C F White [White - Love and Tea Bags

Pride Publishing books by C F White

Responsible Adult

Misdemeanor

Hard Time

Reformed

St. Cross

Wont Feel a Thing

Pink Rock

LOVE & TEA BAGS

C F WHITE

Love & Tea Bags

ISBN # 978-1-78651-795-1

Copyright C F White 2019

Cover Art by Erin Dameron-Hill Copyright July 2019

Interior text design by Claire Siemaszkiewicz

Pride Publishing

This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the authors imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Pride Publishing.

Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Pride Publishing. Unauthorised or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.

The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.

Published in 2019 by Pride Publishing, United Kingdom.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors rights. Purchase only authorised copies.

Pride Publishing is an imprint of Totally Entwined Group Limited.

If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as unsold and destroyed to the publisher and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this stripped book.

Book one in the Pink Rock series

Fate can be written in a tea bag too.

Mark Johnson is hitting his forties and is stuck in a rut.

Hes had the same boring office job for ten years, with no motivation or inclination to change it. The same crumbling house for ten years, with no cash or know-how to fix it. And the same Facebook status for five yearsits complicated. It isnt. Hes single. He just doesnt want to correct it. That would be admitting defeat.

The day a tea bag splats onto his face whilst hes draining the dregs of his morning cuppa at Macys Tea Shoppe is the one that makes him question each of his current life choicesthe tea bag and that the shop is currently being run by one rather friendly, rather hunky, but rather young Australian named Bradley Summers.

Tea has never tasted so good.

Dedication

To Joe.

Who has unfortunately got to grow old with me.

Trademark Acknowledgements

The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

Amazon: Amazon.com, Inc.

Attitude Magazine: Stream Publishing Limited

Barbie: Mattel, Inc.

Barbour: J. Barbour & Sons Ltd.

Bentley: Volkswagen AG

Bishops Finger: Shepherd Neame Ltd

Blue Peter : CBBC HD

Boots: Boots UK Ltd

Born to be Bad : Kim Fowley, Sandy West, Michael Micki Steele

Byker Grove : BBC One

Colgate: Colgate-Palmolive Company

Costa Coffee: Whitbread plc

Countdown : ITV Studios Ltd

CSI : Anthony E. Zuiker

Day of the Triffids : John Wyndham

Doctors : BBC Birmingham

Dukes of Hazzard : Warner Bros. Television

Excel: Microsoft Corporation

Facebook: Facebook, Inc

Friends : Warner Bros. Television

Gay Bar : Tyler Spencer

Getting Jiggy wit It : Samuel Barnes, Bernard Edwards, Joe Robinson, Nile Rodgers, Will Smith

GoggleBox : Channel 4

Google: Google, Inc

H. M. British Tea Colour Chart: Brew Haha! Productions

Harley: Harley-Davidson, Inc.

Havaianas: Alpargatas S.A.I.C.

Hello : Lionel Richie

Hellyers: Hellyers Road Distillery

Holding Out for a Hero : Jim Steinman, Dean Pitchford

Home and Away : Seven Network

Hot in Herre : Cornell Haynes, Jr., Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo, Charles L. Brown

Hotmail: Microsoft Corporation

HSBC: HSBC Holdings plc

Im Sexy and I Know It : Stefan Kendal, Gordy David, Jamahl Listenbee, Erin Beck, George M. Robertson, Kenneth Oliver

Its Raining Men : Paul Jabara, Paul Shaffer

Les Misrables : Victor Hugo

Love, Simon : Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

M&S: Marks and Spencer plc

Miss Piggy: The Walt Disney Company

Neighbours : Seven Network

Red Bull: Red Bull GmbH

Rothmans: Rothmans, Benson & Hedges Inc.

Snapchat: Snap, Inc.

Snow White : The Brothers Grimm

Specsavers: Specsavers Optical Group Ltd

Staples: Staples, Inc.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine : CBS Television Distribution

Star Trek: The Next Generation : CBS Television Distribution

Stomp : Steve McNicholas and Luke Cresswell

Superman : Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

SurveyMonkey: Ryan Finley, Chris Finley

Tannoy: Tannoy Ltd

The Full Monty : Fox Searchlight Pictures Inc.

The Guardian : Scott Trust Limited

The Hobbit : J.R.R. Tolkien

The Matrix : Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

Theres Something About Mary : Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Thermos: Thermos L.L.C.

Top Trumps: Winning Moves USA

Tour De France: Amaury Sport Organisation

Twinings: Associated British Foods plc

Twitter: Twitter, Inc.

Uber: Uber Technologies Inc.

Visa: Visa Inc.

War and Peace : Leo Tolstoy

Y.M.C.A. : Jacques Morali, Victor Willis

YouTube: YouTube, LLC

Chapter One

It Always Starts With Tea

The slurp was loud and rather obnoxious, especially when the man was sipping from one of Marks grandmothers dainty china tea cups that Mark saved for special occasions. Since Mark hadnt had any need for the guest china in quite some time, hed let Grammys cardinal rule slide for the strapping workman clambering up in his loft.

Yup, I see the problem, the workman yelled down the open hatch in Marks landing ceiling that led to the over-cluttered store of stuff that Mark hadnt set foot in forwell, quite some time.

Mark wished he hadnt offered the man a brew. He really hadnt had the time to wait for the kettle to boil, for a start. But hed been brought up well, and one must offer ones tradesmen a cuppa in the hope theyll knock a few quid off the call-out charge. He suspected he would have to delve deep into his already ravine-like pockets, so anything that could be considered mates-rates would really help at this point in his life. Mark wished he did have mates. Ones that were handy, anyway.

Oh, yes? Mark called back, his voice echoing through the square hole in his ceiling. He closed his eyes, for some reason, as if that would soften the blow of what was going to come out of the mans mouth next.

Gonna need coupla new roof tiles, mate. A lotta this stuff is gonna get ruined.

Bugger, Mark muttered into his own mug of piping-hot tea. Well, it was rude not to join the man in a beverage.

What was that? The mans round, if somewhat flushed, face appeared at the hole.

Nothing, nothing. Mark shook his head. He didnt much fancy repeating himself. The man might take it seriously and give him a whack. Or, which would be much worse, not take the job of fixing Marks leaking roof. Thank you. He smiled.

Mark had been told, on occasion, that he had quite a nice smile. One that relaxed people. Mark, however, believed it to be far more useful to allow people to walk all over him. Or pass by him.