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    Rejoice, Dammit
    Rejoice, Dammit
    Rejoice, Dammit
    Ebook140 pages2 hours

    Rejoice, Dammit

    By Kaje Harper

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    "Rejoice, dammit!" — I could hear my husband Thom's voice as clearly as when he was alive, telling me that four years were enough. That this year, I needed to stop avoiding the joys of the season, and get my solitary, colorless life out of its rut. But it took seeing Colin standing in an ice storm, waiting for a bus that wasn't coming, to convince me to take a chance on opening my life, and maybe my heart, a second time around.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherKaje Harper
    Release dateDec 20, 2016
    ISBN9781311161642
    Rejoice, Dammit
    Author

    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

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      Book preview

      Rejoice, Dammit - Kaje Harper

      Prologue

      Some nights, I have this dream…

      I’m out walking, on a damp, heavy evening. I wander into the park, and sit on our old bench. When I look to my right, there you are, one knee crossed over the other, your long arm draped along the back.

      Hey, Derrick, you say.

      Your hair curls like it always did. Your glasses slip down your nose. That familiar smile tilts up the right corner of your mouth.

      Surprised to see me?

      It’s been three years, three months, two days. Yes, I’m still counting. But in this dream, it’s only right that you’re there.

      Just glad. I sigh at that truth. It’s cool that you’re better… I wave up and down your lean, fit body, relieved that somehow, in this afterlife, you’re not the sallow stick-figure that cancer left you. Then I blush, because that’s dumb. I’d have taken that stick-figure in a heartbeat, to have one more word with you.

      You laugh, and stretch, like you always do when I’m looking at your abs, or your chest. I’m good. You, on the other hand—

      What? A trickle of anger surprises me. I was never a match for you. Three years of age and grief haven’t improved me. My hair’s thinner, my belly sags, and my muscles have gone stringy without you coaxing me out to run. I suck in my gut.

      No! D-man, I didn’t mean that. You touch my cheek, fingers warm, strong, real. You’re still so alone. Not letting go.

      Still wallowing, you mean?

      No, dumbo. Your smile’s gentle. Grief’s become a habit. Are you planning to be alone the rest of your life?

      I lean away from your touch, though I want it like an addict wants heroin. So? I’m pushing fifty, Thom. I’m grouchy and flabby, and I barely take care of myself. I’d be an awful boyfriend now. Or ever, for anyone but you.

      You shake your head. Don’t sell yourself short. Your heart shines so brightly, I can follow it here from heaven.

      I’m tired, I say.

      As if in response, the skies open up, and the rain falls. I’m enough of a Seattle native not to leap up at the first drops. Then I notice that the rain to my left is different. It falls in ribbons, in streaks, rainbow colors bright against the dim, gray park.

      What the hell? I watch it approaching. Swirls of color begin to run across the wet ground, pooling at our feet, as wild as the shirts you used to wear when we were young. As brilliant as you are. Were. A damp wind blows, and I shiver.

      Here, I’ve got this.

      When I turn back to you, you’re holding an umbrella, conjured out of nowhere. The space under it is brighter, as if you trapped sunshine in its fabric. You slide off the bench and kneel, the light sparkling off your damp curls and outlining the width of your shoulders.

      Join me.

      I’m not limber, and the ground’s soaked, but for you I’d still go anywhere. I ease to one knee in front of you.

      And you kiss me.

      I taste your mouth, familiar from thousands of days and nights, from a hundred thousand kisses.

      The streamers of color reach us and fall in sheets, turning our world to rainbows, parting around that shelter you hold. I reach for the handle of the umbrella to steady myself. For a moment I have it all, as your wrists brush mine, your lips part, your breath and mine mingle.

      Then you ease back and say, It’s time. You know it. Let go.

      You melt away. The metal pole in my hand turns to mist. Your smile’s wistful, but not sad. You tilt your head and wink at me, behind the rain flecks on your glasses. Then you’re gone.

      I’m kneeling, chilled, water dripping down my neck, and soaking my knee. The colors have faded to a simple, sepia dusk, and the rain is still falling.

      In the dream, another umbrella suddenly appears over me. It’s not full of magical light, or draped in rainbows. Just an umbrella, dark fabric, metal ribs, a bit bent. But it’s real and it shields me. A soft, deep voice says, Hey, man. Are you okay? Let me give you a hand. Strong, roughened fingers grip my elbow, to ease me to my feet. I turn…

      And wake.

      I never see his face.

      Lying in the dark, my cheeks wet, I mutter, "Not subtle, Thom." You were always such a nag, when it came to my well-being. I ruffle the new pillow you never used, in this room you never knew. I’m taking little steps, day by day. All right. I hear you.

      You’d probably chuckle "Keep it up." If you were here, it’d be a bad pun, and you’d pat my dick. You’re not here. I will try to move on. Tomorrow. Tonight, just one more time, I’ll remember how much I loved you, and how you brought color, and shelter, to my world.

      Chapter 1

      I wouldn’t have stopped, if the rain hadn’t begun turning to sleet.

      He wasn’t one of the many homeless who gravitate to Olympia. You see guys like that a lot here, hanging out on the fringes, in the approaches to shopping malls and along the downtown sidewalks, clad in ratty coats, with battered backpacks, and unkempt beards. This man wore what looked like a new L.L. Bean parka, and one of the two bags at his feet was a leather laptop case. Normally I’d have figured he’d be fine on his own.

      But he was waiting at the stop for a bus that didn’t run this late. The mix of thin rain and little pellets of ice dripped from his hunched shoulders and frosted the top of that leather case. And he just stood there. His head was bowed, so the edge of the hood protected his face, but there was something so resigned in his posture I had visions of him not moving, as the dark hours turned to long night and the ice coated him to a frozen statue.

      Yeah, right, D-man. You always did have a vivid imagination.

      I ignored Thom’s voice in my head and pulled to the side of the road, rolling down the passenger window an inch. Hey, man, you do know that bus is done for the day, right?

      The guy jolted, as if coming back from a long way off. He blinked at me, his face blank, as if the words had to work their way in slowly. Then he said succinctly, Crap.

      I could give you the number for a local cab. Closer inspection showed that the dampening jeans were designer, and the gloves were new leather, becoming rapidly less new in the rain. He could afford a ride.

      He blinked again. I have it. I think. Unless it’s changed recently. Do they still take half an hour to show up?

      Sometimes. For being just an hour from Seattle, Oly was its own world. Time moved more slowly here, maybe because of the weed that half the population seemed to consume. The low intensity usually suited me, but it occasionally sucked. Uber might be better.

      The guy glanced around, like he was only now registering the falling sleet. The bus stop was just a sign on a pole alongside the road, with no shelter, not even a bench. In this quasi-rural part of town, there was no convenient corner store, just small wooden houses, down a variety of drives. Some had holiday lights. In others, a window or two glowed yellow. It was only seven thirty, but dark as midnight at this time of year. The freezing rain was beginning to glaze everything with a thin, shiny coating, glittering in my car’s headlights.

      I gave the man one more look. He might be stoned, or on something harder, the way he seemed out of it. But he was presentable, clean-shaven, neatly dressed. He didn’t look like an axe murderer.

      And what does an axe murderer look like? Be careful.

      I shook my head, even tapped my temple with the heel of one hand. I’d come a long way from the early days of hearing my Thom’s voice at every turn, my imagination telling me what he’d have said, and thought, of every detail in my new solo life. These days, I thought I’d been weaning myself off the illusion. The approaching holiday seemed to have me backsliding, though.

      Time spent with a real live person would probably be good for me… You want to come to my place to make the call and wait? I’m just down the road. Or I could give you a lift somewhere, if you’re not going far.

      I can’t ask you to do that. I’ll be fine.

      See? I told Thom’s voice in my head. An axe murderer would’ve jumped at the chance.

      The immediate realization that I’d reverted to talking back to myself firmed up my resolve. Don’t be dumb. You’re soaked, and it’s only getting worse. Come on in out of the rain, at least. I leaned over and popped the door ajar.

      It took another long moment, as the cold drops leaked in the top of the door and chilled the interior, before he picked up his bags and came over. He stuffed them down in the foot well, then slid into the seat. I’m getting your car all wet.

      No worries. It’ll dry. I glanced at him. Where to? Or do you want to sit here and call Uber?

      He pushed down his hood to look around. He was younger than I’d thought from the way he’d stood, closer to my own forty-six than sixty. His hair was a blond so pale it was almost silver, hiding any gray. Faint lines beside his blue eyes, a few creasing his brows, and bracketing his well-shaped mouth, took him out of the twink category by a couple decades, but I bet he’d been spectacular back then. He had a familiar look, like one of the guys I might have seen in a downtown café, or one of the bars that had replaced the club scene for us old dudes.

      He frowned harder. I’m not sure this is a safe place to be parked.

      Probably not. I was pulled over onto the shoulder, but it was only half a car wide, on this two-lane road. Especially with things icing up.

      The overhead light went out, leaving him lit only by the dashboard. I could still see that the hand he held

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