Overdue Changes
Description
Logan
A year ago, I made a choice. A bad choice. Out of the blue, I got a shot at moving up from the ECHL to the AHL, probably my last shot at a higher hockey league at age 33. Except at the same moment, my boyfriend came out publicly. I was supposed to be at his side, but professional hockey still wasn't welcoming to gay men, despite a couple of out players. I decided I had to pick between the career I'd been working for all my life, and my boyfriend. I didn't choose Miles. Now, a year later, I know what a fool I was, but Miles is engaged to a woman and there's no way back for us.
Miles
I don't regret coming out. I can't, given how many kids, and adults too, have contacted me to say what it meant to them to have even a retired pro-football player stand up as a gay man. I wish I'd come out earlier, when I was active in the NFL and could've been more of a role model, but I'm not sorry I did it now. My only regret is that somehow, in the stresses of that moment, I lost the man I loved. Logan froze me out, I was angry, and... somehow, we said things we couldn't take back. Now I'm living my out gay life, and that's important, but I miss Logan. Taking care of my friend Rachel's fiancée, acting as her beard till she can get away from her father, makes me feel useful, but I can't help wishing it'd been Logan at my side in those society photographs.
Overdue Changes is a 42,000-word novella set in the Changes hockey universe, with two new main characters who blew up their relationship a year ago, and aren't sure there's any way back.
More details
Person
I get asked about my name a lot. It's not something exotic, though. "Kaje" is pronounced just like "cage" ? it's an old nickname, and my pronouns are she/her/hers.
I was born in Montreal but I've lived for 30 years in Minnesota, where the two seasons are Snow-removal and Road-repair, where the mosquito is the state bird, and where winter can be breathtakingly beautiful. Minnesota's a kind, quiet (if sometimes chilly) place and it's home.
I've been writing far longer than I care to admit (*whispers ? forty years*), mostly for my own entertainment, usually M/M romance (with added mystery, fantasy, historical, SciFi...) I also have a few Young Adult stories (some released under the pen name Kira Harp.)
My husband finally convinced me that after all the years of writing for fun, I really should submit something, somewhere. My first professionally published book, Life Lessons, came out from MLR Press in May 2011. I have a weakness for closeted cops with honest hearts, and teachers who speak their minds, and I had fun writing four novels and three freebie short stories in that series. I was delighted and encouraged by the reception Mac and Tony received.
I now have a good-sized backlist in ebooks and print, both free and professionally published, including Amazon bestseller "The Rebuilding Year" and Rainbow Award Best Mystery-Thriller "Tracefinder: Contact." A complete list with links can be found on my website "Books" page at https://kajeharper.wordpress.com/books/.
I'm always pleased to have readers find me online at:
Website: https://kajeharper.wordpress.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KajeHarper
Goodreads Author page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4769304.Kaje_Harper
