Page 1 of Dirty Secrets

1

JOCELYN

“Good morning!”

I jerk my chin up from my notes to smile back at a woman strolling by with a large paper bag from The Bakery on Main. “Good morning!”

Sitting here on the bench in front of the library is one of the best spots to see most of Old Hemlock Valley’s downtown. It’s also a good spot for everyone to seeyou. I’m pleased to note that after being here for just over two weeks, people are becoming even friendlier to me.

A tree is blocking most of the sun, but a few dappled beams dance across my hands and arms as I take notes. All the fresh air and sunshine is relaxing, even though technically I’m hard at work.

Two of my college friends and I are renting a house just outside of town. We’ve been hired as interns to help Professor Hewitt with his study of how news travels verbally in small towns compared to big cities.

Personally, I’m not sold on his theories. I think it depends more on the people, the news in question and the venue than the general location. But, hey – it’s a pleasant enough summer job.

Harper and Nikki seem to have found boyfriends here already, which means I have the house to myself some evenings to work full tilt on my other freelance jobs. Maybe I’ll actually get ahead with my tragic finances a bit this month. That would be amazing.

A huge truck slowly rumbles by, then I glance toward a strange noise just to my right.

Giant brown eyes are staring at me. Animal eyes, inches away.

Good lord, it’s agoat.

My scream echoes off the nearby store walls as I jump up onto the bench to get away from the creature. What do I do?

It’s still staring at me inquisitively as it steps closer. Crap. Do goats bite? Do they attack people? I’m a city girl, and I have no idea?—

“Easy now. I’ve got her.”

A massive lumberjack type appears out of nowhere and gets between me and the animal. He grabs its collar and extends a huge, tanned hand to me. “You all right?”

My hand is splayed over my heart, trying to hold it inside. “Yeah. Sorry.”

Looking at his face, my knees wobble again. He’s…gorgeous. Like…rugged gorgeous. And there’s just somuchof him…all muscles and long limbs stretching out a black t-shirt and worn work jeans.

He smiles, his dark eyes warm. He helps me down from the bench, as a prickle of electricity runs through me just from his innocent touch for a few seconds.

I really appreciate that he stays between me and the goat.

“Hold on.” He checks the tag on its collar, then shakes his head and pulls out a phone. “Hey Gus, it’s Walker. Gertie got out.” He looks toward me and smiles. “Gonna tie her to a post in front of the library… Great. You take care now.”

He leads the goat over to the bed of a large pickup truck, pulls out a length of rope, then ties the animal to a lamp post at the corner of the library lawn. She instantly starts nibbling the grass as if someone had just laid out her favorite lunch spread.

He walks back while scrubbing his hands on his jeans, then extends one to me again. “Walker Dirty.”

I can’t stifle the giggle that bubbles up and out of me. “Jocelyn Baker.”

He gives my hand a bit of a squeeze before releasing it. “I know. The name’s…”

“I’m sorry.”

He shrugs his massive beefy shoulders. “No, go ahead and laugh. It’s funny. I mean…to other people. Us, we’re used to it.”

“So, you must be Walker from Valley Auto?”

He sits down and pats the bench beside him. I probably sit a bit too close, but I feel like a planet that just had its orbit skewed by a sudden massive gravitational pull. “Yes. And you must be one of the girls who’s been taking endless notes for the past few weeks?”

“Yes.”

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