All Roads Lead to This: Leads to This, #1

By Kay Claire

Cedric and Rueben have been best friends since sixth grade, and cannot imagine life without each other - Cedric was there for Rueben when he came out to his family, and Rueben was there for Cedric through every step of his transition. 

 

Now, both twenty-four and working at the same plant shop, their boss gets an opportunity to receive some extremely rare plants she's wanted for years, except there's a problem: the plants need to be collected in person from across the country, and she cannot make the journey herself. Rueben, ever helpful, is quick to volunteer him and Cedric to travel across the country in her place. 

 

Cedric is apprehensive about the trip, both because he hates sudden changes to his routine, and because he may or may not have a few secrets he hasn't told Rueben about. Secrets like the fact that he might be in love with his best friend...

 

All Roads Lead to This is a low angst HEA m/m romance that involves a road trip across South Africa, sharing a bed, heavy pinning, and childhood friends to lovers tropes. This book is part of a shared-universe romance series, but each book can be read as a stand-alone. Roughly 85,000 words long. The book contains adult content.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kayworx
• Release date: Nov 2, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201440886

Kay Claire

Kay Claire is an illustrator, comic creator and author from Cape Town, South Africa. When not doing art or writing they spend most of their waking hours reading, baking, looking after their plants and taking their dog for walks. If you enjoyed their books you might enjoy their ongoing webcomic Until Sunset, a contemporary fantasy romance available to read for free on Tapas and Webtoons, or as a PDF download on their GumRoad and Patreon. You can find all of Kay Claire’s social media sites here kayworx.carrd.co/ And if you’d like to see the art they’ve drawn of the characters from ARLTT, you can find that here leads-to-this-book.carrd.co/

Book preview

ROUTE MAP

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CHAPTER ONE

Rueben

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FRIDAY, CAPE TOWN

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The bell above the door tinkled merrily as I pushed my way into the shop.

Normally people hate the place they work, especially if they work retail like I do, but Botanique was honestly one of my favourite places in the world. Although there were definitely days where I wished my job didn’t involve having to talk to customers, I enjoyed my daily tasks, the people I worked with, and the general ambiance of the beautiful shop floor.

Botanique was a plant shop in the Cape Town CBD that specialized in indoor plants. It was a small business on the corner of an office block – a brightly lit space completely chock-a-block full of indoor plants, plant pots and stands, and plant-related art. Walking into the space was like walking straight into a jungle – if that jungle had brightly coloured ceramic tiles on the floor, wooden furniture, and exposed brick walls.

Morning, Marshal! I called out to the man behind the counter as I used the hand-sanitizer dispenser next to the front door. How are you today?

Marshal looked up and smiled his big bright smile at me. Morning, Rueben! I’m good. How are you?

Marshal was the manager of the store, and had worked in almost every big-chain plant nursery in the area over the course of the past 20 years before Gwen, the owner of Botanique, had snatched him up and made him a manager here.

He was a Xhosa man from the Eastern Cape with a calm disposition and an attractive, kind face that broke into a smile frequently and often, with laugh lines around his warm dark eyes. He kept his hair shorn close to his head, and had a small gap between his front teeth, which was on full display right now.

"I am fantastic! It’s going to be a good day today, Marshal." ducked under a huge hanging philodendron and joined him behind the counter, pulling my messenger bag off from around my neck and stowing it under my cash register.

Marshal gave me a fondly exasperated look – I knew it well. You say that every day, Rueben.

And I mean it every day! I grinned. Have you cashed my register yet?

Yes, all the registers are done, after I finish this one.  Marshal neatened up the stack of notes he’d been counting and started sorting them into the drawer before him. If you want to make yourself useful you can go get the papers from Cedric to do the final check on inventory. We need to get that done before we open shop today.

I immediately perked up. Cedric’s here already?

Marshal gave me an amused look – I knew this look very well, too. Yes, Gwen asked him to come in early to get the inventory stuff sorted out.

Oh? He hadn’t mentioned that to me. I looked towards his office, as if I would be able to magically sense him now that I knew he was here. Well, okay, I’ll just go get the papers.

You do that. Marshal said, shaking his head.

I quickly headed over to the door behind the counter that led to the bathroom, supply closet, small kitchen/staff area and Gwen and Cedric's respective offices. I stopped into the staff room to grab my uniform (an olive-brown apron that I wore over my dark jeans and plain t-shirt) and washed my hands in the bathroom before I pulled my mask off and headed further down the corridor towards the offices. The second door, with the name plate Cedric Venner stood open, and I took a moment to knock on the door frame as I peaked around it.

If you'd told me you had to come in early today I would have given you a lift!

Cedric looked up from his computer and smiled. I'd known him since we were both in first grade, though we hadn't actually become friends until the sixth. Back then he'd looked completely different, and had been an awkward and shy kid. While he was still sometimes awkward and shy, he had definitely grown into himself.

He had a lean build and an average height, though only an inch or two shorter than I was, and had a pale complexion that bloomed into a splotchy red blush when he was embarrassed. In the past few months he'd been sporting long-ish hair that he usually pushed back into a coif that would end up falling into his face before the end of the day. He’d also been dying his hair all sorts of bright colours recently, though currently it was just dyed a pale blonde, with two-centimetres of untouched regrowth showing off his natural dark blonde hair. The style was messy and got in his way constantly, but it suited him.

We've had this discussion before - you live closer to the shop than I do, so it makes no sense for you to go out of your way to fetch me. Besides, Seb had to come into town early for a meeting, so he gave me a lift.

Seb was one of Cedric's four roommates. He was a sweet guy, though shy beyond belief. I hadn’t been able to crack his shell and become his friend yet, but I knew I’d eventually manage it if I kept persisting.

I walked into the office and perched on the corner of Cedric's desk - he always made sure not to put anything in this particular corner, because he knew I'd purposefully either sit on it or knock it off. Out of the way or not, if you ever needed me, I'd be there first thing. 

He smiled up at me, a warm smile that said he knew how sincerely I meant it. Yeah. I know.

We shared a smile before he tore his gaze away from me, looking back at his desk. Okay! Gwen said yesterday they went over all the stock, but they wanted to double check it this morning. I'm guessing that's why you're here annoying me.

Hey, I protested, "I'll have you know that I am a fucking delight, thank you very much."

Hm-Hmm. he hummed in response, somehow making the sound both condescending and sarcastic. Sure you are. Ah, here it is! he pulled some papers out of his printer tray and flourished them at me. There we go! Mark off any discrepancies, will you? 

I tsked, taking the papers from him. Oh, boy, do you think I can do that? I've only been working here for two whole years, I don't know if I can handle so much responsibility... 

Cedric rolled his eyes, pushing me off his desk, but he was smiling. Fuck off and do your job, Rueb. You idiot. 

I know you love me. I quickly moved forward and tousled up his hair. He pushed me away in annoyance. 

Jesus Christ, Rueben, you said you'd stop doing that! he yelled, running a hand through his hair to try and fix it.

I just snickered, backing slowly towards the door. Oh, did I? I can't remember ever saying that... Okay, bye!

I turned quickly and scurried away before he'd have a chance to retaliate. Or throw his stapler at me.

Again. 

But, hey, what was the point of being someone's best friend if you couldn't annoy the living shit out of them, right? 

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I’d just finished taking stock of the main room when Gwen walked in from the back.

Rueben! Good morning. How’s the stock taking going? Any discrepancies?

Morning Gwen! I called back, marking off my last count before turning to smile at her. Gwen was the owner of the shop. She was a red-headed white  woman in her late fifties that dressed like Lily Tomlin’s character in Grace and Frankie – lots of loose-fitting long, billowy pieces with chunky jewellery and comfortable shoes. "Everything has been right so far, but one of the Rhaphidophora seems to be missing."

What? Gwen frowned for a moment before she snapped her fingers. You know what, Riley borrowed one for the showroom yesterday, and I must have forgotten to mark it down.

Riley was her oldest daughter and business partner. They ran three permanent shops together – this one in the CBD, one in Tamboerskloof that worked more as a showroom and event space, and a permanent stall at a farmer’s market in Stellenbosch that was only open on weekends.

Oh, fantastic. I responded, quickly adding an asterisk to that tab.

Are you nearly done? How much do you have left? She asked, coming forward to look at the list over my shoulder.

I’m done in here, I just need to do the rare room.

Great. Well, you have half an hour until opening time, so be quick about it! she winked at me.

She turned to head back to her office before pausing, turning back to me again. Oh, I wanted to— she stopped when the phone in her office started ringing, gave me an apologetic grimace-smile, and turned to leave again.

I went back to work, pulling out the key I kept on a pull string attached to my apron and headed to the back of the shop.

Both Cedric and I had been working at the shop since November of 2019, and this month was our two year anniversary of working here. It’d been hard going for a while last year, especially in the early months when all businesses in the country were lockdown. Cedric’s work in digital marketing and ecommerce were invaluable during that time, and Gwen had been kind enough to give me the job of photographing all stock to put on the website and our social media.

And we were in the right business for pandemic buys, too. There had been a big  boom in indoor plants sales in the past two years, and while it meant business was doing good, it also meant the shop now had a lot more competition than it did when we first started working here. Except our shop had an edge on all the competition in one very specific, very lucrative market.

Botanique was unique in that we were the only plant shop in the city with a special section dedicated only to rare plants. And I mean rare rare plants.

The last quarter of space in the store was closed off from the rest, with a glass wall and a door that had a sign that proclaimed no entry without staff supervision. We kept this section locked at all times, though through the glass you could see what was in this exclusive space – well, when it wasn’t completely fogged up with condensation.

I unlocked the door and headed inside quickly, aware that opening time was quickly approaching. As I stepped in I was immediately hit with a wall of humidity. While we regulate the climate in the rest of the shop to keep the plants happy, we did try to keep that section at a comfortable level for all our customers, so they didn’t leave the shop sweating buckets. The plants in this room, on the other hand, were number one priority, so anyone interested in looking at these plants just had to suffer the greenhouse conditions.

Along each wall of this room were three wooden shelves lined with an irrigation system that misted the plants on a timer, and a big table in the middle of the room with three metal rods above it that the hanging plants were hooked onto.

Every single shelf, the table and most of the floor space was covered with plants, and some of the hanging plants had tailing vines that almost touched the floor, too. There were plants of all shapes and sizes in here, with one thousand rand being the starting price for any of them, though the prices rose exponentially from there. Some of these plants cost more than my weekly wage.

3 Philodendron Dark Lord. Check.

1 Philodendron "El Choco Red’. Check.

2 Anthurium Regale. Check.

6 Alocasia Bisma. Check.

I went through the whole list efficiently, checking off every plant, while giving them a quick look-over to see if any of them had developed any pests or signs of root rot since the last time I was in here. When I got to the end of the list without any stock discrepancies or signs of problems I let out a relieved sigh, rolling my shoulders to release tension.

Thank God. I don’t even know what I’d do if one of these things had gone missing.

I quickly left the room, locking it behind me. Marshal was behind the counter, giving it one last wipe down with sanitizer before opening, his black mask now covering the lower half of his face. All good?

All good! I beamed back, waving the clipboard in the air. I'm going to take these back to Cedric quickly.

Marshal shook his head, wagging a finger at me. Five minutes until opening, Rueben. Don't get distracted. And don't distract Cedric.

I drew a cross over my heart. I promise! I sang out, before rushing through the back door.

I ended up back at my register fifteen minutes later, ten minutes late for opening.

It was worth it.

CHAPTER TWO

Cedric

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FRIDAY, CAPE TOWN

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I read the email in front of me and sighed, sipping on my green tea. This was the fourth email we'd gotten this week asking why our online store was down, even though we'd been warning people on all our social media and the email list for weeks that the site would be down for construction for the next two weeks.

And yet. 

I clicked reply and started typing up the same polite response I had given that last three people that had made the same inquiry. Maybe I should just create a copy paste document...

I loved my job at Botanique. Two years ago, when Rueben had sent me a WhatsApp message with the vacancy listing and a bunch of exclamations under it I had thought it'd been too good to be true. 

Rueben and I had been best friends for 12 years, and we had a lot of things in common - maybe not in appearance or in personality, but in interests and hobbies. We liked the same kinds of movies, so we always went to watch new releases at the cinema together. We liked the same kind of books, so we'd always read books and then swap them so we could talk about them together afterwards, and around the time of the job vacancies at Botanique we had both recently gotten into owning house plants. 

At the time I had been finishing up my course on marketing and ecommerce management, and was looking for a job to start straight after graduating. Something that wouldn’t have me stuck in a corporate job, sitting in a tiny cubicle with no natural light if I could help it. One of the job openings advertised at Botanique at the time was for a manager of their website, so it was the perfect fit for me. The other job being advertised was a sales position, and, well, Rueben was so charismatic he could sell ice to a polar bear.

We’d both applied, me with very little hope in us getting through, Rueben with complete faith that there was no way we’d fail. And once again Rueben’s unwavering optimism had pulled through.

Two years later and we were still working here, and still happy as could be. Well, at least I was, anyway. I couldn’t speak for how Rueben felt.

I loved my job. I loved our boss, Gwen, who was fair and friendly and paid us well. I loved everyone that worked here – Rueben, naturally, and Marshal, the store manager. There was also Claudette, the cleaning lady; Margaret and Kelebogile, the other two sales people, who rotated shifts with Rueben; Clive and Phil, the two employees that helped with packaging web orders and prepping plants for delivery; and Riley, Gwen’s daughter and business partner. The employees at the other two locations were pretty great, too.

I loved going out to the shop floor and sitting behind the counter during my breaks. The shop was beautiful, and being around so many plants always made me feel light and happy. I also enjoyed watching Rueben work. He was really good with customers – he could make friends with just about anyone, and calm an angry customer in three minutes flat.

I might not be as successful or making as much money as some of the people I went to college with, and I might have been living in a house share with four other people, but I was happy.

The only aspect of my life I wasn’t happy with was my love life.

I sighed at the thought, pushing it away for later reflection. I was almost finished typing up the email to the client when I heard a loud shriek from the office next to mine.

I was on high alert immediately, dropping what I was doing to run to Gwen's office, my mind going to all the things that could be wrong. A break in? A giant spider? A sudden torrential leak from a burst pipe in the ceiling? 

I ran and flung the door to her office open, only to find my boss... 

... Dancing behind her desk? 

I watched in dazed confusion. I had absolutely no idea what was going on here.

Gwen turned around and finally noticed me, but instead of being embarrassed the smile on her face grew huge, and she threw her hands out wide. Cedric! she cried, coming up and pulling me into a tight hug. 

I wheezed in surprise, but found it in me to raise an arm and pat her on the back. Um. What is—? 

A shadow fell over the doorway. I looked up to see Rueben looking alarmed and frantic, but when he took in the scene before him he relaxed, a grin pulling over his face.

Oh! What's happening here? Group hug? And without further questioning he moved forward and hugged me from behind. 

Well, fuck. 

Being stuck in a three-way hug between my boss and my best friend was not where I expected the day to go. 

I stayed still for a long moment, stuck between the two of them, until Gwen gave me a hard squeeze that had me wheezing.

Uh. I managed to get out, "As... Fun as this is, can we let go of Cedric now? I can't feel my ribs."

Rueben let me go straight away, giving a quick sorry! but Gwen took a little longer, and when she did pull away she kept her hands on my person, gripping my upper arms tightly. She was still smiling like a loon.

She turned and seemed to see Rueben for the first time, and her grin somehow turned even bigger.

"Oh, boys! You'll never guess what just happened! I've been on the phone with Christiaan from Orchids By Nature for the past hour, and he's finally agreed to give us a matching set of Anthurium Warocqueanum and Anthurium Veitchii!"

My jaw dropped. What? Seriously?

Next to me Rueben let out a soft but emphatic whoa. 

Orchids By Nature was a greenhouse in KwaZulu-Natal that specialised in orchids, but also had a huge collection of very rare aroids – one of the best collections in the whole country. Gwen had a very good working relationship with the owner, Christiaan du Toit, and often got whole-sale deals from him. She’d been trying to get an Anthurium Veitchii and a Anthurium Warocqueanum, more commonly known as the King and Queen Anthuriums, from him for ages, as they were two of the rarest plants on the market.   

My boss beamed. I know! It's very exciting! 

She finally let go of my arms (thank God, because I was starting to worry for my circulation), and moved back to her desk. She sat down and looked at her computer screen before biting her lip. The only problem is, is that Christiaan is an old fuddy-duddy and he doesn't believe in using courier companies. Which usually wouldn't be a problem, because Riley and I would, under normal conditions, make the trip up to collect everything ourselves. Except Riley is eight and a half months pregnant, and... 

...And you wouldn't want to make the trip yourself and risk missing out on the birth of your first grandbaby. I finished for her. 

Gwen looked up and nodded at me, biting her lip. And I want to go and fetch these plants as soon as possible, before he gets an offer from a private collector that is way better than ours. 

I nodded slowly. The plant world was notorious for that sort of thing. I racked my brain, trying to think up some sort of solution, when, from behind me–

We could go get it.

Huh? 

I turned to look at Rueben in confusion, but he was looking at Gwen. Cedric and I could go fetch them for you. 

Say what now?

I looked back to Gwen, thinking that surely she thought that was a terrible idea, but she was nodding slowly, an excited gleam in her eyes. That could definitely work. I wouldn’t want to send just one person, because it wouldn’t be safe to travel that far alone, and both of you know how to drive and don’t have any immediate family that are dependent on you.

Rueben nodded. And the online store is currently closed, so Cedric won’t be needed as much as he normally would. And you could get Marge or Kele to do my shifts, I’m sure they'll be more than happy for the extra pay.

Gwen nodded along enthusiastically. This could definitely work. I can lend you guys the company bakkie, so you’ll have plenty of space in the back for the plants. Plus, and no offense, Rueben, but at least I know the bakkie can get you to and from KwaZulu Natal in one piece, I don’t really trust your car–

Rueben shrugged. That’s fair.

Rueben’s car was an old piece of junk.

–and you can take the company credit card to pay for gas, meals, and accommodation. That’s only fair. She looked up at us and beamed. Seems like it’s all sorted out!

I stood there, gobsmacked, as she looked at me for some kind of confirmation. I looked over at Rueben, who looked back at me, a small smile on his face. I knew that face. It said "well, Cedric, the ball’s in your court. What do you want to do?"

I looked back at Gwen. Well, I said faintly, against my better judgement, when do we leave?

CHAPTER THREE

Rueben

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FRIDAY, CAPE TOWN

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This is so exciting! We finally get to go on a trip somewhere together! 

We were sitting out in the shop at a set of table and chairs near the entrance that Riley had put out to show what the plants would look like around furniture! Not many customers actually ever sat here, unless they were friends or family members who weren't interested in plants themselves, but Gwen liked to use this table to talk to potential business partners or hold interviews. Gwen had given Cedric and me permission to sit out here and go over the plans for our trip, though I had to be on the lookout for any customers that might need my help. 

Since there weren’t any customers in the store at the moment we’d both taken off our masks, so I could see Cedric’s unimpressed expression in all its glory. "We're not going on a trip, Rueben. This is for work." 

"Well, yeah. It's a work trip, obviously." I waved it away, but then took a moment to study him. He had some tension in his shoulders, and a slight furrow between his eyebrows as he looked down at his tablet, and... 

Fuck. 

Wait, are you mad at me? I asked, confused. He looked up at me, startled, before pinching his lips in a thin line and looking away again. Shit, you are!

I put my hand over his on the table. Are you mad because I volunteered us for this trip without asking you about it first? When he said nothing, his mouth going even thinner, I cursed. Shit. I'm so sorry. I just saw the opportunity to help Gwen out, and I thought it'd be really fun for us to do it together. I squeezed his hand. Remember how we'd always said in high school that one day we'd go on a road trip together, but it never happened? I guess I got excited at the opportunity, but I can tell Gwen something came up with my Ouma to get us out of it, if we have to.

Cedric looked at me for a long moment before he sighed, his free hand coming up to rub at his temples. "No, don't do that. You were both right, we are the best candidates to go, and it wouldn't be fair to back out now."

I bit my lip. But we can't force you into doing something you don't want to do.

Cedric sighed again. This time I could see all the tension leaving his body in that exhale. No, you know me; I just don't like sudden changes. I'm overreacting. He looked up and smiled at me. It'll be fun.

I grinned at him, relieved. "It will be fun, I promise! We can make a playlist with all our favourite music, and

Reviews for All Roads Lead to This

[Jana · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I absolutley loved the absolute cheesy-ness throughout the book, it was so natural and heartwarming. This riends-to-lovers story is really just amazing!

[Morgane · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Childhood best friends to lovers? Sign me up! Beta read this book and it was the most enjoyable beta reading I've done - really enjoyable read.