Page 38 of The Cowboy Who Looked Again

“Sammy, it’s great to formally meet you,” Misty said as she stepped in to greet his mother.

“The cabin’s okay?” Sammy asked. “No one’s lived there in a while.”

“It’s awesome,” Misty said, smiling at everyone. “I don’t know how long we’ll be here, but Link says it’s okay.”

“It’s fine,” Bear said. “No one else is using it.”

“The state is trying to find us somewhere, but there’s not much for rent right now. My whole building can’t go back.”

“You can stay here as long as you want,” Sammy said. “It’s just a long drive to work every day, I imagine.”

“Yeah,” Misty said, because she wasn’t going to argue about that. Getting up earlier had been a challenge, as she wasn’t much of a morning person, but she and Janie could at least carpool and split the cost for gas.

Before Misty could think of something else to say, the gravel made a skating, grinding sound, and someone slid into the back of Misty’s legs. She took a step forward as a child started to cry.

Without thinking, she dropped into a crouch and pulled the little girl onto her lap. “Hey, it’s okay.”

The blonde girl kept crying, and she looked up at Misty. She smoothed back her hair as she smiled at her. “You’re okay. It was just a small tumble. Let me see, okay?” Misty brushed away the gravel that had stuck to the girl’s knees, catching a bit of blood.

“It’s nothing, see. I bet we can grab a bandage and it’ll be fine.” She wiped the girl’s tears, only then realizing that more than one person had started to stare at her.

“Lara.” A woman who couldn’t be older than Misty arrived.

“I falled, Mama.”

Misty transferred the girl to her mother’s lap. “It’s not bleeding too badly.”

The woman looked at her with a small smile. “She has a couple of left feet.” She got up with the help of Link. “Thanks, Link. Come on, Lara. Auntie Etta will have a Band-Aid.”

Misty accepted Link’s hand too, and he pulled her up as well. She hadn’t gone home from City Hall before stopping by this bonfire, because she and Janie had been late getting away from the work.

“That’s Aurora,” Link said. “She’s my uncle Bishop’s daughter.”

“Ah, yes,” Misty said, though the family tree was starting to splinter in her head. “Uncle Bishop.” She looked at him, and he seemed to get the hint, because he waved good-bye to his family.

He turned as he said, “Excuse us for a minute.”

Misty wasn’t sure why she’d suddenly become so overwhelmed, only that she had. “Sorry,” she said.

“It’s fine,” he said. “I know it’s a lot.”

Everywhere Misty looked, she saw more people. She wanted to escape back to her cabin, but she wouldn’t pull Link from his family bonfire. “Did your aunts make this just for you?” she asked as they left the blazing fire behind.

“What do you mean?” He swung her hand easily between them.

“I mean, you’ve told me about the famed chili with cinnamon rolls. I thought I’d never see it.”

He chuckled and shook his head. “Coincidence.”

“You didn’t ask them to make it to show me?”

“No, ma’am.” He nodded to someone on their right. “Do you want to sneak away and eat somewhere else?”

“Yes,” Misty said with a long sigh. Immediately, her stomach clenched. “I mean, it’s fine.”

“I know we’re a lot,” he murmured. “I was hoping to introduce you just to my family, and we’d expand from there, but….”

“Electrical fire,” she said, because she’d been using that as a reason for a lot of things this week.

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