Page 99 of The Cowboy Who Looked Again

He nodded, foolishness like hot pepper in his mouth. He coughed a couple of times, not sure what to say or do.

“Maybe I could…talk to your mom about it? Maybe she could help me set a realistic timeline. I mean, I’d need what? A dress, and flowers, and food, and maybe a band. I don’t know how long it takes to do things or if they’ll be booked out or what.”

She pulled her hand away and wound her fingers together. “The whole thing is daunting.”

“Yeah,” Link agreed. “We really just need to show up in True Blue with Aunt Willa.” He glanced over to her. “Everything else is just extras.”

“But maybe I want the extras.”

“And you can have them,” he said. “If you ask my momma, she will cry in happiness, I can guarantee it.” He nodded and smiled at her. “Guarantee.”

“I really like your momma,” Misty said quietly.

“She’s the best,” Link agreed.

“I’m going to text her,” Misty said.

“No—maybe—” Link realized he’d practically shouted. His stomach swayed left and right and he told himself to calm down. “Maybe you should wait until we’re actually engaged.”

Misty’s eyebrows went up. “Well, when will that happen?”

“I don’t know,” he said, his voice pitching up slightly. “I was told a proposal should be a fun surprise.”

Misty started to giggle. “Who told you that?”

“If you must know,” Link said, ready to stuff a sock in his mouth so he’d stop talking. “Your best friend.” He really hit the D hard and threw a cocked-eyebrow look to Misty. “So stop laughing at Janie.”

Misty zipped her lips, though her delight still filled the cab of the truck. “Do you have a ring?”

“Are you seriously going to ruin any and all surprises I may or may not have?”

She turned her head and gaped at him then. “Link.”

“I need a drink,” he said. “We’re gonna stop here in Pampa, okay? You want anything?”

“Something to drink would actually be great,” Misty said.

“Great,” Link said, and he couldn’t pull off the road fast enough. The wind blew in Pampa, and he faced into it, praying it would cool him off enough to finish the rest of this drive.

Yes, he had a ring. Yes, he’d brought it with him. No, he didn’t have a plan for when or where or even how to ask Misty to be his wife.

Link went up to the second floor and back down to the parking lot with boxes, lamps, luggage, and more boxes. Misty wasn’t bringing much furniture with her, thankfully. They’d been working for two straight days, and Link much preferred his ranch work to moving his girlfriend out of the apartment she’d lived in for the past seven years.

She hadn’t moved fast the first day, going through everything, but today, they’d really gotten a lot boxed up. He estimated he had to make three or four more trips, and then they’d have everything in the back of his truck or the trailer he’d rented.

Misty came out of the apartment as he came up the steps. “I want that cabinet in my bedroom,” she said. “It was my mother’s.”

“I’ll get it,” he said. He’d already emptied the drawers and taped them closed. It was just a matter of getting it out of the apartment and down the steps. He’d left a spot for it in the back of the truck, and it only stood to his chest, so it shouldn’t give him too much trouble.

In fact, he didn’t have a problem getting the cabinet down to the truck, and Misty brought down a box of her printer supplies while he covered everything in the bed of the truck with a tarp and tied it securely down.

“We just need to clean up,” she said with a sigh. She tucked her hands into her back pockets and looked at the full bed and mostly full trailer. “We filled it up. I didn’t think we would.”

“Sometimes we have more than we think.” He reached for her and added, “How are you feeling?”

“Fine,” she said.

“Don’t seem fine,” he said.

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