The Village Shop for Lonely Hearts

by Alison Sherlock

  ‘What do you normally make?’ asked Amber.

  ‘Blankets for cots, little hats and scarves.’ Tilly shrugged. ‘Anything really.’

  As Tilly retreated into a bit of a gloom, Amber thought quickly as to how she could keep her busy.

  ‘Tell you what,’ she said. ‘Maybe you could make me and Mum a blanket each. It would be lovely to have something home-made for a change.’

  Tilly’s face brightened up. ‘You’d want something like that? A bit old-fashioned, don’t you think?’

  Amber shook her head. ‘Traditional,’ she told her. ‘That’s the difference. And I’d know that you’d made it. Think how chuffed Mum would be when I show it to her when I arrive. It could even be a Christmas gift.’

  Grandma Tilly’s face faltered for a moment. ‘Well, hopefully we can keep you for a bit longer before then.’

  However, by the time Amber left, Tilly looked far more cheerful and was talking colours and patterns for the blankets. As Amber walked back down Riverside Lane, she at least felt as if she had helped in some small way to cheer Tilly up. She was hoping it would be as easy with Josh, but she very much doubted it, given the scale of the shop’s problems.

  15

  After returning from visiting Grandma Tilly’s bungalow, Amber grabbed a sweatshirt to put on.

  Although it was a brighter day, the sun had less warmth now and the nights were beginning to grow colder. In fact, she had had to find an extra blanket on the bed the previous night.

  She peered out of the shop window, where there was a cold mist rising from the river in the low sunlight. Autumn had definitely arrived. Although not, unfortunately, many more customers.

  Despite the shop windows looking vastly improved, there hadn’t been a rush of people actually come in. She had spotted a couple of people stopping and staring at the new window display but they appeared hesitant to make the first move and come over the threshold.

  Was it any wonder? she thought, shivering in the cool air of the shop.

  ‘Isn’t there ever any heating in here?’ she asked, stamping her Uggs on the wooden floor to get some warmth in them.

  Josh looked up from the box that he had been opening. ‘All the old radiators are hidden behind all of this,’ he told her, waving his arm around at all the stock piled high. ‘I guess I’m sort of immune to it by now. I think Grandma wears thermal underwear, if you wanted to go down that route.’

  His grin was positively flirtatious and she found herself blushing furiously in response.

  ‘I think we’ll leave my underwear out of it,’ she muttered. ‘How come you’ve never thought to sort out the heating in here before now?’

  Josh carried on smiling which unnerved her slightly. Grumpy Josh she could deal with. She found smiling Josh was a little unsettling.

  ‘To be honest, I’ve always thought it was such a health and safety nightmare in here that the whole lot would go up in flames if I tried to switch the radiators back on,’ he told her. ‘But I had a new boiler installed upstairs, so at least the flat stays warm.’

  Amber looked around at all the cardboard everywhere. ‘So, where do we start?’

  Josh blew out a sigh. ‘I have no idea, to be honest. I’ve dreamt of this day for so long, but now that we’re here I can’t think straight.’

  His easy demeanour had dropped suddenly.

  Amber looked around, trying to see a clear way through the muddle. ‘Look, how about we just start in the middle,’ she finally said. ‘We’ll just take it one pile of stuff at a time.’

  She was surprised that Josh was a bit nervous about tackling the shop, but it wasn’t hard to see why. The sheer amount of stuff in the shop was incredible and overwhelming.

  She looked out at the teetering pile of baked bean tins that were piled up on top of a cardboard box. ‘So, we’ve got tinned goods,’ she said.

  ‘Better check the dates,’ said Josh, with a grimace. ‘I’m not sure how long they’ve been here.’

  Thankfully the beans were in date, as were the tinned tomatoes and jars of coffee that they found in the next few boxes.

  ‘So how about we get all the food together?’ she suggested.

  Josh nodded. ‘Sounds like a plan.’

  Amber placed them all on the counter for the time being, leaving a space so they could still reach the till.

  She suddenly remembered what Grandma Tilly had said about Todd playing music all of the time and looked around at the shop, empty and silent apart from Josh. ‘Why don’t we put some music on whilst we work?’ she asked.

  Josh straightened up from the pile of stationery he had been sorting out. ‘Music?’ he said, before clearing his throat.

  ‘Grandma Tilly said there always used to be music playing somewhere in the shop and flat,’ said Amber.

  Josh looked downcast. ‘I don’t think Mum likes to hear it any more.’

  ‘But your mum’s not here at the moment,’ said Amber, keeping her voice gentle. ‘Anyway, it’s just an idea. I thought it might help pass the time a bit quicker.’

  Josh nodded thoughtfully but didn’t say anything, so Amber peered into the next crate.

  ‘Paint?’ she said. ‘What do you want me to do with that?’

  ‘Paint?’ Josh came over to have a look. ‘White emulsion,’ he said, rolling his eyes. ‘God knows where he got this from. Hardware stuff pile, I think.’

  ‘So your dad was the main buyer?’ she asked, carrying some stock cubes over to join the rest of the food pile.

  ‘Yeah,’ said Josh, blowing out a sigh. ‘He loved the randomness of stuff. His brain was always a bit helter-skelter, you know, going here there and everywhere. It certainly made the school holidays fun.’

  ‘In what way?’

  Josh smiled in memory. ‘He would announce we were going away and we’d have ten minutes to pack up the car. There was a big tent that we used to use and pitch up whenever we found somewhere decent to camp.’

  ‘Who ran the shop whilst you were away?’ asked Amber.

  ‘Grandma Tilly,’ he said. ‘She never used to mind. Said it kept her busy after she’d been widowed.’

  He frowned suddenly.

  ‘What is it?’ said Amber.

  ‘Do you think that’s what Mum’s been doing these past two years? With the shop, I mean?’ He looked at her.

  Amber nodded. ‘I think so. When times are difficult, it’s sink or swim for most people. Your mum chose to deal with her grief and illness by keeping busy in the shop. It was her safety net.’

  ‘What’s yours?’

  The question startled her. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘I mean, Mum’s is the shop. I try and get the tractor going,’ he told her, with a grimace. ‘Although I’ve pretty much failed with that as the engine doesn’t seem to run for very long at all. What do you do in stressful times?’

  Amber hesitated before speaking. After all, it wasn’t a huge deal. ‘I draw. Ideas for shop windows, that kind of thing.’

  ‘That’s right,’ said Josh. ‘You were always drawing, even when we were young.’

  ‘That’s my safety net,’ she told him.

  He looked down at the pile of stuff in his hands. ‘I’ve got screwdrivers and screws so that’s for the hardware pile.’

  Amber was grateful to concentrate back on tidying the shop. Being the centre of anyone’s attention was never her idea of calm, especially with Josh, she found.

  The randomness of the goods that they found staggered even Amber. There were biscuits, some out of date. Balls of wool. Books. Wrapping paper. Light bulbs. Sweets.

  ‘Why do we need five boxes of plain paper bags?’ said Josh, after a while. He blew out a sigh. ‘Well, at least they can be recycled, I suppose.’ He gave a snort of derision. ‘My God, if my former clients saw this place, they’d never employ me again. This place is the least sustainable place I’ve ever come across and that’s saying something, believe me.’

  Amber tipped out some out-of-date biscuits into a compost b
ag so that they could recycle the box and plastic they were wrapped in. ‘Would you ever go back to it? Your consultancy work, I mean.’

  Josh shrugged his shoulders. ‘I’ve been thinking about it, you know, if or when the business fails.’

  His eyes dropped and Amber could feel how sad that made him.

  ‘Perhaps it won’t come to that,’ she finally said.

  He gave her a sad smile. ‘Perhaps.’

  By late afternoon, they had begun to clear about a quarter of the clutter in the middle of the shop. There was now a large pile of food by the till. Another pile in the corner by the window which was hardware. A third pile was paper goods and stationery. And the last pile was stuff that they had no idea what to call, made up of wool, wellington boots, umbrellas, rolls of material and even sunglasses.

  ‘At least we can recycle all these empty boxes,’ said Josh, carrying out yet another pile of flattened cardboard onto the veranda. ‘I hate the thought of all of this going to landfill.’

  But as they began to clear, it soon became obvious that some of the stock couldn’t be sold. There were packets and tins of food that were almost out of date.

  ‘I’m sure Grandma Tilly said something about a tombola at church,’ he said. ‘I must remember to ask her so we can donate them.’

  So they boxed up those items and put them to one side upstairs so that they wouldn’t get muddled up with all the other food.

  With the shelves in the middle of the shop now empty, they each took an end of one of the shelving units and shuffled towards the front door. Josh pinned open both doors so that there was just enough room to carry it out onto the veranda and then around to the lane that ran alongside the shop.

  As they put it down on the ground with relief, Josh said, ‘I’ll put it back once we’ve cleaned it and maybe given it a coat of paint.’

  But when they went back into the shop, he appeared to change his mind.

  ‘Maybe we shouldn’t replace the centre shelves when we’ve cleaned up.’

  ‘I agree,’ said Amber. ‘It feels so much bigger now that we can see the middle of the room.’

  It was still far too cluttered, she thought. For a moment she remembered how it had looked in Grandma Tilly’s photographs in 1900. It had seemed so warm and welcoming, full of character and life. But that was in a different time. Things had to change, she supposed.

  They decided to carry on clearing the area in the middle of the shop, leaving the shelves up against the two opposing walls for the next day. As it was Sunday, the shop shut at four o’clock in the afternoon so they were able to carry on uninterrupted. Although, in truth, they hadn’t seen a single customer since before they started cleaning.

  It was dusty and grimy work, but Amber was finding it hugely satisfying to begin to organise the clutter.

  As she removed yet another tall pile of boxes, she realised with pleasure that there was an attractive wood-burning stove and fireplace on one wall that had been completely hidden from view.

  ‘Oh, it’s so pretty,’ she said.

  The bricks in the fireplace had been left in their original bare state, with a thick oak beam running across as a mantelpiece. Underneath the black stove was a large slab of grey slate for the hearth.

  Josh stared and blew out a sigh. ‘I’d forgotten it was here, to be honest,’ he told her.

  ‘It would certainly help with the temperature in here,’ she said. ‘And it’s a great feature.’

  ‘You think?’ asked Josh, looking surprised.

  ‘Maybe if it’s not so cold, people might linger in the shop a bit longer and spend a bit more money,’ she told him.

  Josh laughed. ‘Amber Green! You’re secretly a hard-nosed businesswoman!’

  She smiled. ‘Not really. I’d just like to bring back the feeling in my fingers and toes on a daily basis.’

  They carried on clearing a few more boxes until finally, as it grew dark outside, they decided to stop.

  ‘Thank you,’ Josh said, turning to face her. ‘I don’t think I’d have had the courage to even start sorting out this place if you hadn’t been here.’

  ‘You’re welcome,’ she told him, blushing.

  ‘Maybe Mum’s right,’ he said.

  She looked up at him for clarification and found his blue eyes burning into hers.

  ‘Perhaps things have changed for the better since you’ve arrived,’ he added.

  ‘I’m not so sure about that,’ she told him, brushing off the faint praise. ‘Well, what do you think about baked beans on toast for dinner?’

  ‘Only if they’re in date,’ he said, still watching her.

  She quickly walked away and up the stairs. Sometimes the way he looked at her made her catch her breath. But he probably looked at everyone like that. He was quite an intense person.

  And she was almost sure that her quickening pulse was nothing to do with the fact that he was becoming more good-looking in her eyes with each passing day.

  16

  Later that week, Amber had just finished clearing yet another pile of goods in the shop when Josh handed over his mobile for her to take a call.

  ‘I hope you’re both not working too hard,’ said Cathy, as soon as Amber had picked up the phone.

  ‘We’re fine,’ said Amber. ‘Don’t worry.’

  Josh rolled his eyes at her, having already endured a lengthy phone call of concern.

  ‘How’s Singapore?’ asked Amber, eager to change the subject.

  ‘Oh, it’s amazing!’ said Cathy. Amber could feel her smiling down the phone line. ‘Pete’s taking me to Raffles Hotel for tea at the weekend when he finishes work.’

  Amber had already got the impression that both the brothers were equally hardworking.

  ‘I heard from Mum last night,’ Amber told her. ‘She’s so excited.’

  ‘Me too,’ said Cathy. ‘I’ve got another ten days here and then I’m heading on to New Zealand. I’m not sure how long I’ll be staying there.’

  Amber nodded thoughtfully to herself. As she had suspected, Cathy’s holiday was stretching out longer than originally planned. But she found she didn’t mind. She was enjoying helping Josh reorganise the shop.

  After they had finished chatting, she handed the phone back to Josh.

  ‘She sounds as if she’s having a nice time with your brother,’ said Amber.

  Josh glanced around the messy shop. ‘Lucky her,’ he said. ‘We’ll both need a holiday after all of this.’

  Amber looked around. They appeared to have made more mess than when they had started, or so it felt.

  ‘Maybe I’m not very good at this,’ she said, her fears and doubts bubbling to the surface as usual.

  Josh looked at her. ‘Yes, you are. Don’t lie.’

  ‘It’s not a lie,’ she told him. ‘It’s just the truth.’

  He frowned. ‘Look, if you were so rubbish at your work, they wouldn’t have given you all those amazing jobs.’

  ‘Which I then lost.’

  ‘That’s redundancies and a downturn in the market,’ he told her, coming to stand in front of her. ‘That’s not your fault.’

  She hung her head. ‘No. I guess not.’

  Was he right? Perhaps. Or perhaps not.

  She was startled when he suddenly touched her chin and lifted her face up to his. ‘You have a smudge on your cheek,’ he said.

  Amber found she was holding her breath as he brushed her cheek with his thumb.

  ‘Occupational hazard these days,’ she managed to finally say as his blue eyes locked onto hers.

  He stared down at her for a second before he abruptly let go and Amber could finally breathe out once more.

  ‘I thought I’d head over to the pub to see the England match after dinner,’ he said, his voice casual. ‘Do you want to come with me?’

  Amber was surprised and pleased to be asked but was still trying to get over her reaction to his touching her cheek so she shook her head. ‘Thanks, but I’m pretty weary,’ she told him. ‘I t
hink I’ll have a shower and then put my feet up here, if that’s OK.’

  He shrugged his shoulders. ‘It’s your home too,’ he told her.

  Amber smiled to herself when he left an hour later. It did feel a little like home, although she wasn’t even sure where that was these days. When was the last time she had felt at home anywhere? Certainly not in New York. And not even in London before that.

  Probably growing up, but even then their houses had been many. Moving around the country chasing her parents’ next dream meant that they had never settled anywhere. But even a temporary home had turned into a sanctuary from the bullying girls who had been her classmates at secondary school.

  One girl had been particularly vicious. Catherine Hooper had been relentless in her sniping and bullying, always laughing at Amber’s awkwardness. The mocking laughter still haunted her to that day.

  Amber shook her head as if to erase the painful memories of the past as she finished the washing-up and glanced in the bathroom. She had rushed through her daily showers since arriving in Cranbridge, aware that two other people might be needing the bathroom each time. Her flat share in New York hadn’t been any more relaxed when everyone needed to get into the bathroom. But now she was alone. And there was an actual bath in there! Cathy had even suggested that she treat herself to a bubble bath and had shown her where everything was.

  Josh wouldn’t be back in the flat for hours, she reminded herself. So she decided to go for it.

  Sinking into the hot bubbles that had almost filled the tub ten minutes later, Amber gave out a cry of satisfaction. Wow, she thought, smiling in the steamy sweet-scented air. This was amazing.

  Lying back in the bath, her mind drifted to, of all places, the shop. The windows had been easy, but the layout and look of the shop was something else.

  She tried to think about other things, but her imagination was now running riot, filling her head with colour choices and looks for the shop. She dismissed too flowery a look. It didn’t seem to fit with the overall feel of the place.

  So what was Cranbridge Stores? It was a country village shop which had been in the family since the 1900s. It just needed something to reverse its declining fortunes.