Recent graduate Dr. Fenton Miller takes December off to decide which job offer to accept. Then he meets his landlord, sous chef John Barton. Suddenly, thinking about his career becomes his last priority. A better option might be a month-long roll between the sheets with John. While John is attracted to Fen and might even agree to his plan, John has got more pressing matters to worry about. His past has arrived in tiny Stone Acres from San Francisco and is intent on sucking him back into a life he hated. Promising to help John and shelter him if necessary, Fen finds he's also being threatened by a homophobic father who doesn't find Fen as entertaining as his kids do. As they wade through their problems during the happiest time of the year, Fen and John rely more and more on each other for happiness.

Short Order

“We’ve hired Ricky full-time as off-site plant keeper. After Fen chooses the plants for a business and we deliver them, Ricky will be in charge of keeping them alive and beautiful. He’s also setting up a permanent kids’ corner here in the nursery. Welcome, Ricky!”


We all clapped and smiled at Ricky, who jumped up and down, laughing and crying. You would have thought he’d won an Academy Award instead of getting a run-of-the-mill nursery job. I was happy he’d found something he could be proud doing.


Ricky had told John and me the news about his job offer the night before. For the time being, he wanted to stay with us, mostly because he was scared of Leo turning up again. In his mind, Leo would kidnap and haul him back to work in the city. Ricky thought if he was with us, we would save him. I had my doubts, mostly because from what I’d heard, if Leo wanted someone, John and I couldn’t stop him from kidnapping them.


Chapter 28