Christmastime at Papa Lee's Read online

  Table of Contents

  Blurb

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Casey Chambers isn’t used to kindness; being tossed out onto the street does that to a person. His life takes a turn for the better when he lands a job at Papa Lee’s. Not only does the Lee family give Casey a place to work, they give him a place to call home…

  And the opportunity to find love with one of their own. But Casey’s burgeoning relationship with Marty Lee is threatened when Marty withdraws after a vicious attack. It’ll take a miracle for Casey to convince Marty they’re meant to be.

  Good thing it’s the season for miracles.

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  Christmastime

  at Papa Lee’s

  N.J. Nielsen

  mlrpress

  www.mlrpress.com

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright 2012 by N.J. Nielsen

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

  Published by

  MLR Press, LLC

  3052 Gaines Waterport Rd.

  Albion, NY 14411

  Visit ManLoveRomance Press, LLC on the Internet:

  www.mlrpress.com

  Cover Art by Deana C. Jamroz

  Editing by Kimberly Brandt

  Ebook format ISBN# 978-1-60820-795-4

  Issued 2012

  This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of International Copyright Law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines and/or imprisonment. This eBook cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this eBook can be shared or reproduced without the express permission of the publisher.

  To Jade: For daring to be you and not caring what the rest of the world thinks. You rock!

  Chapter One

  Martin Lee didn’t exactly hate his life. He had a good job, a roof over his head… Okay, maybe it was only an apartment over his parents’ garage. Originally he’d shared the space with his younger-by twelve minutes-brother, Emerson, who everyone called Sonny. When they’d turned twenty-one, Sonny had moved out to live with his girlfriend, and in the seven years since then they had married and had two beautiful baby girls.

  Sonny’s wife, Ellen, was always trying to fix Marty up with friends of hers. For the first two months, she’d introduced him to all her single lady friends. When Sonny told her she was wasting her time because Marty batted for the home team, she’d switched to all her male friends. She hadn’t even cared if they were straight or gay. Ellen maintained that one day everything would click into place for him. He would meet that special someone, and he’d know just by looking into their eyes or by the touch of their hand. His brother teased his wife, saying she’d watched Sleepless in Seattle one too many times.

  Now, at twenty-eight years of age, Marty still hadn’t met anyone who he thought might be the one. He’d looked in the usual spots: bars and clubs. He was definitely over the bar scene. All he ever met there were drunks who wanted to grope him. Most of them were women — even in the few gay clubs he had gone to. Marty had even tried a few unconventional places like the grocery store, and again it was a bust. These days he told people he preferred being on his own.

  Maybe if he said it often enough his heart would start to believe it.

  As he stood in front of the hall mirror, he took in the bruised jaw and split lip and shook his head. Last night, while closing up the shop alone, he’d been jumped by some kids who didn’t take kindly to “the fat fucking pervert living in and breathing the same air as they did.” The stupid part was, they didn’t even rob him.

  They got more enjoyment by beating the crap out of him until Mr. Parker from the grocer next door came to his rescue. Lately it was becoming the norm for the shits to beat on him a little. The police had been by so many damn times that he got sick of seeing them; they probably felt the same way about him.

  A quick glimpse at his watch told him it was time to go.

  Grabbing his keys from the table by the door, he raced carefully down the stairs, not wanting to go ass up in the snow, and yelled for his mother to shake her caboose if they were going to get to work on time. His parents owned the small diner where they all worked. His dad and brother had the opening shift this week, which meant he didn’t have to get up at the ass-crack of dawn.

  Though his job wasn’t all roses, it did mean he would be stuck there until the café closed at ten pm. Until they hired another person he’d be closing up alone, though Sonny said he would help out when he could.

  His mother poked her tongue out at him as she locked up the house and climbed into the front passenger seat. “So, do you think your admirer will have been back today?”

  “Ma, he isn’t my admirer. Casey’s a quiet guy who comes in for a good feed.”

 
While he concentrated on backing out of the yard and onto the street, Marty bit back the smile threatening to spread across his face. The mere thought of the gorgeous young goth man who came at least once a week to eat at their diner sent a warm tingle racing over his skin. Too many times Marty had started to strike up a conversation, only to lose his nerve before the words left this throat. Quite often this left him feeling and looking like a complete idiot.

  “Your dad thinks he could be a weirdo. Maybe we should ask him to eat elsewhere.”

  Marty snorted in disbelief. “Ma, he hasn’t really done anything except eat. He pays his bill and never makes trouble. What logical reason could you give to ask him not to come back? Last I heard it wasn’t illegal to dress like a goth.”

  “We’ll see. Your dad’s keeping an eye on him anyway.” She looked at him sideways, “Your brother thinks he only comes in because of you.”

  “Ha!” Marty blurted. “Ma, look at me. I’m not exactly the type of guy men are interested in. I can guarantee it’s safe to say he isn’t coming to the restaurant to see me. Maybe he’s interested in Cherie or Karen. Or maybe he’s heard we have a budding star pastry chef in our employ now that Sonny’s the Clayton’s Bay Pie and Pastry Bake-Off champion.”

  His mother chuckled. “Maybe, but if he was then he would be nearly the only one. I heard from Cherie’s mother the other day that Carmichael’s Bakery is still claiming we cheated somehow.”

  Marty snorted. “Sonny would never cheat. He takes his baking seriously; sometimes a little too seriously if you ask me.”

  “Don’t say mean things about your brother. You may need him one day.”

  “Yeah, I’ll need him to look after you and Dad when you’re both old and feeble.” He cracked up laughing when his mother hit him and tried unsuccessfully to mask her own laughter.

  Once they quieted down, they drove the rest of the way in silence, but Marty knew his mother would eventually come back and talk more about his self-esteem. They would end up having a huge family conference over it. His family thought they all had the right to weigh in and decide for him what needed to be done.

  They never would think of him as a grown man, not even Sonny, who was the exact same age as he was. Marty smiled to himself.

  He loved his family, but sometimes they drove him bonkers.

  His brother and father greeted them as they walked in the door. Marty waved to Cherie and Karen, the two waitstaff who had been hired for the Christmas rush last year and had never been let go. After nearly a year they were more like part of the family. Cherie held up an order pad, waving it in his direction with a big smile on her face.

  “Your boyfriend’s not here yet.” She winked as he playfully snatched the pad from her hands. He glared at his brother who was making kissy noises from near the sandwich press. Sometimes Marty really wished he was an only child. If he and Sonny didn’t look so much alike, he could pretend he was. Some days, even their own parents had a hard time telling them apart, though in all honesty their confusion could be due to Sonny forever pretending he was Marty.

  Plastering a smile on his face, Marty walked out into the dining room and wrapped his apron around his slightly chubby hips.

  Neither he nor Sonny would be considered fat by any means, but they both did sport small pot-bellies. His stomach was probably only a fraction larger than his brother’s. He was asked more than a few times why he didn’t try and lose the weight, and he always smiled and answered by saying he was comfortable with who he was. He didn’t need to try and be what anyone else thought he should be. If people didn’t like him for how he was, then they obviously weren’t real friends.

  “Back again, Casey?” Marty smiled at the young man and subject of his earlier thoughts as he walked through the front door dressed from head to foot in black. Just looking at Casey screamed the word goth! Really, Casey had perfected the look.

  His make-up was as flawless as ever, and weirdly Marty was kind of drawn to the younger guy. He was quiet, polite, and always ordered the exact same thing without fail: a chicken and vegetable pie and a cup of green tea.

  “Are you going to have your usual or try something new today? Maybe you would like to try the new dish Sonny’s working on for the next round of the Clayton’s Bay Bake-Off. “ Marty smiled as he walked Casey to the table he’d come to think of as belonging to the shy young man. He didn’t come in every day but did so often enough that the customers who frequented Papa Lee’s café left the table vacant until it was past the time Casey would usually have shown up by.

  Not one word passed Casey’s lips as he took his seat, and Marty waited in anticipation of meeting those baby blue eyes.

  The slow rise of Casey’s gaze as it worked its way up to his face, the effect those soulful eyes had on Marty’s body was amazing, but there was no way in hell a guy like Casey even leaned in his direction where sex was concerned. Marty wasn’t stupid; he saw on numerous occasions how women reacted to Casey. The funny thing was, he never actually saw Casey noticing them back.

  Sonny and the rest of the staff had been teasing him for the last year about the crush he had on the scary goth. Not that Casey was actually scary in any way at all; he was just quiet. Marty didn’t quite know how to explain what he was feeling. He wasn’t in love with Casey — he simply found him absolutely fascinating to look at.

  Casey’s gaze zeroed in on his split lip, and his eyes narrowed.

  “You’re hurt.”

  Marty froze. For the first time ever, Casey was initiating contact. His slender hand came up, and his fingertips skated over the obvious swelling.

  “It’s nothing,” Marty automatically took a step back and put some distance between them. The blush creeping up Casey’s cheeks stopped him from moving away any further. He could have kicked his own ass for the stupid reaction he had, but if he didn’t move away he would have leaned further into the touch.

  “I-I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you.” He stammered as his hand dropped back down to his lap. “I’ll just have my usual please.”

  Crap! How could he have screwed up this badly?

  Frustrated and angry at himself, Marty abruptly turned away and made his way toward the kitchen. As he knew they would, his mother and Cherie had been peeking around the partition from the kitchen to the dining room. His mother had a frown marring her face, and he knew she had witnessed what had happened. Of course she had. After all, she had been spying on him.

  “What did you do to upset that poor boy? He looks like someone stole his car and then ran over his dog with it.” She slapped his arm as he passed her.

  “I didn’t do anything, Ma.” He smiled when he saw his brother already had Casey’s lunch prepared. His dad had added a huge pile of freshly cooked fries on the side. By the time he picked up the plate and walked back into the front room his mother had the green tea organized. He chuckled softly; Yes, his Dad was so going to ask Casey not to come back. His family might think they were gonna do stuff, but one sad look from goth boy and they melted like a big tub of butter left out too long. By the size of the meal he was delivering, they could have been mistaken for wanting to actually adopt Casey into the family.

  When Marty placed the plate in front of Casey he could see the confusion in the other man’s eyes. “I didn’t order all of this.”

  His eyes grew even wider when Cherie stopped by and dropped of a thick slice of chocolate cake. “What’s going on?”

  Marty found it was his turn to blush as he tried to explain. “I think my family has decided I need to apologize for my earlier reaction when you touched me.” He cringed inwardly. “That really didn’t come out sounding like I wanted it to. What I meant was, I’m sorry for embarrassing you earlier. It was rude, and I regret my reaction.”

  “I shouldn’t have touched you without asking.” Casey gestured to the vacant chair on the opposite side of the table. “Do you have time to sit for a moment?”

  Marty looked around the quarter-filled room and knew his family c
ould easily cover his tables. “Sure, let me grab a coffee, and I’ll be back.”

  The palms of his hands began to sweat as he crossed the room and ordered a flat white. His mother looked at him questioningly, but he couldn’t find anything to say. If he was honest with himself, he wasn’t really sure what was happening. Was Casey hitting on him, or was he merely lonely? Or sadder yet, maybe he was only humoring him because Marty had told him his family witnessed it all.

  “Holy shit!” Casey whispered. He couldn’t believe he finally had the balls to talk to the guy who waited tables at his favorite café. Thirteen months he had been coming to spend a little bit of time relaxing and studying the most stunning man he had laid eyes on in a very long time. He had covertly watched Marty and had come to the conclusion the man didn’t even understand how beautiful he actually appeared to other people. Marty had one of the most brilliant smiles he had ever seen. When he smiled, the dimple in his left cheek really stood out. That dimple was a way he could tell the two brothers apart. Where Marty had one dimple, his brother Sonny had two.

  His leg started jangling beneath the table and was a sure sign he was very nervous. The very first time he came into Papa Lee’s, he had done it merely to get out of the snow and cold and the smell of baked goods called to his senses. He never had much money, but he made sure he always had enough to buy the cheapest thing on the menu, a chicken and vegetable pie with a cup of green tea. He had taken it as an omen and had since always ordered the same thing. It turned out the pie had been one of Sonny Lee’s new creations. He was practicing for some big bake-off later in the year and was testing his recipes out on the customers. Even after a year, money was still tighter than he’d have liked, but he made sure he had enough to come and eat here at least once a week — twice if he could manage it. This place had kind of become his new home, mainly for the fact it was a family-run business, and he liked watching the interaction between the Lees and the staff.

  Casey missed his family — most of the time, but going home was no longer an option for him. His stepmother had forbidden his presence in the house in case his “deviant ways” rubbed off on his younger stepsiblings. At nineteen, he had taken a new name. Born Kevin Chambers, he had been given his new name by a homeless man. Abe had said Kevin Chambers was too long to remember and had renamed him KC, his initials, which had somehow morphed into Casey — no last name required, and that was the way he liked it.