Guest Post | Perfect Rows by Holly Day

I’m here as Holly today! Two days ago, you could read a quick announcement about the World Naked Gardening stories we’ve been working on this year. Yesterday, the lovely Nell Iris was on a visit to tell us all about Strike a Pose. Today, I thought I’d talk a little about Perfect Rows.

It’s all Nell and Ally’s fault we’ve written these stories. Nell thought I should write a story for World Naked Gardening Day since I write stories for strange days, and then Ally thought we all should. And here we are, five Naked Gardening stories with various amounts of gardening but all with some nudity in the garden LOL

In Perfect Rows, there is a fair deal of gardening. Grayson has ambitions. He wants to grow enough vegetables not to have to buy any during the summer. Given they have a big garden, it should be doable. 

The problem is Camden.

Cam lives in the house across from Grayson, and they share the garden. Camden is a bit of an arse – quite frankly, he’s a dick – and he has a clear idea of what the garden should look like, and vegetables don’t fit his vision. He wants pretty flowers in perfect rows.

I had a great time writing this one, but I might have allowed Cam to become a bit more of a dick than he needed to be LOL

Blurb: 

Everything would’ve been perfect if Grayson Dawe hadn’t been forced to share his garden with Camden Hensley. Grayson has everything he needs in life – a job, friends, a house he loves, and a garden. He wants to grow enough vegetables to cover his needs over the summer, and he has a plan for how to achieve it. 

 Camden Hensley loves his garden. He loves beautiful flowers in perfect rows, sweet scents and buzzing bees, but his neighbor, Grayson, messes everything up. He mixes vegetables with flowers in the growing beds and is incapable of placing plants in straight lines. And when Cam pulls out the plants growing in the wrong place, Grayson snarls at him. 

 Grayson doesn’t want to fight with Camden, but he’s completely unreasonable. Cam only wants Grayson to stop creating chaos and to grow flowers instead of vegetables. Neither of them is willing to back down, and days in the garden usually end in shouting matches, at least until Grayson realizes he can shut Cam up by kissing him. But will they ever be able to agree about what plants should grow where? 

Buy links: 

Contemporary Gay Romance: 16,427 words 

JMS Books :: Amazon :: books2read.com/PerfectRows 

Excerpt:

Grayson avoided Cam for the rest of the week. He spotted him a couple of times in the garden, not working but wandering around. As long as he didn’t touch Grayson’s beds, he could wander as much as he wanted.
When Friday afternoon came to an end, Ryan suggested they’d go out for a beer. Grayson was going stir-crazy peeking out his windows all the time to see if he could spot Camden, so a beer and to be away from home for some time sounded like a good plan.
He wondered if Camden avoided him since he never wandered while Grayson was outside. He’d spent time in the garden, made plans, written down notes about what should go where, and started new seeds to have plants to fill the gaps as he harvested. A lot was going on, and while he wished he wouldn’t have to eat turnips again in a long, long time he was damn proud of what he’d accomplished. He hadn’t bought one single vegetable for several weeks, and while it irked him Cam had gotten both his carrots and his garlic, he’d make do. He’d sown new carrots, but he’d have to live without garlic, at least until September when he was allowed to buy veggies again.
Life without garlic was no fun, but a challenge was a challenge.
“Are we hitting the pub directly or are we going for the respectable look?”
Grayson grinned at Ryan. Sometimes they stopped for a beer before they headed home for the day, but today he wanted out of his work clothes. “How about a shower and clean clothes, and I’ll buy you dinner.”
“Oh, are you taking me out on a date?” Ryan fluttered his eyelashes.
“Sure, and I expect you to put out.”
Ryan scrunched his nose. “I’m saving myself for marriage.”
Grayson snorted. There had been plenty of women warming Ryan’s bed throughout the years. “I’ll ask your father for your hand then.”
“Ha! That would be the day.” Ryan grinned. “I can almost picture the look on his face.”
Grayson could too. He’d known Ryan’s dad since they were kids, and while he had no problems with Grayson being queer, he wouldn’t want Ryan to be.
“Are you coming by my place when you’re ready?”
Grayson nodded and headed to his car.
Forty-five minutes later, he was ready to go. He’d had a quick shower, had put on his best jeans and a shirt showing off his physique—though, he didn’t expect to meet anyone who’d care—and a black leather jacket. He’d gone as far as to style his hair.
Stepping out through the front door, he came to an abrupt stop. Camden was sitting on the edge of the raised bed with a bucket and a hand rake.
“You can put the weeds in the compost.”
Cam jumped and turned to look at him, then he looked some more. “Wow, you clean up nice, Grayson. Big date?”
He refused to acknowledge the compliment if it was one. “Yeah, I’m taking Ryan out to dinner.”
“Ryan?”
“Yes, Ryan. Problem with that?”
Camden looked stunned but shook his head. “I… eh… didn’t know you were gay. Or is Ryan a woman? Women can be named Ryan too, right?” A flush climbed Cam’s cheeks, and Grayson watched in fascination. Camden was flustered.
He grinned. “You know Ryan Becker. He is a man.”
“Ryan Becker. I had no idea he was… Ah, well… have fun then.” Cam looked away only to frown at the garden bed. “These.” He pointed at the spring onions. “Are they weeds?”
“No, spring onions.”
“Oh. I pulled some up.” He looked into the bucket, and Grayson tried not to growl. They were still a bit too small, but if he didn’t want them in the bed, he could at least eat them.
“It’s your bed.”
Camden frowned at him. “Yeah, but you spent money on seeds, it would be a waste to throw them.”
Grayson agreed.
“I mean I wouldn’t have placed them so irregularly, it’s too easy to mistake them for weeds, but now they’re there.” He shrugged.
“Do you ever see nature grow in perfect rows?”
“If I plant in perfect rows, it’ll grow in perfect rows.”
Grayson pulled in a deep breath and stepped away. Better to leave than fight with Cam.
“Have fun!” Camden smiled at him.
“Don’t wait up.”
“Oh, it’s like that, is it?”
Grayson grinned and shook his head. It wasn’t like that at all.

About Holly Day 

According to Holly Day, no day should go by uncelebrated and all of them deserve a story. If she’ll have the time to write them remains to be seen. She lives in rural Sweden with a husband, four children, more pets than most, and wouldn’t last a day without coffee.  

Holly gets up at the crack of dawn most days of the week to write gay romance stories. She believes in equality in fiction and in real life. Diversity matters. Representation matters. Visibility matters. We can change the world one story at the time.  

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