Page 1 of The Cowboy Who Looked Again

Chapter One

Lincoln Glover straightened his tie, his eyes roaming from his throat to his eyes. A sigh slipped through his lips, and he turned away from his reflection. He’d let his hair grow out since the New Year, and now it hung almost to his collar despite his momma’s frowns every time she saw him.

She’d brighten afterward, but the way she tucked his hair behind his ear and let her fingers linger there told him plenty. She still smiled at him, and still loved him, and Link simply needed something different in his life than every other cowboy he saw around him here in Three Rivers.

He left his bedroom and found Mitch decked out in his fancy clothes too. “Ready?” he asked, making the sign for his cousin.

Mitch put another bite of cold cereal in his mouth and nodded, a dribble of milk sliding down his chin. Link grinned at him and tossed him a paper towel. He hadn’t eaten, because Alex Baxter and Nicki Johnston were serving a full dinner at their wedding that night.

Link had been out on several double dates with Alex and Nicki, but his plus-one that night was Mitch.

He wished it was Misty Granger, but Link hadn’t spoken to the woman who’d dominated his autumn and winter, but it turned out that he didn’t know how to do casual dating. His parents had started asking about Misty, and Link wanted to bring her up to the ranch to meet them.

But apparently, that wasn’t casual behavior, and Link had decided he wanted more than that. Misty still didn’t, and while his heart had been smashed, flattened, and nearly ripped out between two ribs, Link had broken up with her.

If he could even break-up with someone he wasn’t really dating.

Link turned away from Mitch and his thoughts and went to get a drink out of the fridge. After all, another June had arrived, and that meant the summer dances Link refused to attend, as well as the Texas heat.

So the drive from Shiloh Ridge Ranch to the apple orchards on the east side of Three Rivers, where Alex and Nicki were tying the knot, required a Gatorade in Link’s favorite flavor. He twisted the lid and guzzled the cherry-flavored liquid before facing Mitch again.

His cousin stood and put his bowl in the sink, then picked up his jacket and shrugged into it. He’d dated Lily Ryders for a while, which for Mitch was three or four months. But they had a pretty big barrier in their communication, and Mitch had finally ended things with her. He hated typing or writing everything out, and if someone didn’t know sign language, that was how he had to talk.

Link wouldn’t be surprised if this was the last summer Mitch stayed on the ranch, truth be told. He’d been talking more and more about going back to Virginia and working at his deaf school, training hearing dogs, and trying to meet a woman who knew how to talk to him. Who he could talk to more easily.

Link wanted that for him, but he missed his cousin already. If Mitch moved out, another cowboy would move in, and then Link would have to navigate how to live with that person. He’d started thinking about where he should be in a more permanent way, and while he wanted his life to be here at Shiloh Ridge, he didn’t want to live in the cowboy cabins forever.

He knew that if he went to Daddy, or Uncle Ward, or Uncle Preacher, or Uncle Bishop, and said, “I want a place of my own,” they’d be meeting the next day to go over blueprints and where the house should be.

Link knew that, and he hadn’t done it yet, because he wasn’t sure he truly deserved it. He wasn’t a Glover by birth. He had no Glover blood in his veins, though the lot of them treated him like he did.

Mitch handed Link his truck keys and led the way out of the cabin. Link followed him, ready to breathe in apple-scented air, and smile at the flickering candles, and congratulate his friends on their wedding.

Like his daddy said, he only had to wear the teddy bear skin for a couple of hours, and then he could relax the muscles in his face, come home, and try to figure out what to do this summer that would ward off the boredom.

Since he had to drive, he couldn’t swipe on his phone, flirting with the idea of using Two Cents to find his next date. Uncle Ranger had added a Connections Center a few years ago, and now the app not only boasted the best places to eat in Three Rivers, or ranked the favored activities around town, but men and women could connect with each other over their votes and choices.

He scoffed lightly as he thought, I should tell Uncle Ranger to put in a section for how serious someone wants to be when they’re dating.

He wouldn’t. Absolutely would not, because he wouldn’t even say anything to Mitch about it. Everyone knew he’d broken up with Misty, but Link had been pretty clammed up as to why.

With the radio on loud, he drove himself and Mitch off the ranch and down out of the gentle hills to the apple orchards. Plenty of other cars and trucks were arriving, as Alex owned a one-man family ranch that he’d been running himself since his sister Edith had married Finn Ackerman only a couple of months ago.

The cowboys on all the ranches—big or small—around Three Rivers pitched in and helped one another when needed, so Alex knew all the ranch owners, all the cowboys, and most people in Three Rivers that had anything to do with ranching.

Link parked and looked over to Mitch. Maybe we’ll meet some pretty women here, he signed, his smile wide, and he got out of the truck before Link could respond. Link’s response was, “Yeah, right,” because he knew everyone in Three Rivers too.

He’d been back from his two-year college stint in Amarillo for six years now. Six years. Working the ranch. Running his momma’s errands. Eating Sabbath Day lunch with his family. The summer bonfires here at the ranch. The dances. The Christmas traditions.

Link had lived all of it for six years, and the only blip in the monotony of it had been Misty Granger.

“Gotta move past her,” he muttered to himself as he got out of the truck. He’d broken up with her five months ago, and he vowed not to let another one go by with him sighing like a lovesick schoolgirl while he flipped through the old photos on his phone. He could choose to act a different way. He could choose to delete those photos. He could choose to have the same attitude as Mitch—maybe he’d meet a pretty woman here tonight, sweep her off her feet, and be married by the holidays.

Link joined his cousin as they went under the welcoming arch and deeper into the orchards. Not really too deep, though, because the Apple Valley Orchards had a reception center specifically designed for big groups, and plenty of people got married here.

So the path was well-kept and lined with railings to keep people away from the apple trees, and Link found himself getting spit out into a tea-light-lit area with a tent roof wafting overhead. Fans blew air here, and misters kept things cool in the shade, and twinkling music filled the air, and Link looked around in wonder.

It almost felt like he’d stepped into another time and place, and he found himself smiling at the thought. Just like his video games with portals to other worlds, where he played as a character he got to design and name.

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