Page 18 of The Cowboy Who Looked Again

An overwhelming sense of gratitude filled her, because she could stop by the department store and get a few things to wear. She could fill carts full of food and bring it up here to this cabin. She could fill her car with gas and drive it back and forth. She didn’t have children to worry about.

“I’ve been chatting with Phoebe,” Janie said. “She just went by, and they turned her away. So yeah.” She sighed as she sat down. “We still need groceries, and I need a pair of shoes that actually fit.”

Misty glanced at her feet and found a pair of flip flops that were at least a couple of inches too long. “Did Link bring those to you?” Then she opened a couple of drawers until she found a fork.

“He said he noticed I wasn’t wearing shoes last night.”

Misty grinned at her, glad when Janie smiled back. “Cowboys are observant,” she said right before forking up the first bite of her breakfast.

Janie laughed and finger-combed her hair back into a ponytail. “Well, that one is.” She gave Misty time to eat and brush her teeth, and as they left Shiloh Ridge, they made a plan to hit the grocery store in their pajamas, and then head to the department store after they opened.

Misty deliberately went right past the stables without stopping. She could afford to buy the groceries for her lunch meal that day, and she really didn’t want to face Link in her silky violet pjs again.

She filled Janie in on the conversation she’d had with Link, and when they hit the highway, their sights sent on Wilde & Organic, Misty started to panic. She drew in a gaspy breath and gripped the steering wheel.

“What should I make for lunch?” she asked, plenty of fear in her tone. “Link’s mom and all his aunts are like, amazing cooks.” She looked over to Janie. “His uncles too. Why did I agree to do this?”

“You’re an amazing cook too,” Janie said. “But yes, to get Link back, you better come up with the most amazing lunch today. Hmm, let’s see….”

So much panic paraded through Misty that she didn’t even argue that she wasn’t cooking today to impress Link. Because she so was.

Now, she just needed her brain to come up with his favorite meal, and she needed the grocer to have all the right ingredients, and then she needed her hands to be skillful enough to pull off the dish.

“What to make, what to make,” she mused, and Janie started naming off things Misty had made in the past that she’d enjoyed. None of them struck her right, and as Misty parked at Wilde & Organic, she prayed that the aisles of food would hold the perfect inspiration for the perfect lunch dish.

After all, she was going to apologize to Link again, whether he liked it or not, and that required the cowboy’s favorite foods to be lined up behind her.

Chapter Seven

Link had been awake for nine and a half hours by the time he ducked out of the blistering sunshine and into the cooler back foyer of True Blue. He sighed and then drew in a long breath of the air-conditioned air here, noting the noise beyond him, around the corner of the wall that concealed him from the larger room of the barn.

He wanted to kick his boots off, grab a huge plate of food, and settle onto the couch. He’d eat and fall asleep, get back his energy, his equilibrium. Too bad that wasn’t his reality and wouldn’t be anytime soon.

The summertime chores on a ranch took a great many hands, and Link had turkeys and chickens to round up and move from one field to another this afternoon.

Laughter rang out from the other room, and Link ducked into the bathroom along the back wall to wash his hands and face. He’d have done it no matter what, but as he scrubbed the dirt and sweat from his hands, forearms, neck, and beard, he thought of Misty.

Surely she was already here. Link had passed her number to Uncle Ward, and then he’d told his uncle that Misty was willing to cook today. He assumed Uncle Ward had passed it to Uncle Bishop, who was leading out on the coordination of food assignments here on the ranch.

His heartbeat bumped erratically as he ripped off a paper towel and dried his neck and face, then his hands. With nothing left to do but go face the crowd in the barn, Link did just that. Several tables stood at the back of the hall, with the white plastic folding chairs Link had seen many times in his life.

In front of the kitchen window, three long tables held the food, with similar tables lining the walls at the front of the barn and down the wall from the main entrance. Those held clothing and shoes, clearly marked as men’s, women’s, and children’s, with size placards. Link had worked this morning through the men’s clothing that had come in from the cowboys who lived here on the ranch, but Link hadn’t had a spare moment to go through his closet. He hadn’t donated anything but time and energy to the efforts to help those who’d been displaced, but he didn’t feel too guilty.

He surveyed the people in the barn, unsurprised to find his momma, Aunt Oakley, and Aunt Willa. Uncle Bishop and Aunt Etta ran the tables of food, also not shocking. Link never had to go very far to get a good meal and an even better hug.

He loved his Aunt Etta with every particle of his being that knew how to love, and he headed in her direction. She spotted him coming, and she dusted her hands on the apron tied around her waist.

“Hey, you,” she said, her smile blooming big. “I haven’t seen you all day.”

“Been busy.” Link stepped into her arms and let his much shorter aunt hug him tightly. “Smells good here.” He pulled back and looked at the food-laden tables. “Looks like we have plenty to eat.”

“Get some of what you want,” she said. “Ward just sent out a last-call for lunch, and we’re going to start boxing things up for families to take for dinner tonight.”

“No dinner tonight,” Bishop said as he came over to them. “We’re doing breakfast in the morning, but lunch leftovers will be enough for dinner.”

“That’s what I said,” Etta said to him. “Link hasn’t eaten yet, though.”

Bishop grinned at him, and Link smiled on back. “I’ll hurry,” he said.

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