Page 85 of The Village Shop for Lonely Hearts

‘Could we put a sign up on the veranda?’ she asked. ‘Offering hot drinks. We’ve got the coffee machine and a kettle. People are going to need some warmth whilst they clear up. It’s so cold.’

He looked at her for a long time before nodding. ‘You’re absolutely right. They might not have electricity with the flooding. And today’s not the day to think about profits,’ he said.

Amber found herself falling for him just a little bit more at his kindness.

As Josh wrote on a large blackboard offering free hot drinks and snacks to anyone who needed it, she filled up the kettle and coffee machine and brought out some more biscuits. They had left the microwave downstairs, so she headed up to the flat to grab what was the last of their own bacon, ready to make bacon sandwiches for anyone who wanted them.

‘Good morning,’ said Grandma Tilly, coming out of her bedroom in her dressing gown. ‘Everything OK?’

‘Not great,’ Amber told her. ‘The village is quite badly flooded.’

‘How awful.’ Grandma Tilly turned back around. ‘I’ll get dressed and head down to give you a hand.’

As it turned out, an awful lot of people needed their help.

‘We’ve had to switch off our power supply,’ said Mike, rushing in. ‘I couldn’t grab a coffee, could I, love?’

‘Of course,’ said Amber, turning to make his drink. ‘How’s the pub?’

‘Thankfully it’s only the cellar which got wet,’ said Mike. ‘Stuff’s ruined down there. My crisps just floated away.’

‘Probably because they were a couple of years out of date,’ said Tom, coming into the shop. ‘As long as the beer barrels are intact.’

Mike nodded. ‘They should be.’

‘Good,’ said Tom. ‘The way today’s going to pan out, I may need to do a rather large drinking session later.’

‘How’s the newspaper office?’ asked Josh, coming inside to put another log into the wood-burning stove.

‘Empty of both water and staff,’ Tom told them. ‘It came up to the front door and a little inside but no further. I’ve sent everyone out and about to see what the damage is. Did someone mention something about a bacon sarnie?’

‘That sounds good,’ added Mike.

‘Coming up,’ Amber replied, grabbing the second-to-last loaf of bread that they had to start buttering slices.

‘At least it’s finally stopped raining,’ said Mike.

Amber glanced out of the window and saw that the wind had dropped as well.

The shop began to fill quite quickly with customers all sharing their flooding horror stories. Amber worked flat out to make sure everyone had something to eat and, with Grandma Tilly’s help, they all had a hot drink as well.

Most of the homeowners had had to switch their electricity off if they were flooded so were also looking to charge their mobiles.

‘This is the first time I’ve felt warm all morning,’ said one woman, standing in front of the fire and warming her hands.

A few people were sitting down on the bench as they chatted and drank their hot drinks.

‘I’d heard about the tractor, but I thought someone was pulling my leg,’ said someone.

Amber and Josh exchanged a small smile before they carried on working.

Some more customers bought a large amount of cleaning supplies and the wellington boots sold out quickly as well.

Josh also made a pile of brooms, rubber gloves and dustbin bags, all of which were soon snapped up.

‘Our place got flooded during the night,’ said a woman whom Amber didn’t recognise. She was looking around the shop and in particular at the tractor in a wild manner. ‘I don’t know where to start first. We can’t have breakfast because the electricity is off.’ She glanced down at the two young children she had brought with her.

Amber looked at their pale, tired faces. ‘How about a nice hot chocolate and some toast?’ she said to the children. ‘And let’s get mum a coffee, eh?’