfortune, but if they can buy anything they need from us then perhaps they’ll return in the future.’

‘Careful,’ she told him. ‘You’re beginning to sound as if you care about the shop after all.’

He looked at her and wondered how she knew him so well after such a short time. He smiled to himself.

‘What’s so funny?’ she asked.

‘Me,’ he told her. ‘All this time I’ve been telling myself that I can’t wait to get out of here. That we all just need to move on. But last night, with the water getting so close, I felt, I don’t know, terror at losing it all.’

‘But that’s good,’ said Amber. ‘That means you do actually care.’

‘I guess so. I’m just a bit surprised, that’s all.’

‘I’m not,’ she said.

His eyebrows shot up as he looked at her.

‘This shop is special. I mean, it’s actually pretty important to quite a few people, not just your family. People like Stanley. I think we’re possibly the only people he talks to some days. And that’s the same for a couple of the others as well. I think I’ve realised that people aren’t just lonely in big cities. They can be lonely in villages like Cranbridge as well.’

Josh nodded. ‘So we’d better get restocked and fast.’

‘I’ve made some notes as to what we need,’ she said, turning around to study the list she had placed on the counter.