Pat Henshaw has a new MM holiday romance out: “Making the Holidays Happy Again.”
Blacksmith Butch has secretly loved his best friend, science nerd Jimmy, since grade school. Now their shops in Old Town Seven Winds, California, are only doors from each other.
They’re about to turn thirty, and Butch refuses to wait another day to make a decision: propose to Jimmy and start the family he’s always wanted or forget his dream to avoid risking their friendship.
Why can’t the choice be as easy as creating decorative ironwork in his forge?
“Hey, you must be Butch. I’m Jax.”
I took his hand, and we had a short, friendly, grip-strength match. I won. Which was sure good since I figured he musta been looking for a job. He had that aiming to please attitude.
“I saw your ad.”
Bingo.
“Nice to meet ya, Jax.” I gestured toward my office. “How about we go in my office to talk? I need to keep an eye on the door. In case of people.”
We talked over his experience. The more he talked, the more I wanted to hire him.
With him here, I’d be able to have some time off. Time when I could get a life. Like maybe not a love life, but at least more of a sex life. Not that I told him any of why it’d be good to have him or somebody like him and a store manager.
“Only other thing you need to know is that some blowout holidays are about to happen for the rest of this year. I’m trying something new in the shop. I wanna come up with something kids can do. Like a craft or something while their parents shop. So if you got any ideas, I’m open.”
“What? You’re really hiring me?”
“Maybe. Probably. First, I gotta see you make a couple a things. Why don’t you start with something small, like a metal cuff or some other piece of jewelry that you think we could sell here in the shop.”
“Now?” He sounded surprised.
He thought I’d hire somebody without seeing how he worked? Not likely.
“Yeah, now. You got somewhere you gotta be?”
He looked down at his jeans and sneakers, then back up to me.
“Nope. Show me which tools I can use.”
We walked back into the forge area. I outfitted him with my biggest apron and longest gloves since he wasn’t dressed to work but to interview. I wasn’t going to let him get burnt just cuz he hadn’t come ready to work.
Jax was finishing up a little after noon when Jimmy walked in. “Okay, I have something I want you to try….” Jimmy stopped a couple of steps inside the door and stared at Jax. “Well, who do we have here?”
I barked out a laugh as Jimmy walked toward us all excited. He was staring at Jax, which meant he probably had another crush, which meant another heartbreak, which meant I’d have to talk him down from gloom and doom. Sometimes I wanted to shake him.
“Uh, Jimmy, this is Jax. He wants to work here. Jax, Jimmy.”
Hot, sweaty Jax stood up like he’d gotten a shot of life. He pulled off a glove and left the jewelry he’d been making on the anvil.
“Hello there. Jim? May I call you Jim?” He reached out a hand, and Jimmy smiled his ball-busting grin.
Jax’s eyes lit up as Jimmy shook his hand. No grip-strength competition here. More of slow reeling in on Jax’s part. A couple of steps closer to Jax, Jimmy took a deep breath.
I sniffed too but could only smell the stench of Jax’s sweat mixed with the wood fire and metal. Jax was ripe. I wrinkled my nose.
Jimmy sighed as his exhaled. I stepped up to them, glanced down at their clasped hands, and cleared my throat.
“Jax here was about to show me what he made.” I looked at the bottle Jimmy was carrying. “Whatcha got?”
Jimmy peered down at the bottle and seemed to come out of his haze.
“Oh, uh, I made this for you. For your hands.” He shoved it toward me. I took it before it dropped and there was broken glass all over.
I watched him and Jax finally end the handshake. Jimmy didn’t seem like he was going to tell me nothing about what was in the bottle. I put it down and watched the train wreck happen.
“So,” Jimmy purred, “you’ll be working with Butch?”
He wasn’t asking me. I didn’t say nothing. I did want to punch him in the arm and yell, “Don’t you ever learn?” but I didn’t. It made me a little sick seeing him set himself up for another fall. But what the hell could I do?
While I was away in my head, they’d started getting to know each other. Jimmy was explaining about his shop Myrrh & More, and Jax bragged about stuff on his resume.
How he’d been to farrier’s school and got his certificate. How he’d worked on a ranch for a while. And how he wanted to settle down now that his folks were getting old and they’d bought a place outside town here.
Blah, blah, blah. Did Jimmy think this kind of bullshit was charming? I couldn’t tell. Why didn’t he like everyday old conversation like me and him had better? Maybe I wasn’t cut out for getting somebody to like me.
Suddenly, they stopped chatting and were looking at me like I was supposed to say something.
“What?”
Jax smirked and coughed to hide his laugh.
Jimmy touched my forearm, something he doesn’t do enough of, far as I’m concerned.
“We were talking about going to get some lunch and a beer. You’re coming with us.” His eyes lit up like every other time I watched him fall for some big ape of a guy.
“Yeah. Sure. We’ll meet you at the pub after Jax shows me what he made and we finish up some paperwork.” I laid my hand over Jimmy’s. He felt warm and comfortable. I sighed. We were still friends. At least I had something.
“So you really are hiring me?” Jax sounded way too excited considering the job was going to be pretty easy after his other ones. Not to mention a total waste of his certificate.
“We’ll see. Probably. What’d you make?”
Jimmy’s hand slipped away. He waved at us from the doorway. He hadn’t explained what I was supposed to do with the stuff he’d brought me, so I put it away in my office for later.
Pat Henshaw:
- Is a she, not a he.
- Writes MM romances.
- Has interviewed Arlo Guthrie, Big Bird, Fred Rogers, Liberace, and Vincent Price.
- Has lived and worked on all three US coasts and in the middle of the country, too.
- Has been a reviewer, costumer, librarian, and teacher.
- Has ridden an elephant, touched the pyramids, and stood at the edge of a volcano.
- Believes love is essential to everyone’s happiness.
She wants you to remember: Every day is a good day for romance!
Author Website: http://www.pathenshaw.com
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Author Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/e/B00BPDEDEA
Thank you for hosting my story! Happy holidays!