Girls Just Wanna Have Goats in LIAV8

Thought I’d drop by to say Happy Pride and to see if you’ve checked out Love Is All Volume 8 yet? Here’s an excerpt from my story “Girls Just Wanna Have Goats”

 

I’d never been out to my pal

Dinah’s house, though. She knew how I felt about barnyard animals and most four-legged critters, so she’d probably never thought to invite me.

“Cecily and Trudy run the farm. Trudy’s the one who called.”

“Whatever happens, if

a goat charges me, I’m shooting it.”

Josh barked out a laugh. “You can’t shoot goats, Mom.”

“I better make it out of here unscathed.”

“Don’t worry, I sure don’t want beloved Sergeant Lana Desrosiers injured on my watch. Come on, stay behind me, and I’ll protect you from the cute and fuzzy bunnies.”

“Maybe I’ll shoot you instead,” I muttered, getting a chuckle from Josh in return.

I’m not ready to be do

ne with this. Josh was making a name for himself as future command-staff material. He was way more mature and diplomatic than his mother had been at that age, that was for sure. And Nate, freshly out of field training, had already had a hand in catching some high-profile thieves in the act, which solved a string of cases that had frustrated detectives for months. I couldn’t be prouder.

Josh waved as we passed the departing Alcosta Sheriff’s cruiser on the driveway, and he parked next to Nate.

“What are you doing here, Sergeant Desrosiers?”

I smirked at my youngest son. “Taking the opportunity to roast your brother.” I heard a crinkle when I moved and turned to find another Hostess wrapper stuck to my ass. “Really, Josh?”

“Oh, that was my second breakfast. You know I hate day shift. I get so hungry I eat all day and Hostess is the snack with the mostest.”

Nate rolled his eyes. “The mostest crap in it. There isn’t a beneficial ingredient in any of their products.”

“Listen, my vegetarian younger sibling, at least I didn’t grab the beef sticks. I can be animal friendly too, you know.”

Nate took the wrapper from me. He looked at the ingredients and shook his head. “This has beef tallow in it.”

Josh snatched the wrapper out of Nate’s hand. “What the heck is beef tallow?”

“All right, boys, let’s focus,” I said, cracking up at their bickering. “Besides, Nate, you should keep it down about the beef tallow. Josh might just decide to become one with the farm animals since he lives like one, and the animals might not accept him.”

“I don’t think they have

cows,” Nate said, patting Josh’s back as he joined us. “You’re probably safe.”

“Thanks. Ass.”

“They do have those, Nate. You could be at home here too.”

They playfully pushed each other on the way up to the porch steps. Thankfully, they’d never been big brawlers—bloodshed had been rare—but they teased each other constantly. Mostly it was good-natured and hilarious, the kind where you laugh even if you shouldn’t as a parent.

The radio squawked with orders for Nate to return to the station.

“Warrant sweep. Wasn’t sure what time they needed us. Sorry, guys. Love you, Mom. Josh, say hi to the swine for me.”

“Hilarious. Be safe, kid,” Josh said, and we waved goodbye.

The farmhouse looked like something out of an old episode of Little House on the Prairie. Simple yet elegant. There were actual rabbits hopping around in a covered pen on the grass in front of the massive porch. The afternoon sun was beginning its descent behind the hills to the west, and the entire house was bathed in soft pinkish light. My jaw hung open, awestruck by the gorgeous scene, but when the front door opened, I quickly snapped it shut.

“Hi. Thank you so much for coming.”

The sunset may have be

en beautiful, but the sunshine in front of me was even more stunning. The lady of the porch exuded as much warmth and grace as the sunset behind her. Who is this woman? In Dinah’s house? And why haven’t we met?

“No problem whatsoever,” Josh said. “Hey, Cecily? I don’t know if you’ve met Sergeant Desrosiers? My mom?”

Cecily. The youngest Shaw sister. I concentrated on not being blinded by her halo of golden hair. She was glowing like a shampoo commercial model or an angel in an old-fashioned painting. She wore an oversized yellow and orange tie-dyed T-shirt under a pair of baggy overalls that had seen better days. She had freckles, but her skin was so tan they all sort of blended together. Her eyes were a deep brown, and the whites showed all around the iris, making them appear larger, and more vivid.  But her friendly smile was the brightest thing about her.

“It’s nice to finally meet you,” she said, sticking out a hand with a rubber glove on it. “Oops! Sorry, I was just headed out to milk the goats.”

I jerked my hand out of reach, my fight or flight reflex kicking in. She may be beautiful but we’re on a farm and danger lurks behind every corner.

Pick up the collection at www.books2read.com/LIAV8 for a limited time! You’ll also find these stories:

That Summer by A.D. Ellis
What If It’s You by Carrie Ann Ryan
Berlin Nocturne by Connor Peterson
Too Much in Love to Care by Gabbi Grey
Mutts About You by Jodi
Payne
As I Am by J.R. Gray
The Roommate Mixup by Lee Blair
Peaches and Pucks by M.A. Wardell
The Ninth Reindeer by Piper Malone
Girls Just Wanna Have Goats by R.L. Merrill
Secrets and Somersaults by Skyler M. Cates and Rinda Elliott
Not Another Date by Sophia Soames
Struck by Susan Scott Shelley and Chantal Mer
Home is Us by Tara Conrad
A Bad, Bad Thing by Xio Axelrod

 

 

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