Page 68 of The Cowboy Who Looked Again

Link could hold Misty in his arms forever and never tire of it. The world seemed to sway slightly left, then back to the right, with the two of them, and he never wanted to let go. Around them, others danced too, some light conversation floating on the air with the hint of the breeze here in the gardens outside the church.

They’d eaten with his family. Laughed and talked and watched the skits the junior Sunday School children had put together. As the afternoon had started to become evening, the food had been switched out to desserts, and the dance floor had gotten marked off with electric lampposts and strings of lights.

If Link’s obsessive studying of fireflies the past few days had taught him anything, the glowing insects should be coming out soon. Please, please, dear Lord, he thought. He couldn’t make the fireflies appear, but he believed God could—and Link really needed the fireflies to make tonight absolutely perfect.

For Misty, but maybe a little bit for himself too. Maybe his parents really did exist in the glow of a firefly, and maybe they were watching as he fell in love with Misty Granger.

The song ended, but Misty didn’t make any minute moves to step out of his arms. Another frilly, music-only song came on, and while others around them shuffled on and off the floor, Link and Misty simply stayed.

He closed his eyes and lost himself in the scent of her skin, her hair, her very presence in his life. A more magical day probably hadn’t existed, despite her initial frustration when she’d learned Janie had a date and hadn’t told her.

Link allowed himself to sink all the way into love with Misty, though it did send a string of fear threading through him. He’d never been in love before, and he didn’t want to have to figure out how to recover from having loved and lost.

But being in love felt absolutely amazing, and Link wanted to bask in this feeling for as long as he possibly could.

He opened his eyes, and the flitting of tiny specks of light in the twilight made his breath stick against the back of his tongue. Something like electric emotion zipped through him.

He felt the love of so many then, including the parents he hadn’t ever truly known, and he sat with it for a few moments.

“Hey, sweetheart,” he then murmured, easing Misty out of his embrace. “Look.”

She fell to his side as the fireflies continued to drift and lilt through the air, more and more arriving with every passing second.

“Wow.” Misty breathed the word out of her mouth as she tilted her head back to look up into the sky. Link did the same thing, basking in the glory of dozens and dozens of pinpricks of light filling the navy space around them.

Link smiled, because God had answered his prayers. And because his childhood memories of Momma telling him his parents’ love existed in the light of a firefly, and he could feel it now as strongly as he had back then.

And because the beauty of this slow, summer Texas evening—filled with fireflies—reminded Link of how amazing life could be. Alarms might sound early. The sun might burn the land and crops and a cowboy’s skin. Not everything went his way all the time.

But that didn’t mean life wasn’t grand. It didn’t mean God hadn’t touched every particle of this earth, or that He wasn’t in control of what happened in a small town in the Texas Panhandle. In Link’s life, personally.

Looking up into the sky, he felt the vastness of the universe above him, around him. It seemed impossible that God could know him, this simple, singular man in such a remote place. But Link knew without a doubt that he’d been engraved in the palms of the Lord’s hands.

He’d texted Mitch only yesterday that God loved him, and Link knew it as clearly as he knew his own name.

“This is the best night of my life,” Misty murmured.

“It’s gorgeous,” Link said. They weren’t the only people admiring the fireflies, but because they weren’t dancing any longer, Link gently guided Misty out of the way. He grabbed a couple of treats for them from the dessert table and led her away from the crowds, from the lights.

They found a bench further into the darkness, where the fireflies continued to dance around them. He sighed and put his arm around Misty. “Cookie dough brownie or coconut rice crispy square?”

“Brownie,” Misty said, and Link silently rejoiced. He handed her the treat of her choice and took a bite of the toasted coconut, marshmallow, and cereal.

“These are my favorite thing,” he said. “My momma and aunts make a whole bunch of different kinds, and I love the toasted coconut.”

“I probably could’ve guessed that,” she said. “Seems like you ordered that mango cheesecake on one of our dates, and it has that coconut macaroon crust.”

“From Beyond Elegance,” he said. “I’d go there again just for that cheesecake.” He grinned at her, and Misty turned toward him and leaned closer.

He took the opportunity to capture her lips with his in a gentle yet firm declaration that he wanted to kiss her every day too. Over and over again. He slid one hand along her neck and cupped her ear in his palm to keep her there, so he could continue to kiss her.

“Will you come to dinner at my parents’?” he asked. “Just us and them—and my younger siblings, of course.”

“Yes,” Misty said.

“I mean, I know you’ve met them, but this is—it would be—” Link cleared his throat. “My parents want to start to get to know you too is all.”

“Link.” Misty leaned into his chest and smiled up at him. “I already said yes.”

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