Where the Heart Is

By Kaje Harper

Trevor Carson’s life changed the day his father died. After working as a small-animal vet in the big city, Trevor’s now back in his remote hometown, trying to keep his dad’s practice afloat while he figures out his next step. He expected he’d want to sell up and flee back to civilization as fast as possible, but the town is beginning to feel like where he belongs. Except every day he spends there is a day away from his partner Michael, back in the city. As Christmas approaches, with a much-anticipated visit from Mike, Trevor’s going to have to decide what “home” really means.

(This warm, established-couple holiday romance is a lightly-edited rerelease of the 2011 story. Content warning for veterinary-related pet loss. 14,000 words.)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kaje Harper
• Release date: Dec 2, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005674908

Kaje Harper

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/KajeHarperGoodreads Author page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4769304.Kaje_Harper

Book preview

Where the Heart Is

Where the Heart Is

Kaje Harper

SMASHWORDS EDITION

* * * * *

Copyright © 2011, 2021 by Kaje Harper

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/KajeHarper

Editing by Kris Jasen

Proofreading by Becca Waldrop

Cover art by Kaje Harper and DC Williams

Formatting by Beaten Track Publishing – beatentrackpublishing.com

License Notes

All rights reserved. This copy is intended for the original purchaser of this book ONLY. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without prior written permission of the author. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

Image/art disclaimer: Licensed material is being used for illustrative purposes only. Any person depicted is a model.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Trevor Carson’s life changed the day his father died. After working as a small-animal vet in the big city, Trevor’s now back in his remote hometown, trying to keep his dad’s practice afloat while he figures out his next step. He expected he’d want to sell up and flee back to civilization as fast as possible, but the town is beginning to feel like where he belongs. Except every day he spends there is a day away from his partner Michael, back in the city. As Christmas approaches, with a much-anticipated visit from Mike, Trevor’s going to have to decide what home really means.

(This warm, established-couple holiday romance is a lightly-edited rerelease of the 2011 story. Content warning for veterinary-related pet loss. 14,000 words.)

Contents

Where the Heart Is

About Kaje Harper

Other Books by Kaje Harper

Where the Heart Is

Trevor Carson stepped out his dad’s clinic door— his clinic now— and paused, blinking. Beyond the porch light, a dark, rural night had closed in. He could barely make out the black shadows of bare trees and evergreen woods against the sky.

What happened to the daylight?

There’d still been a warm sunset in the west when he finished his last farm call. He’d come back briefly to clean up and take care of a few loose ends. Changed his clothes, sat down for a minute to write up the day’s bills before he forgot all the charges… well, and he’d given the diabetic cat that was boarding for the holidays its insulin… and then Rossi had called with that question about his pigs. Which had meant holding the phone in one hand and typing search info into the professional databases with the other. Because you know, pigs… five years taking care of small animals in the city had wiped most of what he knew about pigs right out of his brain. So he was slow getting back into the mixed-animal game and needed to consult the experts.

Still, it couldn’t have been that long. He glanced at his watch. It was only… holy shit, almost eight? He bit his lip and turned to lock the door quickly. At least he was done. And it was a beautiful night, with stars blazing overhead, like handfuls of sequins stitched across the black velvet of some drag queen’s dress. Not diamonds, because that was trite and anyway, no one had enough diamonds to match the glory of that star field.

Despite the lateness, he tipped his head back to gaze at the sky. He’d come to love the night away from the city lights, with the glory of the stars, and the clean, cold air, and the silence. Well, almost silence… Silence except for that straining engine…

Trevor looked down the road at a battered station wagon towing a horse trailer toward his clinic, and gauged the distance to his own truck. Twenty feet and he’d be gone. Flying down the road with Shinedown on the CD player and Michael waiting at the end of the drive. Done for the long day and going home to his private life, where he could be as loud and as silly and as fucking gay as he wanted and no one would care. And finally, finally, the man he loved would be waiting there for