Josh glanced up. ‘I thought maybe we could paint them white as well.’
‘No!’ Amber was horrified. ‘They’re warm and give the place character.’
‘OK.’ Josh blew out a long sigh. ‘You’re the boss.’
She blushed. ‘Well, I’m not. That’s you.’ She bit her lip. ‘Am I being too much?’
‘Yes,’ he told her before smiling. ‘But I quite like it.’
She looked at her feet, finding herself tongue-tied for the first time with Josh in a few days.
‘So we need to concentrate on the walls and ceiling first,’ he carried on. ‘What about the fireplace? Shall we hide it again? We could use the storage space.’
But Amber shook her head. ‘I was actually thinking of making it a feature.’
‘Of course you were,’ he drawled.
‘If you want, we can always place something in front of it later,’ she said, keen to appease his concerns. ‘But in the meantime, to be honest, it’s pretty cold in here so the extra heating would be nice.’
He went over to peer into the large wood-burning stove that had been installed in the fireplace. ‘I can remember Dad lighting this when we first came here,’ he said. ‘I’ll see if I can get a chimney sweep out to check the flue. I don’t want the whole place to go up in flames, or die of carbon monoxide poisoning in my bed.’ He laughed. ‘Unless it’s for the insurance money of course. Kidding!’ he added, at Amber’s horrified face.
‘Just warn me before you light it,’ she said. ‘I don’t want to go up in smoke either.’
She looked at the long wall on the far side of the shop. Without the interruption of the chimney and fireplace, it was actually far longer than she had realised and could probably hold almost six shelving units along the whole stretch.
But Josh insisted that he wanted to paint the wall before they placed the oak shelves back against it. So whilst Amber sanded them down, Josh began to prepare the ceiling and walls.
Along with the tractor, it meant that the shop was even more crowded than normal when a rare customer came in.
‘Have my cataracts got worse?’ said Grandma Tilly, standing at the front door to the shop and staring around in wide-eyed disbelief.
She hadn’t been in the shop for a couple of days and hadn’t seen it since the tractor had been moved.
Josh frowned down at her from the top rung of his stepladder. ‘Is everything OK? I said I’d pop in and see you later.’
Grandma Tilly smiled. ‘I just needed to get out and have some fresh air,’ she said. ‘So, am I allowed to ask what’s going on?’
‘We’re having a mini makeover,’ Amber told her.
Tilly smiled. ‘It looks a tad more than “mini” to me, I would say.’
‘I agree,’ said Josh, as Amber knocked over a pile of tins that had been tottering precariously only a few moments previously.
‘Gosh, I’d forgotten about that,’ said Tilly, weaving her way through the mess to look at the fireplace.
‘Isn’t it pretty?’ said Amber.
‘My husband installed that many years ago,’ said Tilly with a knowing smile.
‘I don’t remember Grandad being good with his hands like that,’ said Josh.
‘Oh yes,’ said Tilly, turning to look at the tractor. ‘Mind you, it was your dad that loved this old thing. I don’t remember it being quite so prominent in the shop before though. Although I could be losing my marbles, of course.’
‘No, that’s just us,’ Josh replied, giving Amber a pointed look.
She waved his concerns away with her hand. ‘It’s going to look worse before it looks better,’ she told Grandma Tilly.
‘Then perhaps I think you’re at rock bottom now, my dear,’ said Tilly, with a wink. ‘But I’m sure you young folks know what you’re doing.’
‘But maybe don’t tell Mum about all this quite yet,’ suggested Josh.
Tilly nodded. ‘I agree.’ She looked around at the mess. ‘Is there anything I can do to help?’
‘We can’t have you hurting yourself,’ Josh told her. ‘It’s such a mess in here.’
Grandma Tilly looked downcast. ‘Well, if you’re sure, I guess I’d better head home and see what’s on daytime TV.’
Amber realised that Tilly needed to feel useful even though the shop really was too much of a mess at the moment for her to be safe.
‘How’s my blanket coming along?’ asked Amber.
‘Nearly done,’ said Tilly, brightening up a little. ‘I’ll have to start on your mum’s after that.’
‘Great,’ said Amber.
‘I’ll swing by later,’ shouted Josh as she left. His phone bleeped in his pocket so he checked his messages after climbing down the stepladder. ‘So, I’ve heard from the chimney sweep,’ he told Amber. ‘But it’s going to cost at least £100 for him to come and service the thing. Maybe we can just leave the wood-burning stove for show or something.’
‘Look,’ said Amber. ‘You may not feel the cold in that nice leather jacket of yours, but it’s always freezing in here and you want people to linger and shop. I thought that was the point. To make money? So you need to encourage people through the door, which hopefully I can do with some different and more enticing kinds of window display. But then they need to stay put in here for a while, which we’re both trying to sort out. Then they shop. Linger. In the warmth. Maybe even pick up more things to buy.’
‘OK. You wore me down,’ he told her, holding his hand out to stop her going on any further.
‘The white looks good though,’ she said, looking up at the ceiling. ‘Much better than that cream colour. Especially on a gloomy day like today.’
He glanced outside. It hadn’t stopped raining for a few days and the forecast said it was likely to continue. But, in a way, it was perfect that it was a dark and dismal autumnal day. The shop needed to be shown in its worst light in order for it to be dressed.
‘I’ll call the chimney sweep when I head over to the cash and carry,’ said Josh, bringing out his van keys.
‘Oh! There were a couple of things I needed,’ said Amber quickly.
‘No worries,’ said Josh. ‘We’ll close up the shop.’
Amber looked alarmed. ‘Do you think we should?’
Josh rolled his eyes before grabbing his van keys. ‘Yeah, Harrods is really concerned about the competition right about now.’
Amber enjoyed the journey out in Josh’s van. Being a little higher meant she could see over the hedgerows and enjoy the countryside, although everywhere was looking muddy and wet.
First of all, they visited the builder’s merchants and bought some more white paint. Amber insisted they didn’t get the cheapest paint as it would be too thin.
‘Less time painting many coats means the quicker it’ll dry and then we can start putting the stock back on the shelves,’ she told him.
It was a bit like coming up against a brick wall, she thought. She knew they didn’t have much money and she wasn’t deliberately being extravagant, but she also knew that it had to be done properly if they were to maximise the look of the place.