Second Degree

By: Diana Xarissa

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Welcome to Ramsey, New York – a small town full of characters. Some are looking for love, some most definitely are not. Sooner or later, everyone finds his or her happily ever after. Jana Bailey is doing her best to raise her son on her own after she was unexpectedly widowed four years ago. Money is tight, but she’s managing. When her car breaks down and it’s clear it needs to be replaced, she has to make a difficult decision. Her son, Shawn, has been training in Tae Kwon Do for a year and he really loves the sport. Paying for that and a car payment, though, will stretch Jana’s budget past its limits. Master Andrew Caldwell offers a possible solution. Jana can work part-time at the Tae Kwon Do school, on nights and weekends when she isn’t busy at the college where she’s employed as an administrative assistant. There’s just one catch. In addition to working there, she’ll also have to start training. It’s been years since Jana did any formal exercise and she’s never done any martial arts training, but she’ll do just about anything to keep Shawn at the school. That includes agreeing to help Master Caldwell at Ramsey’s Thanksgiving Festival, among other things. The classes prove to be challenging, but trying not to notice how attractive Master Caldwell is proves even more difficult. He’s seven years younger and in incredibly great condition. There’s no way he’d ever be interested in Jana, she reckons, even if she were ready to think about dating again.