Did she miss the bright lights of Christmas in New York? Not especially, she found. She had realised that getting to know everyone personally was far nicer than the faceless neighbourhood in which she’d been living and working for so many years.
A couple of neighbours waved as they walked down the other side of the river. People were out and about more these days than she had ever seen before. Life was beginning to return to the narrow lanes of Cranbridge. More people stopped and chatted to each other. Friendships were being formed. And hopefully just a little bit of the loneliness that had seeped into the village was now ebbing away as well.
And if she needed bright lights, then the sheer amount of fairy lights that was placed around the village would almost certainly outshine Manhattan. Everything on Riverside Lane was all set for the Christmas fair that weekend.
In the shop, everything was twinkling and festive as well. There was a decorated Christmas tree in each window, as well as a new wreath on the front door. A couple of small Christmas trees flanked the front door outside. Even the tractor had some holly and a couple of poinsettias on its seat. Christmas music played on the radio and the air was filled with the scent of oranges, cloves and cinnamon, thanks to some home-made pomades that she had made and placed along the mantelpiece above the fire.
The shelves were looking ready for Christmas as well. Mince pies jostled for space next to Christmas cakes and decorated cookies. In the crates surrounding the tractor, seasonal vegetables were ready to be bought, alongside an order form for local turkeys reared on one of the nearby farms that could be collected on Christmas Eve.
Amber caught her breath at the thought of not being in Cranbridge for Christmas. She took a deep breath and suppressed her tears. For now, she would just have to make do with the festive decorations.
She had just finished putting the finishing touches to the holly along the tops of the shelves, entwined with fairy lights, when Josh came in through the door.
‘Wow,’ he said, stopping short as he stared around.
‘What do you think?’ she asked, as she came back down the small stepladder.
‘I think it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas,’ he told her, smiling.
For a second their gazes locked and she held her breath. Then he turned away.
Amber sighed, the misery eating away at her inside. The Christmas fair was only three days away. But that also meant that her flight to New Zealand was a mere four days away. She couldn’t believe that she was leaving so soon.
Thankfully the Christmas fair was keeping her busy. The idea for the fair had gone down very well with all of the villagers and everyone was very excited about the upcoming weekend.
‘We’re up to twelve stalls already,’ Amber told Grandma Tilly, who was sitting on a chair next to the fire. She often came in for the company as she knitted. ‘And I’m going to wrap each of your blankets with a ribbon and place them in a large basket in the corner ready to be sold.’
‘I’ve been knitting as fast as I can,’ said Tilly, her fingers flying as she knitted the red wool bales in her lap. ‘Three blankets are done already.’
‘They’re so pretty,’ said Amber, looking down at the red Scandi design that Tilly had chosen. ‘I’m sure they’ll sell really quickly. The pub is going to serve drinks outside. There are a lot of food stalls as well. Then there’s a whole range of others, like Christmas wreaths and even home-made decorations.’
‘It’s going to be wonderful,’ said Grandma Tilly.
Amber nodded in agreement.
It would indeed be wonderful, if only her heart wasn’t breaking, she told herself.
All the time, she was aware that the countdown was on. Time was running out.
Cathy was flying home that weekend so at least Amber would get to see her one more time before she left. Apparently, Cathy had a big surprise for them both. Amber had no idea what it was, but it was wonderful to hear Cathy sounding so happy on the phone.
Amber also thought that saying goodbye to Josh might perhaps be easier with Cathy around. Because it was going to be the hardest thing she had ever done.
She swayed between cancelling the flight and staying, almost on a daily basis. She loved Josh. She knew that now. But he had never told her how he felt. Perhaps it wasn’t the same for him. Perhaps it never would be.
But she hadn’t told him how she felt either. She wasn’t brave enough to face the fact that he might not feel the same way. Anyway, it was too late now.
She looked up at the front door as yet another large group of visitors arrived. In fact, since Dodgy Del’s deliberate breakdown, there appeared to be a number of problems with quite a few of the local coach firms now. They were breaking down just by the shop on an almost daily basis.
‘It’ll cost us any profit in Willow Tree Hall cider if we’re going to have to pay off all the drivers,’ said Josh in a low voice to Amber as they watched yet another coach party make their way up the steps to the front door.
‘Won’t someone guess?’ asked Amber.
‘They haven’t so far,’ said Josh, before laughing. ‘Well, you’ve got to hand it to Del.’
‘Only if there’s beer in it,’ said Amber, turning back to her list for the Christmas fair.
There was so much to think about. She had drawn up posters that were now in most people’s front windows and all along the front of the veranda. Tables and chairs were going to be borrowed from the back room of the pub. Gazebos and umbrellas were going to have to be begged, borrowed or stolen from anyone that had one. Amber was just praying that it would stay dry and that they wouldn’t need them. But rain wasn’t the main concern. It was actually the threat of snow, which might or might not appear.
‘I don’t see snow being a problem,’ Grandma Tilly had said at the time. ‘It’ll be far prettier than all that mud anyway.’
Amber had privately agreed with her. She just hoped that it wouldn’t be so cold as to prevent anyone coming to the fair.
Then there was the decoration. Her idea to wind fairy lights around the trees along the riverbank sounded great, but the reality of watching Josh, Tom and Del up a ladder had made her fear that they would end up in the water again.
She smiled to herself whenever she thought about when she had first seen Josh all those weeks ago, dripping wet in the middle of the river. He had been so angry, so unhappy. And now? Well, the shop was slowly becoming more profitable. They had more customers than ever before. He was obviously pleased that the business had turned around. She was so pleased for him. The family deserved some happiness. She just wished she could be there to share it with them.
At total odds with the pain in her heart, she had begun to feel confident in herself. For the first time that she could remember, she could face strangers with a smile. She trusted her abilities. She was finally living the full life that she had so longed for. She could face anything, except losing Josh. But it would have to be done.
Once the Christmas fair was over, she would move on. It would be time to look forward to the future.
It wasn’t just Josh she would miss, though. Molly and Belle had taken her out for a couple of drinks the previous night, where there had been much sniffling and tears. They had begun to be close over the past few weeks. Amber would miss her new friends terribly. And the other villagers too. Grandma Tilly, of course. Stanley and Frank were like the grandfathers she never knew she needed. Tom was funny. Even Mike and Angie in the pub and their many arguments had grown on her. The villagers of Cranbridge had stolen her heart. And though she knew their lives would carry on as before after she’d left, she just wasn’t sure where hers was going to take her without Josh.