Food and Books Read online

  Food and Books

  A Torquere Press Single Shot by Drew Zachary

  Garett loved The Other Shelf for a lot of reasons.

  At the top of his list was that the independent bookstore had way more character than the chains. And if any of the guys at work ever heard him talk about a bookstore having character -- hell, about a bookstore at all -- they'd never let him live it down. Which was another reason why he liked the place; he was unlikely to run into any of Saskatoon's finest in the place, and if he did, they'd keep as mum about it as him.

  He loved the fact that there were big, comfortable chairs in every nook and cranny that didn't have books. And, boy, did they have books: two stories of converted house with bookshelves absolutely everywhere.

  They also had the best graphic novel selection in town.

  Garett was a fan.

  Oh, yeah, and the owners were family; Lucy and Roberta had been together for as long as the bookstore had been open. Both eighty if they were a day, they were sprightly, smart as whips and treated their customers like cherished guests. Roberta was an insomniac and the ladies took full advantage of that, the store staying open until midnight most nights.

  That worked great for Garett. He could wrap up a three to eleven shift and come unwind in a big comfy chair, checking out the latest graphic novels the girls had brought in. He was a regular, and Roberta usually brought him a cup of hot chocolate and a sweet and, while she couldn't sell him anything after midnight, she never kicked him out until he was ready to go.

  This Monday night found him the way most Monday nights did, sitting in a big armchair in a back corner, reading Neil Gaiman's latest. It was nearly midnight, but he'd already paid for his books, had a debate with Roberta on the success, or lack thereof, of recent graphic novel to film ventures, and was happily munching on oatmeal raisin cookies.

  It had been a busy, sucky day, but right then, he'd say life was pretty damn good.

  The bell over the door tinkled and someone came in, a cheery voice calling out, "Hello, ladies. Am I too late?"

  Garett lowered his book to check out the newcomer. While he wasn't always the only one there this late at night, he was always curious to see who else was up and about in the late hours of the night.

  The guy was about five-eleven, had short, light-colored hair and a handsome profile. Garett couldn't make out his eye color and he stopped himself as he was about to inventory what the guy was wearing. Christ, leave the job at work already, he told himself.

  "Depends," Roberta was saying, her voice cheerful. "If you're hungry, you'll have to talk to Lucy about finding more cookies. If you want to talk cooking, you'll have to talk to Lucy. If you want a nice cup of tea and the comfortable chair, you're going to have to make friends with our Garett."

  "No to the hungry, thanks. But I'll always talk to Lucy." The voice was deep and flirty, which wasn't terribly unusual. Everyone flirted with Roberta and Lucy, since they were old enough to flirt back and think it was funny. "Is there tea on?"

  "There's always tea on. You go sit. Take this with you."

  In a moment, the man lowered himself into the chair next to Garett, a magazine in his hand. "Hey. You must be their Garett. I'm their Nathan." He had a slow, easy smile.

  Garett reached out a hand across the little table that held his hot chocolate and the remains of a plate of cookies. "Hey. Nice to meet you."

  The handshake he got was nice and firm, the hand soft, but marked with the signs of a few nicks and one mostly healed burn. "Good time of the day for shopping. I'm surprised I haven't... oh, right, my schedule's messed up. It's not Wednesday, is it?"

  "Nope. Monday for another..." Garett glanced at his watch. "Four minutes."

  "Man, I'm going to have to drink my tea fast." Nathan stretched his legs out in front of him and dug in his pocket, trading a twenty-dollar bill for his tea as Roberta appeared. "Here, honey. Thanks for holding the magazine for me."

  "Yes, because we have so many people buying that." Roberta took the money and rolled her eyes. "You just sit and drink your tea. Be happy you're off your feet." She moved away, tutting to herself about boys always being in a rush.

  Nathan smiled at her retreating back. "She's just like my grammy."

  "Yeah? Not mine. Mine was a battleaxe." Scary as hell, she'd been, and tougher than any guy Garett knew.

  "Mine was all about food and tea and talking in the kitchen." Nathan held up the glossy magazine in his hand, a sumptuous meal on the cover. "Maybe that's where I get my tastes from?"

  "That looks pretty fancy. I'm more into action and adventure and sci-fi myself." He held up his novel.

  Nathan looked and then blinked. "Comics?" He shook his head. "Sorry, not comics. I do know better, but... kinda like comics." The magazine opened to a picture, seemingly at random. "This is work. Relaxation is something else altogether. I do like my work, though."

  "Graphic novels and they're a legitimate form of literature." Garett didn't growl, though, he could see Nathan wasn't trying to belittle him. "That's work, eh? That makes you a cook?"

  "That makes me a cook." Nathan nodded and picked up his tea. "A very tired one, at the moment. So, they can really fit a novel's worth of story into one of those?"

  "They sure can. Most of them are more novella length, though." He loved them, had a huge collection at home. "A lot of folks think they're childish, but there are actually far more written for adults than children."

  Nathan's eyebrow went up as he looked at Garett over the rim of his cup. "How adult? Murder and violence and sex and stuff? I can get behind that."

  Garett laughed. "Yeah, actually, some of them can be like that."

  The teacup came down. "Really? Awesome. With pictures?" Nathan grinned hugely and looked around. "Well, the ladies are just getting cooler, aren't they? And here I thought that they'd reached the peak of cool with their corner selection of gay titles. Now they've got pictures." He looked delighted, if a little bemused.

  "Oh, they've got the best graphic novel selection in town and have had since I started coming in here. At first I used to keep up with what was coming out online and asking them to order it for me, but now they pretty much just get it all in. Roberta and Lucy rock." After the mention of the gay titles, Garett had to check Nathan out a little harder. A man wouldn't know that unless he was interested, right?

  "They do, indeed." Nathan stretched out his legs a little more and yawned. "They're open the right hours, they have nice tea, and they put up with me two nights a week after work." He left the magazine closed in his lap and took one of Garett's cookies. "So, you just off work, too? Or up with insomnia?"

  "Off work. I'm with the Saskatoon Police Service. Work the second shift. I usually come in a few times a week -- it's a great way to unwind."

  Nathan nodded and looked him over, very quickly and very casually. "Uh-huh. I'm surprised I haven't run into you. I come in after work on Wednesday and Saturday, but my schedule seems to be changing. The owners fired the head cook and are trying out a bunch of new people; it's wreaking havoc with my time."

  Garett's body tightened a little at being checked out. "Wednesdays and Thursdays are my regular days off and Saturdays are hell -- I usually don't get done with my paperwork in time to come in."

  "Saturdays are hell no matter what your job is -- if it involves people, it sucks. At least I don't have paperwork, though. Just really crabby and demanding guests and a wait staff who want to get out as much as I do, come eleven-thirty." Nathan's gaze swept over Garett again, feet to hair, and then he grinned. "But it's late and Lucy is about to tell us to leave, since Roberta won't."

  Garett knew the ladies wouldn't actually kick him out -- he'd stayed quite late a night or two -- but if Nathan was hinting... well, the man was good
-looking. "You want to continue our conversation back at my place?"

  "Do you have some of those books you can show me?" Nathan didn't look away and his smile grew a bit more. "They sound interesting."

  "Are you asking to see my etchings?" Garett laughed and slipped his book into his bag with the other two he'd paid for earlier.

  "Would it work?" Nathan stood up, still smiling at him, his magazine held loosely in his hand. "Although I might actually be a little curious about the books. A tiny bit."

  "I don't have etchings, but I would be more than happy to show you my graphic novel collection and I've got pop or water in the fridge." He wanted to keep the conversation going, not necessarily jump Nathan's bones. The conversation would tell him if that's where he wanted to go or not. Garett was not into one night quickie pick-ups and meaningless sex. He just wasn't built that way.

  "Fantastic. Nothing with caffeine or I'll be up until dawn." Nathan waved to Roberta and called out, "Thanks, honey. I'll see you later in the week."

  Garett added his own goodbyes and Roberta waved them both off. Garett waited until she'd locked the door and pulled the blind on the window before stepping onto the sidewalk. "I live close enough to walk, but if you've got a car you don't want to leave on the street you can give me a lift."

  Nathan nodded and pointed to the Saturn pulled up close to the store. "That'd be me. Don't mind the mess; she's kind of my storage room."

  Garett raised an eyebrow. "You don't live in the car, do you?" It wasn't exactly a polite question, but he was a cop through and through and he couldn't just stop.

  Nathan stared blankly at him for a long moment. "What? Oh! God, no. I'm a cook, man. We don't make a pile of money. My apartment is tiny and things live in my car until I get around to taking them to the storage place. Jeez."

  "Sorry, man. Questions like that are an occupational hazard, you know?"

  "You got anymore questions you need to ask?" Nathan was grinning at him, teasing. "I'm an open book, promise."

  He ducked his head sheepishly. "Yeah, other stuff'll probably come up. I just can't help myself." And sure enough, he found himself checking to make sure Nathan's mess didn't impede his vision out the back window as he settled in the passenger seat. He managed not to say anything as he did it, though.

  Nathan was chuckling as he buckled up and backed the car out. "Which way? You can look in the glove box, if you want. Nothing in there but a map and my insurance and registration."

  "No, no, I'll take your word for it. Unless you start speeding." He waited a moment and then chuckled. "Just kidding. Mostly."

  "I'll be good." Nathan's eyes rolled. "So. Which way?"

  "It's just down Main street and then around the corner at Bells."

  "Oh, easy. Got it." Nathan drove, pulling out into the street and heading right for Garett's. Given the time of night, there wasn't much traffic at all, and in just a couple of minutes they were there, Garett pointing out which was his place. "I see why you walk to the bookstore," Nathan said as they got out of the car.

  "Yeah, I love living here. It's near to everything." He lived on half of the first floor of an old converted house. It wasn't a huge amount of space, but it was homey and as a single guy, it was all he needed.

  "So, what can I get you to drink?" he asked as he stepped aside and let Nathan in.

  "Just that water would be good, thanks." Nathan was glancing around, toeing off his sneakers. "I really don't want to be up until dawn. Nice place."

  "Thanks. The graphic novels are in the bookshelf across from the fireplace. Feel free to look around while I get your water."

  "Cool, man." If Nathan was disappointed that there hadn't been pouncing as soon as they cleared the door he wasn't showing it. Instead, he went right over to the shelves and crouched down, apparently scanning the titles. "How did you get into these? Follow from comics or did you follow the writers?"

  "I started out with comic books and graduated to the graphic novels from there." He went into his little kitchen and pulled a couple of glasses out of the cupboard, filling them at his water cooler. Nathan was still checking the books out when he returned. He handed over one of the glasses of water and sat on his overstuffed couch.

  "These are kind of neat." Nathan was paging through a Sandman. "Now, if they were about food I'd be all over them." He put the book back and took a drink. "Thanks. So, what else do you do for fun when you're not spending time at the bookstore?"

  "I work out. I play with an indoor soccer league. And I'm a mean hand with the video games." He probably sounded pretty boring, but his job took up a lot of his time and energy, and he really wasn't the clubbing type.

  "Yeah?" There was the look again, Nathan checking him out. "Indoor soccer and working out must play a bigger part than the video games."

  "Hey, I'm a cop -- I have to be fit for my job." He nodded at Nathan. "You're pretty slim for a cook."

  "You get over the 'nibbling as you work' pretty damn fast. Just enough to make sure the flavor is right, and no more." Nathan looked down at himself and shrugged. "Plus, it's an open kitchen and a fixed menu, so things pretty much go by the book, you know? As long as I can keep myself to handling the steak and seafood, and not so much the pasta, I do okay."

  Garett stretched out in his corner of the couch. "You a big pasta fan?"

  "Far too big a pasta fan. Hand rolled pasta and finely made fillings are an art. Sauces are a whole other realm. I mean real stuff, nothing you find in a grocery store." Nathan's eyes grew dreamy. "Of course, I'm not that great at it -- it takes a lot of training to be aces at sauces, but I can hold my own outside a four star setting. I'm just a cook. Not a chef."

  "You like food, though, I can see that. Where do you work?"

  "You can find me five nights a week manning the open flames at On the Side." Nathan inclined his head and grinned. "And some days doing the lunch shift, too."

  "On the Side, wow." Garett had been thinking he could maybe drop in on a day off, but On the Side wasn't exactly cop-salary budget. "You must be pretty good to be working there."

  Nathan shrugged. "I do what I'm told, I'm fast enough to keep orders together, and I can follow instructions from the chef. I know what to do with meat, and I don't swear too loudly when I get a burn." He held up his hand and showed the long shiny mark on the side. "Which happens too often."

  Garett reached out and slid his fingertip gently along the mark. "That must have hurt like an s.o.b." Nathan's skin was nice and warm.

  "At the time, yes." Nathan didn't move his hand away. "Job hazard. It's fine now, just looks funky."

  "Battle scars." Garett grinned. He had one or two himself, but they weren't visible while he had his shirt on. "So you enjoy your job, burns notwithstanding?"

  "Love the cooking, love the people I work with, don't mind the hours. Really, it's kind of a party. I'd like to have a bit more freedom with the menu, but On the Side is a small place. There's not really a budget for experimenting." Nathan looked around and then looked Garett in the eye. "I like to experiment."

  "Yeah? Well, I like to eat, so maybe we can get together sometime..."

  "Do you like it spicy?" Nathan wasn't looking away, and Garett thought that, just maybe, he really was talking about food.

  "I like it a little bit spicy." That maybe held true for whatever they were talking about. "I'm not an expert or anything, but I do all right in the kitchen." His mom had seen to that. He knew some guys though who didn't know how to do anything but run the microwave. Prepared foods got old pretty fast.

  "Awesome. You can give me a hand, then." Nathan smiled at him, his eyes dilating. "Are you going to kiss me before I go?"

  "I... yeah, I'd like to." He put down his drink and leaned over Nathan, eyes on the pretty lips as they got nearer.

  "Thank goodness for that." Nathan murmured the words just before his mouth covered Garett's, gentle and tentative at first, then with a bit more jazz.

  The man tasted of tea and cookies and a hint of something spi
cy. It was nice and Garett closed his eyes, tongue sliding along Nathan's lips.

  A warm hand curled around the back of Garett's neck and Nathan pushed a little bit closer, letting the kiss deepen. "Nice," Nathan whispered between one kiss and the next. "Knew it would be."

  "How?" Garett asked, not really needing an answer, not yet.

  "You weren't all over me as soon as we walked in." Nathan's hand slid a bit higher, his fingers spanning the back of Garett's head. "No hair to pull," he said, laughing.

  "That's exactly why it's as short as it is." Garett laughed and rubbed their noses together. "And I don't believe in anonymous fucks."

  Nathan nodded slowly. "I can't say I've never done that. I can't even say I never, ever will again. But I'm not looking for that, if it's important. I want more." He kissed Garett again, like he wanted to put some space between himself and the words.