Page 52

“Misty.” Ralf gabbed onto her arm. “We’ve got to go.”

“Go?”

“Yep, there’s a…thing in a few minutes.” He started towing her away from the Glover cousins, and Misty went with him. She’d known him and worked with him long enough to know he’d have a reason.

“Nice to meet you both,” she called over her shoulder, and Link signed quickly to Mitch, and then they both lifted their hands and touched the brims of their cowboy hats, as if they’d practiced that move before coming to the park tonight.

A sigh moved through her body, because they really were cowboy gentlemen. Handsome cowboy gentlemen.

Then the crowd separated them, and Misty pulled her hand away from Ralf. “What was that?” she asked.

“They’re Glovers,” he said.

“So?”

“So, the Glovers own the biggest and richest ranch in the state,” he said. “And they have a couple of men in their family who are vocal about the growth in town. They don’t like it.”

“But we’re not causing any growth,” Misty said. “We’re restoring their historic City Hall. They should be glad we’re here to preserve the history of their building.”

“That’s why we came early,” he said. “To make sure the message gets across. I still don’t think it’s wise for you to be buddying up to Glovers.”

“Well, I wasn’t buddying up to anyone. I twirled away from that first cowboy.” Misty couldn’t even remember his name now. “And into Link. I fell on him, and Mitch stumbled over us too. It was nothing.”

“Sure.” Ralf looked at her, that eyebrow quirked. They’d worked together on too many projects, because he could read her like an open book. “Which one do you like?”

Misty sighed in an overdramatic way, hoping Ralf would get the hint that he was being ridiculous. “I chatted with them for a few minutes,” she said. “I don’t like either of them.”

Ralf rolled his eyes. “You’re such a bad liar.”

“Fine, I liked them both,” she said. “But not romantically.”

“Because you don’t do romances.”

“Right,” she said, solidifying herself in her previous mantras. Not only that, but she didn’t want to admit that she’d liked both Link and Mitch, and if one or the other of them did happen to ask her out, she didn’t know which one she’d like to get to know better.

Chapter Sixteen

Mitchell Glover spent so much of his life in silence that the vibrant energy of a town dance filled his soul with life. So much so that he still felt the reverberations of the dance in his bones when he woke the next morning.

The Sabbath Day, and Mitch would be expected to get up, clean up, and show up at church. He didn’t live with his momma and daddy anymore, but a quick fifteen-minute walk put him at the Edge Cabin, where they lived.

He could show up there for lunch, and there’d be food enough to feed him. If he wanted to crash on the couch and watch a movie, they wouldn’t turn him away. When he just needed to be by himself—something that seemed impossible but that sometimes happened—he’d take the walk and then go further, to the western fence of Shiloh Ridge Ranch, where he could see seemingly forever, as it sat at one of the highest parts of the property.

A light flashed behind his closed eyelids, and Mitch opened his eyes and reached for his phone. His hearing dog, a pretty golden retriever named Honor, lifted her head too, and then she moved up from the end of the bed to put her head on his chest.

She was supposed to do that when his alarm went off, even if he was awake, and Mitch gave her a soft smile and ran his hand over her head and ears. Good morning, he thought as Honor squinted her eyes at him. She loved a good body rub, and Mitch loved feeling connected to another living thing.

I don’t want to go to church today, he thought. And he didn’t. Perhaps he could text Uncle Ward and find out if there was something to do on the ranch that would keep him home. Lord knew there had to be, as this place was huge, with countless moving parts, even more animals, and plenty that needed doing.

Then he wouldn’t have to explain anything to his parents, his family, or Link.

He sighed as he rolled away from Honor and swung his legs over the side of the bed. Link was his best friend, and though they’d parted ways and taken different paths in life, they’d come back together at the ranch again.

He’d seen the way Link had looked at Misty last night. He’d said nothing, because Link wasn’t the most loquacious of cowboys, and it had been dark on the way home. They couldn’t talk with voices, and he looked over to the other bed in the room. The one where his cousin and best friend slept.

It was empty, the blankets already pulled up and tucked neatly. Mitch looked at his half of the room, and it held an array of bags and boxes that still weren’t all the way unpacked. He never made his bed, and while he’d never realized it before, it definitely struck him now at how different he and Link were.

Movement caught his attention, because Mitch had gotten really good at using his other senses to keep track of what went on around him. He found Link entering the room, and he signed to him. “You want breakfast? Cutter’s making omelets.”