Chapter 3

Link did not like what was taking place on the sidelines of the dance floor. In front of him, Hailey continued to talk a mile a minute, and even if Link hadn't been discombobulated by Misty's presence in his life—the two of them standing there with his parents—he wouldn't have been able to keep up with the words streaming from his cousin's mouth.

He glanced over to where Misty had been standing with his momma and daddy, and his heartbeat thumped hard at him when he found they'd dispersed. Well, a couple of them had, at least. Momma still stood there, looking radiant in a flowing, formal dress in flowers and blue—which matched her eyes and made her blonde hair seem lighter—and she cast a look in his direction.

Immediately, her eyes drifted back to the right, and Lincoln followed her gaze. His body lost all ability to function, and his feet came to a complete standstill.

For Daddy—a big, burly man named Bear—now swayed with Misty—the strawberry blonde who still had a tight grip on Link's heart.

"Blast it," he muttered, but he wasn't sure if it was because of what his daddy might be saying or if he'd finally admitted to himself that he wasn't over Misty.

As he stared, and as Hailey said, "What is it?" and turned to see what he was looking at, he realized neither Misty nor Daddy were speaking.

In fact, Daddy looked about two seconds away from going into fully Grizzly Mode. Link cast a frantic look back to his mother, and he found her taking the first step toward where Misty danced with Daddy.

"Hailey," he said as kindly as he could. "I'm real sorry about you and Scott. You'll have to come by and tell me more about it, okay? I need to—" He swallowed and looked briefly at his cousin. Then he simply walked away from her and toward Daddy and Misty, though Momma had now interrupted them.

Before Link could arrive and make proper introductions—what had gotten him in trouble with Misty in the first place—Mitch tapped on her shoulder and asked her to dance. She smiled, glanced at Link, and allowed his cousin to twirl her out of the situation.

"My goodness," Momma said, her fingers fluttering up by her neck. "That was interesting."

"Daddy," Link said as he arrived on the scene.

"I said nothing to her," Daddy said, his voice gruff but his eyes pleading. "I promise. I just wanted to get her away from your mother." They exchanged a glance, and while Link had grown up with them, he couldn't speak their language.

"What does that mean?" he demanded.

"Nothing," Momma said lightly. "Let's get off the dance floor, so we're not making a scene." She glanced around, but no one seemed to notice they even stood there. "Come with us, Link. Mitch can drive your truck back to the ranch."

Link hesitated, but something told him to go with his parents. "Let me tell Alex and Nicki congratulations and that I'm going." He met both of his parent's eyes and pulled his keys from his pocket. "I'll meet you at the main entrance. Five minutes." He gave his keys to his father, and looked to his mother for confirmation.

"Okay." Momma still looked worried, but she allowed Link to duck into the crowd and start weaving his way toward his friends. They broadcasted life out into the party, and Link grinned as he stepped up to Alex and took his hand.

"I have to go. Congratulations, brother." Link pulled Alex into a hug and clapped him on the back a couple of times. "Beautiful wedding," he said as he stepped back and looked at Nicki.

"We still want to double with you," Nicki said as she hugged him. "My nieces have already said they want to go out with you." She grinned as they separated. "Abby said you were the best-looking cowboy she's ever laid eyes on."

Link flushed as he laughed. Then he shook his head. "I always like getting together with you guys, but I don't want it to be a blind date. Too awkward for everyone."

"Can I give her your number?" Nicki asked as Alex pulled her close to his side. "Then you guys can just start talking."

"Does she live here?" Link asked. "I thought only your family was in Three Rivers."

"They're in Oklahoma City," she said.

"Only a couple hours," Alex said, grinning.

"Still long distance," Link said. He shook his head, unwilling to have this conversation right now. "No reason we can't talk, but yeah. Not sure how anything long distance is going to work out."

"You never know," Nicki said.

"I'll give you that," Link said, because he hadn't predicted that he'd be seated next to Misty for this wedding tonight. "Anyway, my folks are waiting. Congrats, you two. Enjoy Niagara Falls."

They said their good-byes, and Link headed for the exit. He didn't allow himself to look left or right, and he successfully made it away from the party and through the barn. Daddy waited in the truck at the entrance, while Momma waited just outside the door, and pure relief filled her face when she saw Link.

She smiled and let him step in front of her to open her door. "Thank you, baby."

He closed her door after she'd climbed into the passenger seat, and then Link got in the truck behind her. Daddy met his eyes in the rearview mirror, but Link looked away.

He just wanted to go home, and he didn't want to talk about Misty Granger quite yet. Thankfully, Daddy almost always let Link gather his thoughts first, and while Momma definitely possessed less patience, she held her tongue as they drove through town. Once they hit the highway that led south out of town, Link started to relax.

His shoulders actually went down, and he focused on releasing his breath in a slow, controlled way. By the time they passed the turn for Seven Sons, Link felt like he could talk and his voice would come out normally.

"So, what did she say?" he asked, his tone quiet and yet plenty loud enough for his parents to hear.

They exchanged another glance, and Link wasn't surprised that Daddy answered. "She asked how to make things right with you," he said. "Said she knew she'd hurt you, and she missed you, and she just wanted to know how to make it right."

"How to get you back," Momma said quietly.

Link looked out his window, part confusion and part irritation pulling down his eyebrows into a cowboy frown. He'd enjoyed dating Misty; that wasn't a secret, nor was it a problem.

No, the problem was that she was now a year into her two-year assignment here in Three Rivers. She'd made sure he knew she wasn't a permanent resident of this small town in the Texas Panhandle—and that she had no intentions of staying here for even a single day past her job requirements.

Her temporary status in town had lingered in the back of his mind, but something had told him that if he could just get her to fall in love with him, she'd change her mind.

"Well, we've met her now," Momma said.

Link sighed and pulled his attention away from the browned grass along the side of the highway. "It wasn't about that, Momma."

"It was, though," she said.

"It spoke to the seriousness of our relationship." Link pulled his hat from his head and ran his fingers through his hair. "Nothing's changed." He drew his shoulders up and back as he breathed in. "Right? Her feelings for me are irrelevant. They don't change the situation."

"Maybe she'll be more interested in becoming serious," Daddy said, but he was grasping at straws, and everyone in the truck knew it.

Link shook his head. "Nah, this is just her coming face-to-face with me and panicking." He knew Misty, and while she was a couple of years older than him and didn't pull punches, he knew she didn't always handle awkward and delicate situations all that well. "As soon as she's back home tonight, she'll realize what she's done, and ten to one, she'll text me and apologize. Say she lost her head for a second."

Heck, she'd done the same thing after their first kiss, months ago. Link had not liked that apology, nor the fact that she'd tried to dismiss away the deepening of their relationship. That terrified Misty to the core for some reason she had refused to share with Link.

He'd put up with such things too, because she had been honest and upfront with him from the beginning. She did not want anything serious, and spilling past trauma or telling him about her family history, her former dating life, or anything besides what was going on in that moment, indicated something more serious than what she wanted.

Kissing had been too, but she'd definitely kissed Link back plenty of times, and after they'd smoothed out her apology, he'd held her hand, kissed her, and yes, they'd started sharing deeper things with one another.

Link had fooled himself into believing they could fall in love, that he alone could change the trajectory of her life. He scoffed now, because such a thing was so laughable with a woman like Misty. She rode the wind, laughing as she did, and no one—certainly not a simple cowboy like Link—could bring her down to reality. And definitely not a reality in small-town Three Rivers.

"Link," Momma said as Daddy made the right turn off the highway and onto Shiloh Ridge Ranch. Uncle Preacher's house welcomed them on the left, with Uncle Mister's on the right. Cowboy cabins—full-up down here on the lower part of the ranch—and big sheds and barns rounded out this part of the ranch before Daddy started going up the hill toward the main part of their land.

"Maybe she won't do that," Momma said gently.

"It doesn't matter," Link said. "I want—" He stopped himself, feeling his own desperation and longing rise through him. He didn't want that to come out in his voice, though his parents knew how he felt about Misty. Everyone seemed to know.

"I want her," he said miserably as he mashed his cowboy hat back on his head. "But she's not available, not in the way I want. I don't do casual; she doesn't do romances. We're incompatible."

Daddy said nothing, but he gripped the steering wheel and his shoulders rippled from left to right, indicating he'd like to speak.

"Maybe it'll just take another try," Momma said, forging ahead now and further annoying Link. "Daddy and I had to try three times. Look at Finn and Edith. They dated three times before they made things work too."

Link wanted to shout that neither of those situations were the same. Misty did. Not. Live. Here.

And worse, she didn't want to live here. She'd told him she disliked small towns, that she'd been living in Dallas-Fort Worth for the past decade, and she loved the vibrancy of the big city. She loved the fancy restaurants, and the sheer multitude of choices of such things in a place like Dallas.

He wasn't going to get into this again. He'd already gone over it all when he'd broken up with Misty and then slept at his parents' house for four nights. He couldn't go back to that. He simply wouldn't.

Daddy drove past the main homestead, Bull House, the Ranch House, and around the bend. Past Uncle Judge and Aunt June's place, and past Aunt Etta and Uncle August's. He turned into the driveway at the big house where Link had spent the last several years of his childhood, and he sighed. "I don't want to come in," he said.

"I can take you home." Daddy looked over to Momma, and they had a conversation without a word.

Then Momma twisted and looked at Link. "You are the best cowboy in the world, Lincoln."

He flashed her a smile that slid from his face quickly. "Okay, Momma."

"I mean it. I don't want you spiraling over this woman."

"Okay, Momma," he said in a quieter voice.

Momma looked at him with pure determination in her eyes. "I love you, my son. Promise me this isn't going to send you back to February."

"It's not going to send me back to February," he murmured. "I can just walk home, Daddy." He reached for the door handle and opened it. The Texas summer heat hit him, and Link changed his mind. He pulled the door closed. "Just kidding. It's hotter than Hades out there. You can drive me."

Daddy chuckled; Momma slid from the truck; Lincoln let her open the door and hug him tightly. "Come for dinner tomorrow," she pleaded. "I'll take the kids to Uncle Ranger's, and it'll just be quiet."

"I'm in," Daddy said, and that got Link to smile for real.

"Okay," he said.

"Bring Mitch if you want," Momma said. "He's quiet."

He was in some ways, and in others, he definitely wasn't. He wondered if Mitch had told anyone else he was considering leaving Shiloh Ridge again, but since Link didn't know, he didn't open his mouth and say anything.

"Okay." Momma stepped back and started to swing the door closed. "I love you, Link."

"Love you too, Momma." The door slammed, and Daddy waited for Momma to make it to the front door before he started around the circular driveway and the road they'd just been on. He continued down another small jog, then turned left and headed along a road that split the ranch nearly in half from north to south.

The cowboy cabins where Link lived sat along this road, and out of the six of them, only four were full. The ranch had a few more cabins up in the hills just below the Top Cottage, but while they'd renovated them a few years ago, those usually only got lived in when the ranch brought in seasonal help around harvest time, for branding, or for planting.

Daddy pulled into the driveway at Link's cabin, which was the second one down the lane. He put the truck in park and exhaled. "Where you at tonight?"

"Checking fences and gates in sector four," Link said without thinking. Yes, he needed to go change out of his fancy wedding clothes and get back into his working cowboy jeans and plaid shirt. He'd saddle his horse and go check on their security to make sure they didn't lose domesticated animals to the wild things that lived beyond the borders of the ranch.

"I'll go with," Daddy said, and that was the same as him saying he'd support Link in whatever he decided. Even if he said he wanted to get back together with Misty. Even if he said he wanted to leave the ranch and go strike his way in the world. Yes, Bear Glover had always been exceptional at championing Link, and his emotions surged.

He opened the door and slid from the backseat while Daddy did the same up front. He met Link on the sidewalk, and they went into the cabin together. "Smells interesting in here," he said as he closed the door behind him, sealing in the air conditioning—and the leftover scent of whatever Cutter had burnt for dinner.

Daddy looked left and right, which wasn't big enough to do more than once. "We need to talk about you gettin' your own place."

Link didn't argue as he went down the hall to the bedroom he shared with Mitch. Usually only two cowboys shared a cabin, but he and Mitch had grown up together, and neither of them minded sharing with the other.

He pulled his tie loose as Daddy filled the doorway. "Link."

"I don't want to be alone," he muttered. He unbuttoned his shirt and shed it, then started working on his belt. "I don't have much, and certainly not enough to fill a house." He looked over his shoulder to his father. "I have no wife, no family. You could build me a house that's way too big or far too small. It's too soon. I don't need it."

He stepped out of his slacks and into his jeans, then reached for his shirt before he faced Daddy again. "Don't look at me like that."

"I'm worried about you."

"Why?" Link asked, because he'd really like to know. "Because you think I'm going to go back to Misty and get my heart broken again? Or because I'm not moving past her fast enough and going out with someone new? Or because I'm frozen, standing still, while everyone and everything moves forward around me?"

As he spoke, he realized he was afraid of everything he'd just said. He'd never held back with his daddy, and he saw no reason to now. "Because I'm worried about all three. But a house of my own won't fix any of ‘em."

Daddy pulled Link into one of his big bear hugs, and Link sank into it. He let himself be small and weak and cradled, because he needed it. Bear Glover had always made Link feel so safe, and he found he needed that in this moment.

"I just want you to be happy."

"I'm not unhappy," Link whispered. But he couldn't say he was happy either. He felt stuck, and with every passing day, he grew more frustrated in his current situation.

"I know you, son, and I saw you with her." He pulled back and leaned forward, his eyes searching Link's. "I'm real sorry it's not working out the way you want. If I could fix it for you, I would."

"I know." Link nodded and finished buttoning his shirt. He looked up, wishing he was brave and strong like his father. "I'm not going to get back together with her. I have more dignity than that. But I'm not ready to date someone else either. I still really like her, which sounds stupid, but I can't change that faster than I am."

"You're doing great," Daddy murmured.

"I do feel frozen," Link said. "But if there's anything you and Momma have taught me, it's to put my faith and trust in God, then forget myself and go to work. And that's what I'm trying to do, day by day, so I'm okay. Okay? I'm okay."

"Okay," Daddy said, agreeing with him maybe a little too quickly. "I'll tell Momma not to worry."

Lincoln scoffed and then chuckled. "That's like tellin' the sun not to shine, Daddy."

"I know." He grinned at him. "But I'll tell her all the same." He draped his arm around Link's shoulder and turned with him as he moved toward the door. "We're prayin' for you."

"Thank you," Link said. "Now, if you'd go get changed and help me ride the fences, I'd take your company."

"I thought you'd never ask." Daddy grinned at him and said, "Give me a half-hour, and September and I will come find you and Copper."

"Yes, sir," Link said. "Can we not talk about Misty?"

"Not another word for tonight," Daddy promised, and Link knew his father always kept his promises.

Link nodded and headed into the kitchen to fill his water bottle while Daddy went out the front door. He sighed as he leaned against the countertop, and he looked out the window to the ranch beyond. His backyard wasn't much to write home about, but he wasn't surprised to see Dusty and Rio, two ranch dogs, trotting across the fields from the stables. It was as if they knew he'd just gotten home and would be headed out to work soon.

He moved to open the back door and whistled for the dogs, who both broke into more of a run. Link filled a big bowl with cold water for them, and he chuckled as he scrubbed them along their ears and jowls.

"We're just ridin' fence tonight," he said. "Daddy's coming, okay?"

Neither dog confirmed, but Link drew comfort from their presence anyway. The ranch employed a dozen dogs, and somehow this blue heeler and this border collie had taken a shine to him. He didn't mind at all, and he suspected they'd started hanging around this cabin, because they liked Honor, Mitch's hearing dog.

Link didn't care, and because he gave them steak and chicken and other treats, both Dusty and Rio kept coming around. "Let's go saddle up," he said, and with the sun still hanging in the sky, and the dogs trotting alongside him, and Daddy riding up a bit later, Link let his mind linger on the gorgeous Misty Granger while he did his evening chores.

By the time he went to bed, he still hadn't heard from her—no apology, no lost head—and Link had no idea what to do next. Call her in the morning? Text her that they had no chance, that he wasn't interested?

His parents had taught him not to lie….

Frustrated, he rolled over, begging God to take her from his mind just for a few minutes, until he could fall asleep and find some rest from the gorgeous woman who'd dominated his life for the past year.

He'd figure out what to do, if anything, in the morning.