Chapter Ten
“I’ll see you tonight at the shelter,” David told him, before leaning in for a quick kiss on the cheek as he grabbed his mug and bagel.
“Fine, now get your ass out of here,” Jason muttered. He shook his head. “We need to find you a decent alarm clock. You know, one that actually works?”
David grinned. “I was thinking of you. Maybe I need you to come by my apartment and kick this ass out of bed every morning.”
Beside Jason, Melina giggled. Jason didn’t know where to look.
David waved goodbye from the door to the coffee shop before stepping through it to be swallowed up in the crowd of commuters that flowed along the sidewalk on its way to the subway.
“Sounds like a nice job,” Melina said under her breath, still chuckling.
Jason fired her a stern glance. “And that coffee machine won’t fill itself,” he reminded her.
“Sure, boss.” Melina bit her lip and went to fill it up with ground coffee.
Jason’s phone buzzed in the pocket of his apron and he pulled it out. It was a WhatsApp message from David.
How about one of these for your Christmas tree?
Jason stared at the image of an ornament whose top half was Santa, but the bottom was a pair of shapely legs in stockings and high heels.
What the hell? Like he was about to put a Santa in drag on any tree in his apartment.
“Oh my.” Melina’s gasp broke through his moment of startled contemplation. He turned his head to find her staring at his phone.
“Coffee machine,” he growled.
“Sure,” she squeaked, before scooting off to the supply room, shoulders shaking.
Jason’s fingers danced over his virtual keyboard. No. Way.
David’s reply was swift. Aw. It’s cute.
Jason shook his head. The man was crazy.
An hour later, another message popped up. How about this one?
Jason tried not to cough at the sight of what was basically a nut sac in bright red. Thank God Melina didn’t see that one. She’d have had a fit. Then he had to fight hard not to choke when up popped ornate golden representations of a penis and vagina, complete with red ribbon on top. Oh fuck, no.
And thus the pattern for his day was set.
Every hour or so another image would appear: an elf with a strategically placed bell whose handle happened to resemble a dick; a Santa, his bare ass on top of a snowy chimney top like he was sitting on the toilet; an open-mouthed snowman whose surprised expression was due entirely to the naked female elf kneeling before him, clearly sucking him off; and last but by no means least, the two snowmen in bondage gear, one taking the other up the ass.
With each successive image, Jason found it increasingly difficult to restrain his laughter. Wait until I get my hands on him tonight. But the final image was the one to break the camel’s back. It was another female elf, this time squatting to produce a wrapped Christmas present.
The dam burst, he saw the funny side of it, and tears of laughter streamed down his face. His eyes blurring, Jason sent a message. No to every last one of them, but thank you for giving me a laugh.
David sent one last message. No problem. I love it when you laugh. Just wish I was there to see your face. Gonna show your regulars?
Jason snorted, pocketed his phone and got back to the business of running his coffee shop.
* * * * * *
Jason had to admit, David had worked wonders. It wasn’t quite the fairy grotto he’d been anticipating, but the overall effect was simply magical.
Beside the fire stood the seven-foot tree they’d wrestled from the lot about six blocks from the apartment.
Jason forgot everything he’d said at the time about wanting a smaller tree: the fragrant pine was magnificent, and it wasn’t so tall that its highest branch was scraping his ceiling as he’d feared.
Once they’d gotten it set up on the small corner table where Jason usually kept his lamp, David had left him briefly, only to return ten or so minutes later, laden down with bags and bags all bearing the logo of the Christmas Cottage.
“When did you get the time to buy all this?” Jason had exclaimed, peering into the bags at the tissue-wrapped items.
“I may have left work a little earlier yesterday,” David had said with a sheepish grin.
They’d spent an hour or two hanging baubles and ornaments on the dark green branches.
Jason was relieved to see nothing that resembled David’s messages: his purchases were more traditional, ranging from clear glass balls to silvery, glittery reindeer to golden angel wings.
Jason was particularly enamored by a red glass heart, suspended from a long, slender ribbon.
Warm white lights covered the tree, their brilliance reflected on every shiny surface.
Cheerful snowmen and jolly santas hung there too, along with quirky little ornaments, such as the brightly painted glass dachshund and the delicate, glittering snowflakes that caught the light.
The tree was not David’s only work of art. Candles stood on the coffee table and in the window, and draped over the mantelpiece was a garland of green boughs and gold flowers, interspersed with more tiny white lights.
Jason’s once bare living room had never looked so beautiful.
They sat on the couch in front of the fire and gazed around them at the transformation.
“So?” David leaned closer, his chin resting on Jason’s shoulder. “How did I do?”
Jason inclined his head and brushed his lips over David’s ear. “You did good. Thank you.” He still found it hard to believe the changes in his life in those months since David had struck up that first conversation. It was more than the physical changes he saw in evidence all around him.
Jason was not the same person. The lonely man who’d spent his days working long hours in his shop, followed by yet more hours at the shelter, had undergone his own metamorphosis. In his place was a man who laughed more, was more fulfilled, and whose heart had finally opened.
All it had taken was the touch of another.
“What time do you usually close up shop on Christmas Eve?” David asked him. “Because I’ll be in work on Saturday morning. We’re putting out the final ad.”
Jason let out a sigh of contentment and put his arm around David, pulling him close. “I think I need to meet your boss one day.”
David craned his neck to stare at him. “Why would you want to do that?”
“I owe him,” Jason replied simply. When David’s brow furrowed, Jason smiled.
“Think about it. If he hadn’t had that idea to make his company look good, he’d have never gotten you to design his campaign for him.
You would never have noticed the guys in the coffee shop, getting their free breakfasts, and you’d have never asked my advice about shelters. ”
David nodded. “Fair point. Isn’t it amazing how one little thing can start off a whole chain of events?
” He leaned back against the cushion. “It took that for me to actually notice what was going on around me, to see what had been there all the time.” He gazed at Jason, his face warm in the firelight. “Like you.”
A slow unfurling of pleasure in his belly sent a wave of warmth flowing through Jason.
“I never thought this could happen, you know,” he said quietly.
When David arched his eyebrows quizzically, Jason gestured to the pair of them.
“This. Meeting someone like you. I’d resigned myself to being alone.
I mean, that was what I was used to, right?
I’ve been on my own for a long time. I lost my parents long before they passed. ”
David sat up. “What do you mean?”
Jason sighed. “We were never close, not the way you and your parents seem to be. And when I told them my marriage was over, they made it clear they thought I should have done more, made a better go of it. I wasn’t about to tell them the reason why my marriage failed.
” He cleared his throat. “Anyway. That’s ancient history. ”
“So will this coming year be the start of Jason Garton’s new life as an out gay man?” David asked with a grin.
Jason snickered. “Well, seeing as Melina knows now…” He tilted his head to stare at David. “I didn’t say a word to her, you know, about being gay. Apparently I didn’t have to. She just watched you and me, and put two and two together.”
“Smart girl.” David let out a yawn.
“I think maybe it’s time you went home to your bed,” Jason said with a chuckle. “Tomorrow will be upon us before we know it.” He took another look at his new-and-improved living room. “One week to go.”
“You didn’t answer my question earlier.”
“Huh?” Jason frowned. “What question?”
“What time you’re planning on closing up the shop next Saturday.”
“Oh. That question. I don’t stay open all day usually.
To be honest, most people are hurrying home to be with their families.
Melina will be finishing at noon, then her dad is picking her up.
” He took David’s hand. “And you’re working.
Maybe I don’t want to meet your boss after all, not if he’s making you work hard on Christmas Eve. ”
David covered Jason’s hand with his own. “Then how about I turn up at your apartment at three? We can spend the rest of the day together. I’ll do the cooking, if you like. You can sit here on your comfy couch with the fire blazing away and the TV on, and I’ll take care of you for a change.”
Jason grinned. “Deal. I like the idea of you waiting on me hand and foot.”
“Hey, wait a minute!” David’s eyes flashed. “Who said anything about me suddenly turning into your slav—”
Jason stopped his words with an impulsive kiss to the mouth, closing his eyes and drinking in David’s warm scent, already becoming familiar to him. David sighed into the kiss, his hands reaching to cup Jason’s head and hold him steady.
When they parted, David smiled. “Okay. You got yourself a slave for Christmas.” His smile widened. “Maybe this is a good time to ask what the pay is like?”