13
It had been a slightly awkward evening with Amber, thought Josh. They had made a bit of small talk when he had arrived back from dropping his mum off at the airport before they had both gone to their separate bedrooms.
Luckily Cathy’s plane took off only ten minutes late and he had woken up that morning relieved to find that it had landed safely in Singapore.
He had already received a number of texts and photos with his mum and brother grinning in some kind of tropical garden.
He was pleased. They were safe and happy.
He was also slightly envious of the blue skies and change of scenery. After all, he was still stuck in Cranbridge with the shop.
But at least he could finally change the inside. So he found himself feeling slightly more optimistic than he had done for a while. Staring around the shop, he tried to imagine how different it could look. For a start, there was too much clutter in the space. Boxes definitely needed to be removed, but where to put them? The back room was just as full as the shop itself.
He had no idea what to do next and was almost grateful when Grandma Tilly came into the shop.
‘How are you getting on?’ she asked.
‘I honestly don’t know where to start,’ Josh told her.
Grandma Tilly nodded as she looked around the crowded space. ‘It’s certainly a bit busy in here. Of course, it never used to look like this.’
‘How did it look?’ asked Amber, coming in from the back room.
‘Oh, it was quite different,’ said Tilly. ‘My father-in law ran a tight ship. Of course, it was all loose goods and branded items on the shelves come the 1950s. Myself and my mother-in law weren’t even allowed on the shop floor. Anyway, it’s best we’ve got equality these days. Women’s lib and all that. I hated being stuck upstairs. I used to sneak out to go to the dance hall in Aldwych.’
‘Such a rebel,’ said Amber, with a soft smile.
Grandma Tilly’s smile grew wider. ‘I really was.’
‘So, it didn’t look like this?’ said Josh, waving his arm around.
‘It was far emptier in those days,’ said Grandma Tilly. ‘Thanks to the rationing after the war. There wasn’t much food about. Or money either, to be honest. My father-in law would sell things on credit. Folks weren’t getting paid so they had to borrow.’
‘That doesn’t sound like very good business,’ said Josh.
Grandma Tilly shook her head. ‘We were a community in those days. We knew everyone and they knew us. It was a matter of trust. They were Cranbridge families. We knew every name and person who came through that door.’
‘Times change,’ said Josh, feeling almost sad that he didn’t have that kind of connection with the village.
‘As long as kindness doesn’t,’ said Grandma Tilly.
‘So, when did the shop become more full?’ asked Amber. ‘After rationing had stopped?’
‘Oh yes,’ said Grandma Tilly, nodding. ‘It was all so exciting in the sixties when I was growing up. Your grandfather had changed the shop. We lost the big downstairs kitchen and moved everything upstairs. Then all the little kiddies would come in for their sweets.’ Grandma Tilly smacked her gums together in memory. ‘It felt like a proper corner shop with tubs of sweets behind the till.’
Josh had a sudden memory of Grandma Tilly giving him and his brother a paper bag full of sweets. He could remember the excitement even now. How had he forgotten?
Grandma Tilly picked up her handbag. ‘Right. I’d best get off. My morning soap starts in half an hour.’
After she had left, Josh couldn’t help but smile and raise his eyebrows at Amber. ‘Are you sure you haven’t changed your mind about staying? My grandmother will want to tell you all of her stories.’
‘I think she’s a little lonely,’ Amber told him.
Josh nodded. ‘Village life can be pretty quiet.’
‘I’m sure it can be,’ she said, looking at him for a longer moment before looking away.
Did she mean him? Josh wasn’t sure. He wasn’t lonely, as such. He was just a bit restless. That was all.
But doing up the shop would at least keep that at bay for another month whilst they updated the place.
He dragged his hand through his hair, somewhat overwhelmed. He had dreamed of this day for so long when he had free rein to sort out and clear the shop. But now he was coming up with a complete blank, as if frightened that he would make things even worse.
He looked at Amber. ‘So, what do you think?’ he asked. ‘I mean, where do you think we should start in sorting out all of this?’
Amber sighed as she looked around the space. ‘It’s so hard because it’s so, er…’ Her voice trailed off.
‘Busy? Packed? Completely overcrowded?’ he said.
She smiled. ‘Just a little bit,’ she told him. ‘If you look past all this stuff in the middle of the shop, it’s actually quite wide. In fact, when Tilly showed me the empty shop next door, which is the same layout, I was amazed at the actual amount of space that you really have in here.’
‘Come and show me then,’ he said, leading the way out of the shop.
They walked to the empty place next door and peered in through the windows.
‘It’s big,’ he said, surprised as he stared at the space. ‘Really big.’
‘There’s actually plenty of space,’ said Amber, as she straightened up. ‘You’ve got tall ceilings, so there’s plenty of room at the sides of the shop for some high shelves. It’s just the rest of the room is so cluttered. It feels pretty oppressive in there.’ She stopped and blushed, as if she had gone too far with her words. ‘But that’s just my opinion,’ she added quickly.
‘Good job that I agree with you,’ he told her, causing a smile to light up her pretty face. ‘So, where do we begin?’
‘Let’s head back,’ she said and they went back inside Cranbridge Stores.
It looked even worse than usual, with the damp dreary weather outside not giving any extra light.
Amber sighed. ‘It’s so hard when everything is in the way,’ she said.
‘I think we should just start from scratch,’ he said. It was an idea that he had often dreamt about. ‘Clear everything out from in here.’
Amber looked startled. ‘The whole shop? You mean giving it a total overhaul?’
‘I think we should start with a blank canvas.’ He shrugged his shoulders. ‘It could certainly do with a lick of paint in here and I can’t do that until everything’s out. We could move it to the back room and just operate out of there.’
Amber frowned. ‘But won’t it be a bit tight for space in there with the tractor. It’s already pretty crowded back there.’
Josh blew out a sigh. ‘Yeah.’
Amber hesitated before speaking. ‘Look, I hope you don’t mind, but I had a look online at the value of this kind of tractor. Being a classic vehicle and all that. It could be worth quite a bit of money. You know, a couple of thousand pounds.’
Josh looked up at her in surprise. ‘Really?’
Amber nodded. ‘That could pay for the renovations that you want to do around here.’