The Little Village of Happiness: A gorgeous uplifting romantic comedy to escape with this summer

by Martin, Holly

  ‘I was remembering what you looked like naked,’ Willow blurted out.

  He stared at her and then burst out laughing. ‘I love your honesty, Willow McKay.’

  ‘I couldn’t help it, I headbutted your hard chest and your hand was on my shoulder and suddenly my mind was going to all the places it shouldn’t. And just to be clear, I know you’re not looking for a relationship right now and there’s no way I’m looking for one, but it doesn’t stop my filthy mind from wandering every now and again. But now you think I’m a pervert.’

  ‘Oh no, I wouldn’t think that.’

  ‘No?’

  ‘OK, maybe a little bit.’

  She laughed.

  ‘I really had better get on. I’ll be over here if you want to perv over me again.’

  She laughed again. ‘Stop it. There’ll be no more perving.’

  ‘Good to know.’

  He smiled and walked over to the shed to collect his tools and some paint. She made him feel warm inside.

  * * *

  Willow was feeling deliriously happy right now. Painting was such a simple thing but it did bring her so much happiness. And although it was such a tiny piece in the grand scheme of things, she really felt like she was doing something to help the village. She wanted to talk more to Andrew about the village, the open day and everything that needed doing, but she got the sense he just wanted to get on with his work today. She had stopped for lunch but Andrew didn’t. She had offered him one of her sausage rolls which he gladly took but he didn’t come and join her as she sat on the grass outside the latest house she had painted. He just carried on with his work, painting, hammering, fixing. He was diligent, that was for sure.

  She stood back to inspect the latest house she had finished. This one was called Dragonfly Cottage so she had painted some dragonflies amongst the flowers that were winding and curling their way around the door. She hadn’t done dragonflies before, but they were relatively easy.

  She looked round as a voice called out for Andrew. Dorothy was hurrying down the hill towards them.

  ‘Andrew!’ Dorothy called, waving her hands to attract his attention. ‘Andrew.’

  Willow glanced over at Andrew and saw his shoulders droop the tiniest bit as he climbed down the ladder to come and talk to Dorothy.

  ‘Andrew, all the lights have just gone out in my shop. I turned the light on in the kitchen to make a cup of tea and all the other lights went out. I didn’t want to bother you, but I can’t paint in the dark now, can I?’

  ‘No, of course not,’ Andrew said. ‘I’ll come and have a look for you. Did you happen to notice whether the other shops or houses still have lights?’

  ‘All the rest of the shops seem fine, think it’s just mine,’ Dorothy said.

  ‘Come on then,’ Andrew said.

  ‘Why don’t I go?’ Willow said, wiping her hands. ‘And you can stay here and carry on with your work.’

  Andrew looked at her dubiously.

  ‘It’s likely that the bulb has blown and it’s tripped all the other lights. I can easily reset the switch on the fuse board and replace the bulb for her and if it’s anything else then I can come and get you,’ Willow said.

  ‘OK, if you’re sure,’ Andrew said. ‘Thank you.’

  ‘No problem,’ Willow said and turned to Dorothy. ‘Let’s have a look and after you can make me a nice cup of tea and show me all your wonderful paintings I’ve seen in your window.’

  Dorothy blushed with pride as she took Willow’s arm.

  Willow looked over her shoulder to see Andrew watching them with a smile before he turned and went back to his work.

  ‘I hate to disturb him,’ Dorothy said as they walked back up the hill. ‘He works so hard, always rushing from one job to the next. Everyone in the village thinks he’s at their beck and call for every little thing. He never says no to anyone but he is stretching himself too thin. I try to do everything for myself but when the lights all went out, I didn’t know what else to do.’

  ‘It’s OK. I’m sure Andrew would want you to come and get him, rather than standing in the dark worrying. I’m sure I can help you.’

  ‘You’re a good girl, Willy.’

  Willow didn’t have the heart to correct her. She walked with Dorothy back into the main part of the village. There was so much that needed doing, but a lick of paint could fix a lot of the village’s problems. The shops especially could do with some bright colours on the signs above the doors. Maybe she could do them too. Or was she getting too carried away?

  ‘Here we are, dear,’ Dorothy said, gesturing to the painting shop as if Willow wouldn’t be able to find it on her own.

  Willow let herself inside and sure enough the place was in darkness apart from the light streaming in through the main window.

  Luckily the fuse box was by the front door so she didn’t have to hunt around for it. As she suspected, one of the switches was down and she flipped it back up again and all the lights came back on in the shop.

  ‘Oh you are clever,’ Dorothy said, clapping her hands together.

  ‘Now, which light were you turning on when the lights went out?’ Willow said, closing the fuse box door.

  ‘The kitchen one,’ Dorothy said, pointing to the little kitchenette out the back.

  Willow followed her to the back of the shop. ‘Do you have a spare bulb?’

  ‘Oh yes, I always keep some in the cupboard. I can change the bulb myself, I always do,’ Dorothy said, getting a wobbly-looking stool from behind the door.

  ‘Why don’t I do that for you this time,’ Willow said. ‘And you can make us both a cup of tea.’

  Dorothy set about making a pot of tea in the limited light from the shop and Willow quickly changed the bulb.

  ‘There we go,’ she said, climbing down from the stool and flicking the switch.

  ‘Oh thank you Willy,’ Dorothy said as light filled the kitchen.

  ‘No problem. Mind if I have a look around?’

  ‘You go ahead, dear.’

  Willow wandered out into the main shop area and started looking at all the paintings. There were some portraits of various members of the village but mostly they were of landscapes, hills, meadows, fields of flowers, beaches, the sparkling sea. They were all so pretty.

  ‘Your paintings are lovely,’ Willow said, as Dorothy came out with two pink china cups on matching saucers. ‘I bet people come from all over to buy them.’

  ‘Oh, not in here. I almost never get any customers in here,’ Dorothy said. ‘But I have a steady income from selling my paintings on Etsy.’

  Willow wanted to laugh that this sweet little elderly lady, who couldn’t even work out how to flip a switch in a fuse box, was a successful businesswoman on Etsy.

  ‘Oh I sell my candles on Etsy too, amongst other online shops. In fact all of my business is online, I’ve never had a bricks-and-mortar shop before so that’s a new step for me. Look at us, two young entrepreneurs of Happiness.’

  Dorothy giggled.

  Willow carried on moving around the shop and looking at all the paintings. Her eyes suddenly fell on a very familiar painting. It was the poster she had seen of Happiness, the little village, the thatched cottage on the cliff side, the sparkling blue of the sea, the little pink flowers around the sides. The only things missing were the inviting words, ‘Start a new life in the village of Happiness.’

  ‘This is the picture they used for the advert,’ Willow said.

  ‘I know. Kitty and Ken asked me if I would paint something for it, make Happiness look warm and inviting. I based that little cottage on your Sunrise Cottage,’ Dorothy said.

  Willow stared at the painting. She didn’t want to tell Dorothy that it was a complete misrepresentation of the village because, really, who in their right mind would uproot their whole life based purely on a painting? It was hard to believe this little painting had changed her life completely. She supposed only time would tell if that change was going to be for the better.

&nbs
p; She moved the painting out of its stack to get a better look at it, revealing a portrait of Andrew behind it.

  It was so realistic it was like looking at a photo. Dorothy had even managed to capture the little twinkle in his eye and the laughter lines around his eyes. He was laughing at something and the painting just captured his gentle, patient and mischievous personality perfectly.

  If there was one person in the village who could help her make Happiness the vision of loveliness she’d seen in the painting, then Andrew was definitely the man for the job.

  Seven

  Andrew was just getting a cake out of the oven when there was a knock on the door. He gave a little sigh. He loved living here and he loved the villagers but his time never seemed to be his own. There was always something wrong, something else that needed fixing, something else to be added to the long list of repairs and maintenance he needed to do. There simply weren’t enough hours in the day to do it all. Kitty and Ken were looking at hiring him an assistant and, honestly, it couldn’t come soon enough. It was just starting to get dark now as well, so unless it was a real emergency, the problem would have to wait until the morning.

  He plastered on a smile and answered the door. He was surprised to see Willow standing on his doorstep. Surely she hadn’t found fault in Sunrise Cottage just yet?

  ‘Hello. Have you come for another shower?’ Andrew said, quickly clamping his hand over his eyes.

  She laughed. She had this wonderful infectious giggle and he couldn’t help smiling at the sound of it. There were many beautiful sounds in the world and sometimes he liked to close his eyes and just listen to the birds or the waves crashing onto the beach. He liked to commit them to memory. Willow’s laugh was one of those he already wanted to play again in his head.

  He peered through his fingers at her and she laughed even more.

  ‘No peeking.’

  ‘Sorry,’ he put his hand back over his eyes again.

  ‘I’m not really here for a shower. Just thought I’d come by and say hi.’

  He lowered his hand in surprise. ‘Not many people come by here to say hi. They come to me with a list of problems.’

  ‘Well, I thought we could talk,’ Willow said.

  ‘That sounds ominous, you better come in,’ Andrew said, stepping back to let her inside. She squeezed past him into the hall, she smelt of sunshine and holidays and coconut.

  ‘Something smells amazing,’ Willow said as she walked through into the kitchen.

  He had to agree but then he turned his attention to what she was saying and realised she was talking about the cake.

  ‘Rhubarb cake, it was growing in an abundance up at the castle, thought I’d make the most of it. Would you like a slice?’

  ‘I’ve just had the biggest burger in the world, courtesy of the pub, so maybe a very small slice,’ Willow said, sitting down at the breakfast table.

  He smiled and cut off a big chunk of cake, placing it on the table in front of her. He cut himself a slice and sat down opposite her.

  ‘I thought you might be there actually – at the pub, I mean. Not that I was waiting for you. Well, I kind of was but just because I wanted to talk. Not because I wanted to see you naked again.’

  He laughed loudly. ‘I’ll try not to be offended that you don’t want to see me naked again.’

  ‘Oh no, don’t be offended. I don’t want to see you naked again purely because I really do want to see you naked again.’

  She made him smile so much. ‘Well, that’s perfectly clear.’

  Willow blushed and took a bite of cake, clearly as a distraction. ‘Mmm, this cake is fantastic.’

  He watched her for a while, tucking in. He’d never really considered himself to have a type. But his past girlfriends were all blondes so he supposed he must have. Willow was definitely not his type. She had this gorgeous brown wavy hair which seemed to shimmer with copper and bronze as she moved. He had never dated a girl with freckles before but Willow had them all over her nose and cheeks and, with her large green eyes, she was cute. She had this energy about her that made her shine. He straightened in his chair. But definitely not his type. In fact he wasn’t looking for a relationship at all right now, so no woman was his type. And with everything else going on in the village, he didn’t have time to start anything.

  ‘What did you want to talk about?’ Andrew asked.

  ‘I don’t know. This village, it’s just…’

  ‘Depressing, I know. I’m sure Kitty and Ken would understand if you’ve changed your mind.’

  ‘I’m not leaving,’ Willow said, defensively.

  ‘Oh.’

  ‘I just think it needs… something.’

  ‘OK,’ he said, slowly. He wasn’t sure where she was going with this. By the look on her face he didn’t think she knew either.

  ‘How many people have taken Kitty and Ken up on their offer of free accommodation for a year?’ Willow asked.

  ‘Including me, you and Tabitha and Connor at the pub, seven.’

  ‘You’re new too?’ Willow said in surprise. ‘I’ve been hearing from all the locals how wonderful you are. From the sound of it, you’ve been here for ages.’

  ‘Three months. I was the first. Kitty and Ken hired me as estate manager, maintenance man, Man Friday, odd-job man and the house came as part of the job. The whole free incentive was actually my idea. You can see how well it’s working out,’ he said, dryly.

  ‘Are you getting lots of interest?’ Willow asked, popping another chunk of cake in her mouth.

  ‘Oh yes, but once they visit, they don’t come back.’

  ‘Those four houses near the entrance to the castle don’t help.’

  ‘No they don’t,’ Andrew admitted.

  ‘You need to spruce them up.’

  ‘They’re not safe to live in – there’s an old passage that led from the castle out to the beach and it’s collapsed. Those houses are built right on top of it. The ground isn’t stable, two of the houses are actually sinking into it. We’ve had the rest of the village checked out though, you’re perfectly safe where you live, it’s just up there that’s a bit dodgy.’

  ‘Well you need to either knock those houses down or tart them up, make them at least look pretty, even if they aren’t available to rent. Or we could cover them up, put something in front of them so they can’t be seen when we have visitors to the village.’

  He thought of his friend, Morgan, an idea bubbling in his mind. But he pushed it away. There was too much else to do rather than worry about houses that no one was ever going to live in.

  ‘You make it sound so easy,’ Andrew said.

  ‘No, I appreciate it isn’t. Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply you’re not doing your job properly. I’m sure you have tons to do.’

  ‘I have, there’s so much that needs doing ready for the open day, so many houses need repainting or renovating.’

  ‘You can’t do all that alone.’

  ‘They are going to get me an assistant.’

  ‘You need a team. A big one.’

  He sighed, because he had to agree with her. He was reluctant to ask that of Kitty and Ken because they were so generous with their money and he didn’t want to take advantage of them. The free home incentive had been his idea and since then he’d felt like he was constantly asking them for money for one thing or another. But they had no idea how much everything was going to cost, how long it was all going to take. It was a massive project to overhaul the village and they had no idea how big it really was. He had been trying to do things on the cheap for them, but maybe that was worse than not doing anything. He needed to have a serious conversation with them and he had been putting it off for too long.

  ‘They don’t have any money, do they?’ Willow said, misunderstanding his reluctance.

  ‘They do, I just don’t think they appreciate how much this is going to cost them and I feel bad because all of this was my idea.’

  ‘But they must have wanted to do it,’ Willow said.r />
  ‘They’ve always talked about doing the right thing for the village, of making it like it used to be. I think they’d like to bring that kind of community spirit back to Happiness, but I’m not sure we’ll ever get that back.’

  ‘We have to try,’ Willow said. ‘This village has so much potential. It could be great again. I appreciate seventeen days is such a short amount of time to get everything finished but there’s still a lot that can be achieved in that time. Do you have a list of everything that needs doing and an idea of how much it will all cost?’

  He nodded. ‘In my head. Although the list gets bigger every day.’

  ‘You’re thinking of the bigger picture, but in reality you need to think on a smaller scale. You just need to make the village look nice from the outside. Make, say, five houses look good on the inside and those can be our show houses for the open day. If we suddenly get an influx of people wanting to move here then we can hold them off for a month or two until we can get more houses ready internally. No one will expect to move in the very next day. They will need to sell their house or at least give a month’s notice if they’re renting. But if the whole village is aesthetically pleasing from the outside that’s going to be a huge step forward in getting people to want to move here.’

  He hadn’t thought about it like that. He looked at his rhubarb cake; if he wanted to sell it, he needed to add some icing, put some pretty leaves and flowers on it. He had been trying so hard to get everything finished but he had to prioritise and Willow was right, getting the exterior looking good was the most important. No one ever needed to know that the village was falling apart on the inside because, by the time they moved in, all that would be taken care of.

  ‘OK.’

  ‘Well, let’s work through the list together now, make it as detailed as possible and prioritise what needs doing before the open day. Then we can go to Kitty and Ken tomorrow and tell them what we need, including a team of builders and decorators.’

  He smiled, slightly. Willow was clearly-the-take-charge-and-get-things-done type.

  ‘We?’