She looked at the cluster of little shops, which were already open and selling their wares. What was going to be her candle shop was standing on a corner opposite the pub and she smiled to see that it was painted in the same bright yellow paint that Sunrise Cottage had been painted in. Obviously Andrew had bought a job lot of paint and decided to go with the theme.
She didn’t really plan to go in there today, she was waiting for more of her stock to arrive. She had a few bits and pieces here but as she had fulfilled all of her online orders before she’d left, she wanted a few days to explore the village and get to know the place before she settled into work again.
She pushed open the door to the post office and stepped inside. Andrew had already told her that she could pick up a few groceries here. She had brought a few bags of food with her, and she had a big grocery order being delivered in the next few days, but she needed a couple of things to keep her going. She hadn’t quite been expecting the huge and eclectic range of things to buy. There were buckets and spades, mops, irons, picture frames, cuddly toys, sandals, cooking utensils, pyjamas, envelopes in every size, indoor fountains, paddling pools, cushions, blankets, disposable barbeques, outdoor lights, dog leads, board games and several aisles of groceries, all jammed into a shop that appeared so tiny and unassuming from the front. Willow had no doubt that whatever she needed or wanted at any point in her life, it would be found here.
‘Hello, can I help you?’ came a voice from somewhere in the depths of the post office emporium.
Willow moved forward through the overcrowded shelves. ‘Hello, I was just… looking for something for my lunch.’
She would save the other groceries she needed to get for another time. The whole place was a little overwhelming and she felt sure if she stayed too long then she might come out with a jacuzzi and pet husky named Blaze.
A small elderly lady appeared round the end of one of the aisles. She had big puffy candyfloss-pink hair that seemed to shimmer and shake as she walked.
‘Ah, you must be Willow McKay. I’m Julia Dalton, the postmistress. I’ve been waiting for you.’
Willow smiled. She didn’t realise she had an appointment.
‘Let me show you how the postal service works here,’ Julia said, ushering her to the till. ‘All the post for the village comes to me and I make a record of it here in this book, see. That way you can come in and, if I’m busy with customers, you can check the book to see if there is any post for you without having to queue up to ask me.’
Willow looked around the shop. There was not a single soul in there apart from her and Julia. It was hard to believe that Julia ever got busy in here or had even seen a queue.
‘OK, that’s good to know,’ Willow said.
‘When you collect any post, you’ll have to sign to say you’ve collected it,’ Julia went on, showing the signatures of all the villagers in her special book. ‘I keep all the post locked in a cupboard out the back, so it’s quite safe here if you can’t get in to see me every day.’
Willow wondered if Julia was expecting her to come in every day. She never got that much post at home so she wasn’t suddenly expecting an influx here. ‘OK.’
‘Now,’ Julia clapped her hands together loudly. ‘What can I help you with today?’
‘Well just something for my lunch, perhaps a sandwich or the means to make one. Maybe a bit of fruit.’
‘There’s a bakery in the next town that delivers a small selection of sandwiches here every day. Let’s see.,’ Julia gestured for her to follow her to a small open fridge. ‘We have egg and cress and umm… oh yes, another egg and cress.’
Willow resisted pulling a face. ‘Oh, how about those sausage rolls, they look nice. And I’ll take a few bananas and some grapes if you have them.’
‘Of course we have bananas. We have lots of fruit. We even had a pomegranate in here the other day. Didn’t sell though, I had to throw it away in the end. This way, dear.’
Julia bustled off and Willow grabbed a packet of sausage rolls and followed her.
The fruit display was a bit sorry-looking. There was certainly a wide range, but most of it looked a little past its best. Willow picked up a banana that wasn’t too freckly and a packet of grapes at least two days past its sell-by date.
‘I think that’s everything for now,’ Willow said, hoping Julia wouldn’t try to persuade her to buy the wrinkly kiwi fruit or the strange orange fruit that most definitely wasn’t an orange.
‘Are you sure there’s nothing else I can help you with?’ Julia asked, hopefully.
‘This is fine, thank you,’ Willow said.
She followed Julia back to the till and she rang up her purchases.
‘Well, do pop in again,’ Julia said. ‘If I don’t have what you need, I can get it.’
Willow had no doubt of that. ‘Thank you.’
She turned to leave and walked straight into Andrew, literally headbutting him in his hard chest.
‘Hello,’ he said, gently, steadying her with his hand on her bare shoulder.
‘Hey,’ she said. He had such a lovely smile. He hadn’t taken his hand from her shoulder and something about that touch, the heat of his skin against hers, did something inside her that she hadn’t felt in years.
‘Just getting some lunch for later,’ Willow said, gesturing unnecessarily to her sausage rolls.
‘So I see.’
This seemed a bit too polite for two people who had seen each other naked about an hour before. She blushed at the glorious memory. He had an amazing body. Her eyes cast down and caught the edges of the phoenix tattoo peeking out from underneath his t-shirt sleeve. She wanted to see that again. She caught herself and looked back up at him. He was smiling as if he knew exactly what she was thinking. But he couldn’t possibly know. He might be good at lip-reading but not mind-reading. She comforted herself with that thought, although the spark of amusement didn’t fade from his eyes.
‘Well, must dash, there’s lots to do, nice seeing you again,’ Willow said and hurried off, her cheeks burning. She was so silly. They had chatted just fine over breakfast, so why was she suddenly embarrassed about seeing him now? She knew why. Because her mind was going to all the places it shouldn’t with those memories and that simple touch.
She moved off down the main high street until the houses that were homes gave way to the houses that were most definitely not. She could see that Andrew had started work on some of these but there was still so much to be done.
She passed an old shed-type building. The doors were open and inside were stacks of tins of paint amongst other things and she paused for a moment as an idea came to mind. Before she became a full-time candlemaker she used to buy old wooden shelves, chests, chairs and tables and give them a new lease of life, painting them pink or blue or sunshine yellow, some with flowers, butterflies, suns or stars, some with fish jumping out of the waves. She wasn’t particularly skilled or artistic but the simplicity of her designs appealed to some people. She had stopped doing it after she had started going out with Garry. He always moaned that it took so much of her time and paid her so little, but the money had never been the reason why she did it. She just loved giving these old bits of furniture a second chance, to see what they could become with a little bit of love and care. Garry had insisted she focus on something that could actually pay the bills and she’d known he had a point. Initially it was a hobby instead of her main focus, but when her candlemaking business started to take off her hobby had soon stopped altogether because Garry didn’t like their home cluttered with old bits of furniture. She did miss it though.
But maybe she could have a chance of doing that again here. Only not with furniture this time, but with the houses themselves. Maybe that was what the village needed. A little bit of love and a lick of paint could go a long way. Maybe that could be the thing she could give to the village, maybe she could help it shine again. Garry always said she was a fixer, a doer. If a bulb needed changing, a shelf needed fixing, a picture ne
eded putting up, she would just get on and do it. She looked around the village and sighed. This was a bit bigger than a broken shelf or a chest of drawers that needed painting, but maybe she could help in some small way.
She stepped inside the shed and looked around at the tins of paint. It was mostly white paint but there were some colours there too. Andrew had started decorating large ceramic plant pots different colours – purples, pinks, greens. He had seen what she had seen, that the village needed a bit of colour to brighten the place up.
She could paint some flowers around the door of one of the houses, emerald-green leaves and curly stems with flamingo-pink roses. She could see it in her mind and she knew it would look great.
But would Andrew be annoyed with her for doing it? Should she go and find him and ask him if it was OK? Although seeing Andrew and imagining seeing him naked again was enough to veto that idea. If he hated it she would personally paint over it herself.
She grabbed a few pots of paint and some brushes and went back outside, excitement bubbling through her. She paused outside one of the houses that had already been painted white, although a quick look through the windows confirmed this particular house was a long way off being finished.
She popped open one of the pots of green paint, dipped a brush inside and painted a beautiful winding stem up the side of the door. She was surprised at the rush she got from that simple act. It had been too long since she had done something like this and she loved being able to do this again. She curled the stem over the top of the door and down the other side. The green paint gleamed in the sunlight. She added some curvy leaves at different places around the door and then stood back to look at it. It looked better already. It made the house come to life and, once she added the pink flowers, it was going to look really rather special.
It was such a tiny thing when the village needed so much work, but at least she was doing something to help. She only hoped Andrew would love it.
Six
Andrew walked down to the end of the village. He had spent most of the morning trying to fix Joseph’s leak. He hadn’t been able to find the cause of it the night before so had just turned off the water after filling up a few saucepans so Joseph could still have his cup of tea. And he had now spent the last few hours trying to find the problem and then fixing it. Honestly, it was time he simply didn’t have. With the open day coming up in just under three weeks, he knew that even if he worked every hour of the day he wouldn’t get all the houses finished on time, so he really didn’t need setbacks like this. He loved the villagers and he wanted to do everything he could to help them, but he really needed some help and he had no idea how to approach Kitty and Ken to ask them.
Although there was one man who always seemed to have time on his hands and who might be willing to come and help him for a few days.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket and gave his brother a call.
‘Andrew, how’s it going?’ Jacob said.
‘All good here, the sun is shining, the beach is glorious. Why don’t you come and stay for a few days?’
‘Well, isn’t that sweet, my little brother wants to spend time with me,’ Jacob said, sarcastically.
He knew very well Andrew had an ulterior motive. He and Jacob weren’t exactly close. Jacob was sarcastic, interfering, confident to the point of cocky and quite honestly a pain in the arse, but he was also protective, loyal and generous with his time. If Andrew told him he needed his help, Jacob would be there, no questions asked. Although he might bitch and moan about it, Andrew knew he didn’t really mean any of it.
‘And what would I be doing on this little holiday of mine?’ Jacob said. ‘Picnics on the beach perhaps?’
‘Well if that floats your boat, sure. But I’m sure there’s plenty of inspiration here for your next masterpiece,’ Andrew said, sarcastically. Jacob was a scrap metal artist and a very good one. But Andrew would never tell him that. ‘And maybe you can give me a hand with a tiny spot of painting.’
‘Well that sounds like a wonderful way to spend my holiday,’ Jacob deadpanned. ‘But as luck would have it, I do have a few days spare to come and get my brush wet.’
‘If that’s a euphemism, you’ve got no chance.’
‘What about that new woman, Willow is it? The one who came to live there without even coming to see it? That shouts “woman trying to escape” if ever I heard it. I could be the fortress in her storm. What’s she like?’
Andrew tried to find the words to describe Willow McKay. ‘She’s… nice.’
That was a gross understatement. Nice didn’t even come close to describing what she was like.
‘Oh, is she hideous?’
‘You’re so shallow. There’s more to someone than just their looks.’
‘Ah she is.’
‘She isn’t actually, she’s…’ Andrew trailed off because he didn’t need to give Jacob any encouragement where Willow was concerned. ‘She’s off limits.’
‘Oooh little brother, are you staking a claim? Because I definitely need to come and check her out if you’ve got your eye on her.’
‘No, it’s not like that.’ It most definitely was like that. ‘I just think she can do better than you.’
‘Well, that’s probably true. I’ll be there in a few days and I’ll see for myself.’
Andrew sighed as his brother said his goodbyes and hung up.
He thought for a moment about what Jacob had said. He wondered if Willow was escaping from something. He thought about how she’d been before in the post office, she’d practically run away from him when she’d seen him. He wondered if she felt awkward around him now she knew he was deaf, but that didn’t seem to make sense when she had chatted to him just fine over breakfast.
He stopped suddenly and backtracked a few steps to the house he’d just passed. He stared at the flowers growing up the walls around the door which certainly hadn’t been there yesterday. But as he stepped closer he realised they had been painted on. Who the hell had done that?
He looked around and saw three more houses, all with the same flowers growing up the sides of the door, and then he spotted the culprit working on house number five, only this one had stars of different sizes.
He stared at Willow as she painted. He didn’t know whether to be angry that she had done this without checking it was OK, delighted that she wanted to help or frustrated that, of all the ways she could help, painting little flowers was not going to be anywhere near his top ten. He supposed the flowers did look quite nice, they gave the houses a bit of colour, but he couldn’t believe she had done this without asking him. He marched over to tell her that this wasn’t appropriate.
As he approached she looked up at him and he faltered in his stride because she had the biggest grin on her face he had ever seen on anyone in his entire life. She looked like a child whose Christmases had all come at once and to be angry at her felt like he would be kicking a puppy.
‘Oh, I’m so sorry. I was just going to do one house and then come and find you to see if you liked it and if you didn’t I was going to paint over it. But then I enjoyed doing it so much that I thought I would just do one more and now I’ve done five. I’m sorry, I just got carried away. If you hate it, I’ll paint over them all myself. Do you hate it? Please don’t tell me you hate it,’ she laughed, nervously.
She had such exuberance and enthusiasm for what she was doing. He felt his anger just fade away.
He cleared his throat and looked again at the flowers. It really did help the houses to stand out and maybe even detract from any other little faults.
‘It looks lovely,’ Andrew said.
‘Really? Oh god, I’m so relieved. I thought you might hate it or hate me for doing it.’
‘I don’t think it’s possible to hate you, Willow McKay,’ he said, softly.
‘My old boyfriend, Garry, used to hate me doing stuff like this,’ Willow went on. ‘I used to paint old bits of furniture in bright colours and little designs like this. He said it
was a waste of my time.’
‘How can anything be a waste of your time if it makes you this happy?’
Her ex-boyfriend sounded like an arse. Christ, he’d let her paint the whole goddamn village with flowers and stars if it meant it kept that huge smile on her face.
‘I did love it,’ Willow said, wistfully.
‘You shouldn’t let anyone stand in the way of your happiness,’ Andrew said.
She stared at him. ‘I think you’re right. Is it really OK, you don’t mind?’
‘I don’t mind,’ Andrew said, and he really didn’t. It wasn’t her job to paint or fix things in the village so he could hardly expect her to pick up a roller and start painting. The fact that she wanted to help at all was actually wonderful. Many of the other villagers had no interest in contributing to village life. And it did look lovely. The white houses looked smart and uniform but this added a little bit of character. ‘Feel free to paint as many houses as you want.’
‘Can I? Well, that’s exciting.’
Her eyes lit up at the prospect of painting the whole village and he smiled. He’d definitely done the right thing.
‘I can get more paint for you if you wish. Just let me know.’ He paused as he watched her paint another star. ‘Why does this one have stars?’
‘Oh, I found this,’ Willow said, picking up a broken name plate that had obviously hung outside at some point: Starlight Cottage.
‘Very appropriate. I can fix that.’
‘I bet you can, but why don’t you leave that to me. I’m sure you have lots of other things to do.’
He nodded. ‘And on that note, I really must crack on.’ He took a step away and then turned back. ‘Can I ask you something?’
‘Sure.’
‘Why did you run away before, when we were in the post office?’
He watched her cheeks flush bright red. ‘You really don’t want to know.’
He pursed his lips. ‘Yeah, I really do.’
‘But then you’ll think terrible things of me.’
‘Well now, I’m intrigued.’
The Little Village of Happiness: A gorgeous uplifting romantic comedy to escape with this summer Page 4
