Page 33 of The Cowboy Who Looked Again

“She can keep some secrets,” Aunt Dot said. “I heard about Misty from Oakley, actually.”

“I’m not upset if people know,” Link said quickly. “She’s coming to the bonfire tonight.”

“As she should,” Dot said. “Will you introduce me to her?”

Link’s stomach turned into liquid lava. He swallowed. “Shoot. I suppose I’m gonna have to do that, aren’t I?” All he’d wanted the last time he’d dated Misty was to take her around to every house and every family here and have her meet them. Start to get to know them the way he did.

But now, it felt like a massive boulder on his shoulders, a terrible burden to bear.

“I’d send a text to everyone if you don’t want her to be overwhelmed,” Dot said.

Link nodded, his jaw tight. But he didn’t want to warn everyone away. “She met a few people earlier this week at the luncheon on Monday.” Several other families had needed more meals, but Misty and Janie didn’t. They worked in town and had gone grocery shopping, so Link hadn’t seen them in True Blue again.

Ralf had come over last night for dinner, and Link had sat beside him and Smiles while they’d eaten. He’d seen Misty afterward, on the lane in front of their cabins, and he still wasn’t sure how much longer she and Janie would be on the ranch.

The state was trying to find them another place to live, as Janie and Misty couldn’t go back to their apartment. Ralf had said last night that he should be back to his place over the weekend, as he lived in a different building, a separate apartment.

Link loved a routine, and he wasn’t sure how having Misty so close would impact their second chance. Before, he couldn’t physically see her every day. She lived too far away, and that made the times they could get together feel forbidden and special.

“It’ll be fine, Link,” Dot said. “We’re better at meeting people than ever before.” She smiled at him. “Come get something to eat.”

“I ate on the way back from town.”

“Take it home then,” Dot said. “Cutter and Mitch would love it.”

“Yeah, I’ll take some.”

Dot smiled at him. “Come on then.”

Link followed her further into the kitchen, and he stepped into Uncle Ward’s open arms. “Hey, son.” Ward laughed, and Link’s whole heart lifted. “Get everything in town?”

“Yep,” he said. “I put the fire starters in the bonfire shed, and Bishop said he has a huge stack of newspapers, so I didn’t get any of those.”

“Okay.” Ward lifted a box of all-meat pizza, and Link couldn’t stop himself. He loved all-meat pizza, and he thought of Misty, and the margarita pizza, and then the veggie delight she’d ordered when they’d gone to a pizza parlor for a date.

So much about them didn’t line up. Didn’t mesh. The two of them shouldn’t really be together, and yet Link was inexplicably attracted to her. He thought he and Misty got along real nicely, too, so he didn’t dwell too long on the differences between them.

He leaned against the counter and took a bite of his second lunch while Aunt Dot picked up a box and started loading pizza slices into it. “Preach and I wanted to meet with you,” Ward said.

Link moved his eyes to his uncle. “Yeah? About what?”

Ward glanced over to his older brother, Ranger, who’d also zeroed in on Link. Preacher, Mister, and Cactus had also come to Bull House that day. The conversation died, and Link could barely swallow his bite of sausage, ham, and pepperoni.

“Maybe we should wait until his daddy brings it up,” Ranger said.

Link surveyed the crowd of cowboys, and said, “He’s mentioned a few things. I’m not ready for my own house.”

“Maybe not your family home,” Uncle Cactus said. “But regular cowboys live with other cowboys in Cabin Row.”

“And you’re not really a regular cowboy,” Uncle Preacher said.

“So I’m going to move…where?” Link asked.

“The Top Cottage,” Ward said.

Surprise darted through Link. “The Top Cottage?” Surely they were joking. “It’s not much bigger than the cabin I’m in.”

“But it’s not in Cabin Row,” Preacher said. “It’d be all yours. The foreman’s cabin.”

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