Chapter 10

Misty could scarcely believe she'd told Link all she had. Looking at him now, on the other side of the hard conversation, she only felt pride for being strong enough to face him, to tell him the truth.

Her hand echoed with coldness without his enclosing it, and she looked down at her fingers, his intense gaze way too heavy to hold. All she knew from men were flirtations. Some fun kissing, sure, but nothing more.

Pain, and lies, and hurt, and anger, and unkindness.

"Lincoln," she said quietly. "If we do this your way, and to be clear, I want to, it'll be the first serious relationship I've had."

"Okay," he said. "Me too."

That got her to look up. "What? You told me you'd dated throughout high school and college." He'd confessed he hadn't had much luck with women once he'd graduated and returned to Three Rivers, to the ranch, but he'd definitely had other girlfriends in the past.

"Yeah, sure," he said. "But they weren't serious. Never made it that far." He shifted on the bench and gazed down to the gorgeous town. As the darkness continued to gather, the lights came on, casting the buildings, houses, cars, and people in cheery, twinkling magic.

"In fact, even as casual as we were, I think our relationship is the most serious one I've had." His hands hung over his knees, between his legs, and he finally ducked his head to look at her. "I told you, no one sees me. Not with Mitch around. Not with Smiles. Not with all the other cowboy hats. It's like a sea of us, and I'm…insignificant."

"I saw you," she said, reaching for his hand and tugging it gently into her lap. She stroked her thumb over the back of his. "That night at the summer dance."

"You saw Mitch."

"You're wrong about that," she said. "I saw you, and I saw that cute blonde dancing with you. She liked you."

"Maybe," Link said.

"There are no maybe's for me," Misty said. She used her free hand to turn his head toward her. "I want to try again. I'm not going to apologize again for the first time, but I would over and over and over if you needed me to." She swallowed, her pulse like butterfly wings in her chest, tickling her ribs and making her throat scratchy.

"I want to try again, and I want it to be serious this time."

Link nodded, ever-so-serious. "Misty, I just—" He exhaled, and Misty leaned closer, almost desperate to hear what came next. If given space, he'd continue, at least if the words plagued him enough.

"What?" she asked. "Say it."

He shook his head. "It's not something that can be said. It has to be shown." He leaned toward her, and Misty's lips tingled in anticipation of touching his. But he didn't kiss her on the mouth. Instead, he brushed his lips across her lower jaw, then dipped his mouth to her neck.

A thrill ran along her shoulders and down her arms. Being his felt fantastic, and phenomenal, and so…freeing.

She hadn't expected that. She'd thought belonging to someone else would cage her, trap her, suffocate her.

"Will you go out with me this weekend?" he asked.

"Maybe," she said, easily slipping back into the fun, flirtatious Misty she knew precisely how to be.

"Maybe?" He glanced at her, and she grinned at him. "What's a man gotta do to get a yes?"

"I wanted you to kiss me," she said, her eyes dropping to his mouth. "If you'd have kissed me, you'd have gotten a yes. But you didn't. So you get a maybe."

He chuckled and shook his head, his gaze dropping to the ground. "I'm not ready."

"We've kissed before."

"Have we?" He cut her a look out of the corner of his eye, and he'd folded himself onto the bench and still leaned over his legs, his jeans probably dirty from his long day of work around the ranch. He still smelled like sunshine and warmth and his sexy cologne, so maybe he'd changed. In the twilight, she couldn't really tell.

"I remember kissing you, so yeah, I think we've checked that box."

"It's not a box you check off," he said. "And that was before, when things were just for fun. This is different, and I'll not have you push me to do something I'm not ready to do." He gave her half a smile as he said the last part, and Misty wrapped her other hand around his too.

The wind blew by on this cliff, and Misty turned her face into it. "I won't," she said.

"Good." He straightened and slid his hand away from hers only to lift his arm around her. She curled into his chest, liking how close she could get to him this way. His lips touched her earlobe as he whispered, "I want to, sweetheart, but if we're tryin' again, this is like Date Zero, and no respectable cowboy kisses on Date Zero."

"Okay," she said. "So a cowboy could get a yes to a weekend date if he mentions the words ‘deep dish pepperoni pizza' and ‘Starlight Trail' in the same sentence."

He lifted his head and together, they looked out over the horizon. "Oh, so you're going to plan our first date now?"

"It's okay for me to say what I like and want."

"It sure is," he said. "But it's okay for a cowboy to plan something he hopes his girlfriend will like, even if it's not exactly and precisely what she says she wants."

"True."

"But only if he gets that yes," he said.

Misty tipped her head back and looked up at him. He didn't return her gaze, but she kissed his cheek, pure joy flowing through her. "Yes," she said. "I'd love to go out with you this weekend."

He brought her closer somehow, and Misty allowed the sense of safety Lincoln Glover had always given her flow over her, through her, around her, inside her.

It sure felt good, and she couldn't wait until the weekend. Then, she'd find out what Link had planned for their second first date.

Remember when we got a five-gallon container of mint chocolate chip ice cream and ate it on the tailgate of my truck?

Misty stared at Link's text, her blank memory of such an experience sending her stomach to the soles of her shoes. She'd just put a bite of her favorite salad from Jurassic Produce in her mouth, and she set down her plastic fork and looked across the table to Janie.

They'd been back at work for a couple of days now, and the weekend hadn't arrived yet. They hadn't been able to get back into their apartment yet, but someone—a police officer or a fireman or maybe a structural engineer—had gone into their place and packed up everything that could be taken out.

She had her own clothes now, but they'd lost everything in their kitchen, all the blankets in their living room, and any electronics that had been plugged in. Therefore, they didn't have computers, and their phone chargers had to be replaced.

"What?" Janie asked. "Link's texting."

"I don't—we never got a five-gallon container of ice cream and ate it with our legs dangling over his tailgate."

"Then what's he talking about?" Janie twirled the phone and read the next text that had come in. "Remember when we packed a weekend bag, got in the truck, and just drove until we found something interesting to see?"

Misty suddenly got the inside joke, and she grinned as she reached for her phone. Janie said, "You never did that. An overnight trip with Lincoln Glover? It actually sounds scandalous."

"It's a game of ours." Misty left her salad behind and took her phone with her. She stepped out the back door of City Hall as she tapped to call Link.

His phone only rang once before he said, "Yep." He never answered her calls with a hello, the way a normal person would. It was always, "Yep."

"Remember that time you let me bring you dinner, and we packed it into a saddlebag and rode out to the edge of the ranch on Copper and Morning Sky?"

He laughed, and Misty joined him. "Yeah," he said around his chuckles. "That was a great evening."

She sighed as she sank onto the top step, glad this side of City Hall hadn't been baked quite yet. The sun would come over the roof soon enough, though, and she'd lose her shade. "Five gallons of ice cream? Do you know how much ice cream that is?"

"Enough for a summertime family bonfire," he said.

Misty tilted her head, trying to hear the words he hadn't said. "Are you in town?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Do you have said ice cream right now?"

"I think you know the answer to that."

Misty got to her feet, sudden excitement shooting through her. "Talk to me about the weekend bag and driving until we see something interesting."

He laughed again, and it sure made her heart happy to hear him so upbeat again. She could admit that she too felt different this week than she had last week, and that the increase in her mood had everything to do with the cowboy on the line.

"That was me reminding you of how we used to talk," he said. "Because I thought you might not get it."

"I got it," she said, the small fib sitting wrong in her throat. "When you sent the text about taking a weekend trip together."

"Thus, why I sent it." He paused for a second, and Misty listened to someone honk on his end of the line. "Shoot. I did not see that guy. Sorry!"

She smiled at how he talked to a driver who surely couldn't hear him. "Now, listen," he said. "I don't want you thinkin' you're special or anything, but I got you something to go with your lunch. Can you run out and grab it? I don't dare leave the groceries in the car without the AC blasting directly on them."

"Oh, come on," she teased as she wove down the hall and toward the big open rotunda where she, Janie, and Ralf had been working for the past year. "Your momma sent you to town with those insulated bags. Admit it."

"I actually own some of those insulated bags myself," he said.

"Stop bragging," she said, and they both laughed again. "I'm almost to the front doors."

"I'm at the stoplight."

"See you in a sec." Misty ended the call and heaved open the big, heavy doors. She took the extra few seconds to make sure they came all the way closed behind her, or she'd lose her head—and her job. Then she jogged down the thirty-four steps that led to the sidewalk.

She arrived about the time Link pulled up in his big truck, and she didn't even give him a second to swing down. Instead, Misty pulled on the door handle and catapulted herself into the passenger seat. "Hey."

"Hey, yourself." He grinned at her and twisted to reach into the backseat. Plenty of reusable grocery bags sat there, and yes, several insulated ones as well. "You sure look nice today."

Link grinned as he presented her with what looked like an ice cream sandwich. But it wasn't cold, and it was bright yellow.

"Lemon whoopie pie," he said. "With cream cheese frosting."

"You're joking."

"I saw them at the store and thought you might like one."

"Have you had them before?"

He shook his head as she pulled the flap back on the clear plastic wrapper. She adored everything lemon, even going so far as to put the crystallized lemon packets in her water bottle throughout the day. At this point, she wasn't even sure how people drank regular, unflavored water.

The scent of lemon hit her nose, and she grinned. "Mm, smells good."

"Off to a good start then," he said.

She glanced over to him, found him smiling warmly, and returned her attention to the treat he'd brought her. "What kind did you get?"

"Peanut butter chocolate," he said.

Misty took a bite of the lemon cream cheese whoopie pie, the delicious tartness combining with the sweet and creamy frosting. "Mm, yes," she said around the treat.

"I don't get it, but I'm glad you like it."

She met his eye, and so much energy zipped around the truck. "It's good. It's lemon."

"Desserts should not be made with sour citrus," he said.

She laughed, because he loved everything chocolate. Chocolate and peanut butter. Chocolate and mint. Chocolate and coffee. But throw an orange in with some vanilla ice cream to make a creamsicle, and Link thought a crime had been committed.

"I love this," she said. "Thank you, Link."

"You bet," he said. "I do have to get the food back up to my momma. There's a bonfire and picnic dinner at the firepit tonight. I'm sure Uncle Ward will send out a text."

"We're invited?"

"Everyone on the ranch is invited, yes," he said.

"But it's not a date." She took another bite of the whoopie pie and let her eyebrows go up.

"No," he said. "Our first date is tomorrow night, so stop snooping to find out what we're doing. It's going to be great. You'll love it."

She swallowed her treat and said, "I'm sure I will, Link."

"Now go on," he said, extending another whoopie pie toward her. This one actually looked gray, and Misty stared at it. "It's cookies ‘n cream. For Janie."

Misty took the treat from him and then gazed at him. "You're so good," she said, no trace of teasing in sight. She didn't deserve someone as good and kind and thoughtful as Link. Did she?

"If you want that mint chocolate chip, I know where I'll be about eight-thirty tonight." He gave her a nod toward the door. "I've gotta get going, sweetheart."

"Right." She reached for the door handle and spilled from his truck, her hands full of whoopie pies. "See you tonight."

"Can't wait," he said, and Misty slammed the door and stood on the sidewalk as Link drove away.

"Can't wait," Misty said as he turned the corner and disappeared. She couldn't wait to take the next step with him. A door had suddenly been thrown wide open, and all she had to do was walk through it.

She hadn't known it until now, but she'd been hiding inside a dark room for a long time, refusing to let in the light. Still, something made of fear trembled through her body, and Misty murmured, "Lord, please protect me as I take these scary first steps out of the darkness."

For she hadn't truly ever allowed a man into her life for any significant amount of time, for anything more than something frivolous and throw-away.

And this thing with Link was anything but that, and it scared her way, way down deep.

I am with you.

The words entered her mind and settled her nervous stomach. Misty closed her eyes and took a deep breath, unsure if she'd just thought the words herself, if they were a scripture she'd once known and had forgotten, or if God Himself had truly just spoken to her.

No matter what, she took her whoopie pies and made her way back to the break room, where Janie still sat with her now-eaten salad and her phone. "Link brought you dessert," Misty said.

Janie looked at the cookies ‘n cream whoopie pie, and her face split into a grin. "He's the best," she said as she took it.

"Yes." Misty sat down and picked up her plastic fork. "He sure is." Now, she just had to figure out how to be with him in a real, serious way, or she felt certain there would be more than one broken heart at the end of all of this.