Page 89 of The Cowboy Who Came Home

Link was a simple man, with a work ethic his momma and daddy praised. He never wanted to disappoint them, so he put his truck in reverse and backed out. He’d get his cookies, and then he’d continue to Meaty Mayhem, where Momma had ordered dinner for the family this Friday night.

He scoffed lightly as he pulled back onto the street. “Friday night,” he muttered to himself. “You should be out on a date, like Mitch.”

Mitch had only been back in town for a few months, and in that time, he’d been out with five or six different women. He wasn’t a player, but he dated a lot, trying to find someone he clicked with. He’d told Link it was harder for him to find someone, because he needed to be able to communicate with them in a different way. He hated typing everything into his phone, and while he could read lips, it was hard for him to speak back to someone who didn’t know sign language.

Link had agreed, because Mitch wasn’t wrong. But then Link said, “I have the same trouble talking to women,” and that so wasn’t a lie either. He simply didn’t have the charm and charisma that Mitch did, and he’d started to wonder if he should join a dating app or try to meet someone online. That way, he could message them before he had to meet them in person, which was so much harder for Link.

He pulled into the shop that stocked his preferred cookies, noting the line at the coffee truck as he went by. He could use some of that too, and Link suddenly had visions of himself hanging out with other young people in their mid-twenties, dunking his chocolate cookies in his coffee while he laughed and flirted and set up dates with pretty women.

The truck had umbrellas and tables set up, and seeing as it was still pretty early in the evening on a Friday night, they weren’t terribly full yet. Not empty either, and Link ran inside to get his cookies.

Then, feeling brave and trying to channel his inner Mitch, he went past his truck and through the parking lot to the coffee truck. The line hadn’t dwindled, and Link joined it behind a couple holding hands. In front of them, two girls chatted and laughed, and Link wished he’d arrived just a bit ahead of the couple.

Right, he scoffed inside his head. Like you’d talk to them. He’d more likely stare at them until they glanced his way, and then he’d smile, hoping they’d talk to him.

He gripped his cookies like they could protect him, and he inched forward as he listened to the couple in front of him discuss the menu stuck to the side of the silver Airstream trailer that housed the coffee shop. He watched them touch each other and laugh, and he wondered what it would be like to have a relationship like that with someone.

Link had only kissed one girl in his life, and something inside him felt reckless. Out of control. Wild.

More people joined the line, and Link looked behind him to the group of high school boys. Maybe this wasn’t his scene. Maybe he should’ve driven through somewhere to get his coffee to go with his cookies.

His phone chimed, and he pulled it out of his pocket at the tone of his mother’s notification. Daddy had his own too, and Link tried to check his phone when either of them texted him.

Dinner will be ready to pick up in twenty minutes, she said. Sorry it’s taking so long.

He quickly thumbed out, It’s fine. I stopped to get my cookies and some coffee. I’m good.

The couple in front of him moved to order their coffee, and a shock of panic ran through Link. It would be his turn next, and then what would he do? Take his coffee and his cookies and go eat them alone in his truck?

Probably.

If he was being honest with himself, most likely.

Laughter rang out from a table to his left, and Link looked that way. His eyes caught on the gorgeous redhead he’d met at the summer dance, more than two months ago.

Misty Granger. She sat with a couple of other people, including the man who’d towed her away from him and Mitch at the dance. The other person at the four-person table was a woman with dark hair and a wide smile full of white teeth.

“Hey, man, what can I get you?”

Link tore his eyes from the woman he had a secret crush on and faced the window. “Yeah, uh, I’d love an Americano, double, with whipped cream.”

“You got it, brother.” The man tapped out his order on a tablet and flipped it over. “Seven-fifty-four.”

Link jostled his cookies to get his wallet out and pay, and he took his receipt with his number on it. He turned and faced the table of three, one of which was Misty, and it felt like God had opened up the heavens and shone a spotlight right on the fourth seat.

He took steps in that direction, and Misty looked up. He saw the moment she recognized him, and then he watched her tuck that pretty hair behind her ear. Link recognized flirting when he saw it, and he smiled at her.

“Hey,” he said. “Can I sit with you guys?” He glanced over to the man and then the other woman.

“Link, right?” Misty asked as she moved some trash that sat in front of the fourth chair.

“Yeah.” He pulled out the chair and sat down. He turned to the man. “I’m Lincoln Glover.”

“Ralf,” the man said. “Great to meet you.” His eyes shot over to Misty, and they definitely had a conversation without saying anything.

Link ignored them, and with a pounding heart, looked at the brunette. “Everyone calls me Link.”

“I’m sure they do,” she said as she reached across the table to shake his hand. “I’m Janie.”

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