The story, generally, follows them in their discovery of each other and the complexities and difficulties involved in being gay in a small Midwestern town in the 1980s. It's only ~45 pages, and it reads very quickly. This is such a short story that I don't want to go into too much detail about any of the plot points and would rather just urge you to give it a try. Sean is a 'townie' - that is, he's grown up there in the small town - and works as a mechanic there. Jack is a Pittsburgh native who finds himself in Iowa after he receives a full scholarship to the university in that state. The bulk of this story is a flashback/reminiscence that takes place in small town Iowa in the early 1980s and tells the story of Jack and Sean.

This story is bookended with a prologue and epilogue in 'real time' by the first person POV narrator, Jack.

It's pretty amazing that a ~45 page story could pull me in as a reader to such an extent that I was tearing up by the ending. Really well developed and well written m/m short story that had me crying at the subtly moving epilogue. I also post free short YA stories on that group, more than 50 of them so far. You can find me and my book reviews on my author page here on Goodreads - I hang out on Goodreads a lot because I moderate the Goodreads YA LGBT Books group. A complete list with links can be found on my website 'Books' page at. I now have a good-sized backlist in ebooks and print, both free and professionally published. I was delighted and encouraged by the reception Mac and Tony received. 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. My first professionally published book, Life Lessons, came out from MLR Press in May 2011. My husband finally convinced me that after all the years of writing for fun, I really should submit something, somewhere.

I’ve been writing far longer than I care to admit (*whispers – fifty 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.) Minnesota’s a kind, quiet (if sometimes chilly) place and it’s home. I was born in Montreal but have 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. “Kaje” is pronounced just like “cage” – it’s an old nickname, and my pronouns are she/her/hers.

Like the Taste of Summer by Kaje Harper