Page 74 of The Village Shop for Lonely Hearts

‘More like a disaster movie out there with all this rain,’ said Josh, who had just arrived back from the cash and carry. ‘The roads are getting quite bad.’ His hair was glistening wet from the rain and Amber had to turn away in order not to linger on how attractive it made him look.

‘The local radio station said that the road to Aldwych is flooded halfway across and that the traffic is terrible,’ said Stanley.

Josh nodded. ‘It was. I was OK in the van, but if we get this storm later in the week that they’re predicting, I reckon it’ll be impassable.’

Stanley nodded. ‘The fields are saturated. I don’t remember the river looking this high for a long time. It used to be so shallow. I even skated on it in the winter when I was younger.’

‘How lovely,’ said Amber. ‘Your very own skating rink.’

She had been to see the Rockefeller Center skating rink when she had been in New York, but she had never skated on there. Filled with couples and families at Christmastime, it had almost seemed to emphasise her loneliness and she had left almost as soon as she had arrived.

In Cranbridge, she realised she didn’t feel that way. She knew that living with Josh in the flat meant that she wasn’t living alone, but it wasn’t just that. It was the interactions with the customers that was helping. As Stanley stayed on to enjoy his coffee, she wondered how many other people in the village could be lonely as well.

Amber wandered over to look at the river through the window. ‘Has the river ever flooded Riverside Lane?’ she asked. It was nearly level with the bottom of the bank and rushing through at quite a fast current.

‘Oh yes,’ said Stanley. ‘It’s been a few good years though since then. At least ten, from what I remember. But it only laps the lane just at the riverbank. Hopefully all those works on the locks lower down the river will help the water flow away.’

Amber looked across at the river once more before turning to look at the shop which they had worked so hard on. Then she mentally crossed her fingers that the river would stay contained.

Because what on earth would happen if it flooded its banks?

‘I can’t believe they’ve named the first big storm of autumn Storm Amber,’ said Tom, with a grin the following morning.

Josh watched as Amber’s cheeks immediately flooded pink with embarrassment.

‘Ha ha,’ she said, rolling her eyes as she took his money from him to put into the till. ‘Very funny.’

Tom carried on smiling as he picked up his steaming hot coffee. ‘No, seriously. Just how dangerous are you?’

‘Very dangerous, especially if you’re anywhere near open water on a bridge,’ said Josh, giving her a knowing look.

‘Shut up, both of you,’ she told them, blushing and busying herself with going over to put another log into the wood-burning stove.

Josh could smile now in memory of that time a few weeks ago. Was that all it had been? It seemed sometimes as if Amber had been in his life for a lot longer.

As she straightened up, he saw Amber glance out of the window. His gaze followed hers as he saw the branches in the trees outside bend and wave in the stiff breeze, causing a flurry of yellow and russet leaves to be tossed around in the air.

The wind was certainly strengthening, he thought, ducking down to look up at the grey clouds. The rain was continuing to fall, but it was nothing like the monsoon conditions that the weather forecasters were threatening later in the day. They had already had a rush on both candles and matches in case of any power cuts.

‘Perhaps they’ve got it wrong,’ said Josh. ‘The storm, I mean. It doesn’t look that bad.’

‘I hope not,’ said Tom, as he brought out his phone. ‘Misery and chaos make for good headlines.’

Amber spun around and raised her eyebrows at him in surprise.

‘Just a little chaos for the headlines,’ said Tom, holding up his hand. ‘Nothing life-threatening or anything like that.’

Amber continued to look worried as she looked out of the window once more.

‘They’re saying the worst of it should miss us,’ said Josh, joining her by the window.

‘Not according to my best source,’ said Tom, glancing down at his phone once more. ‘Micky Magic is his twitter handle. He’s a bloke in a shed somewhere outside of Aldwych. Contrary to what the Met Office, Flood Advisory and all the official chaps are saying, Micky assures me that his barometer never lies and that we’ll get hit full in the face here with the heaviest rain.’ Tom grimaced. ‘So it must be true.’

Amber bit her lip and glanced out at the river once more. It was already lapping against the riverbank.

‘We certainly don’t need any more rain,’ said Josh.

‘The whole area is open water at the moment,’ said Tom, as he headed out of the shop. ‘Hope you guys have some sandbags.’