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“Don’t I?”

“You won’t look at me,” he said. “Haven’t looked at me for the past half-hour.”

Misty still didn’t immediately move her eyes to his. It took several seconds for her to get herself to look at him, and Link gazed at her. “There you are, love.”

“I don’t mean to get lost.”

“You’re doing a lot,” he said. “Let’s go get the place clean. You can take your pictures for the listing. Then we’ll go to dinner.”

“At the Four Seasons?”

“I checked that place,” Link said. “No reservations available for tonight.” He didn’t tell her he’d booked another restaurant here in Dallas—one of the nicest places in the city—almost three weeks ago. “Don’t worry, Misty. I’ve got dinner worked out.”

“Okay,” she said airily. “Now, come show me your muscles on my hard water stains.”

He chuckled and followed her back up the steps one more time. She lightened considerably as they scrubbed countertops and wiped away fingerprints. Link did clean the bathroom while she started the vacuum in the back bedroom and worked her way toward the front door.

She’d never given him a definitive answer for when she’d like to get married, and Link reminded himself that she and Momma would work out a date based on the timeline of how long it took to plan the wedding. “Summertime,” Link murmured to himself. It was almost December now, and Link couldn’t imagine the Glovers doing a wedding lickety split.

Of course, Oliver and Aurora had gotten married with only thirty days between the day Ollie proposed and the day they said I-do. So things could get greased if they had to.

Link didn’t want a rushed engagement. He wanted to enjoy his time with Misty, and he wanted her to have every single detail of her wedding exactly how she wanted it.

As the vacuum went by the bathroom, Link muttered to himself, “You’ve got to ask her tonight.” But he didn’t want to put the ring in a glass of champagne or ask her in public. They were both staying in the same hotel that night, and he didn’t want to propose there either.

So you’re going to do it in the truck on the way home? he questioned himself. Irritated with himself, he finished up in the bathroom and took the bucket of supplies out to the living room.

Misty finished with the vacuum, and Link took the supplies outside. “I’ll take the pictures,” she said. “Be right down.”

He hesitated. Did she want him to stay? Or would she prefer he leave so she could have one last moment in her apartment? Link took one look at her, and he knew: She wanted to be alone. So he took the vacuum and bucket and left her to herself for a few minutes.

When she didn’t come down, Link’s pulse beat at him to go check on her. He checked his pocket for the diamond he’d bought last week, and he hurried up the steps. He’d closed the door behind him, and instead of going right in, he knocked as if he’d just arrived to take Misty out for a fancy dinner at the nicest restaurant in Dallas.

He’d heard how Bear had proposed to Momma so many times, but Link didn’t pull out the ring and get down on his knees right there on her doorstep. He waited, and Misty opened the door a moment later.

“I’m almost ready,” she said. “I just realized I wanted that towel warmer in my bathroom.” She hurried away from him and down the hall, and Link entered the apartment, his hand sliding into his pocket where the ring sat.

He pulled it out and looked at it. Uncle Preacher and Uncle Ward had gone with him to buy it, and they’d both assured him that it was beautiful, that it would do the job.

“Got it,” Misty said. “Would you—?” She stopped only a pace from him, the bulky towel warmer coming toward him. “What is that?”

Link looked up and into her pretty eyes. Those eyes that had captivated him from the moment he’d seen them. “It’s a symbol of my unending love for you.” He held it up. “It’s the long view, Misty, and I see me and you making a life together. And it might be messy, and I’ll have to do overnight mowing every year until I’m, like, sixty.”

He grinned at her, buoyed by the stunned shock streaming from her. So he’d surprised her, and everyone he’d spoken to about proposing had said no woman wants to know how things will happen. They wanted a good story to tell their friends, their kids, everyone.

“But whenever I think of that long view, and I reach really far into the future—and even into eternity—you’re there. You’re mine. I’m yours.” He cleared his throat and finally remembered he should be down on at least one knee.

So he dropped to both and held up the diamond ring. Princess cut, with shining facets everywhere. “I’m completely in love with you. I don’t know how to breathe through the immensity of my love for you. I feel like a new man every time I think of you loving me. It’s just—it’s mind-blowing.”

You still haven’t asked her, his mind screamed at him.

He cleared his throat and looked at his gorgeous girlfriend, still holding that towel warmer. “I love you, and I will love you for the long view, Misty. Will you marry me?”

She looked at him like he’d just asked her to cut off her own hand. She said nothing.

Link chuckled, because that was what he did when he was so far out of his comfort zone and had no idea how to get back into it. “Misty?—”

“My face is wrong,” she blurted out. “Look away.”