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“Maybe we could just take a walk,” Link said. “I’ve always wanted to show you the best view in town.” He grinned at her, his eyebrows up, that left one always a tiny bit higher than the right.

Misty reached up and smoothed down the higher one, and Link closed his eyes softly. Misty knew then that his feelings for her hadn’t changed; hers for him hadn’t either, and she tucked her hand in his.

“A walk sounds good,” she said. “Is it a talking spot? Or a sit-and-watch-the-sun-set spot?”

“We can talk there,” he said.

“Good,” Misty said. “Because I have a lot to tell you.”

“Is that so?” He turned playful, but Misty’s gut vibrated and boiled like she’d swallowed a whole box of baking soda and it was now reacting badly with the stomach acid.

She nodded in tight little bursts. “Yeah,” she said. “So let’s go before I throw up.”

Chapter Nine

Link waited while Misty said good-bye to Janie, who said, “Good luck, girl,” before the woman he hadn’t stopped thinking about for even a single second today joined him on the porch.

“You’re sick?” he asked.

“No.” Misty brushed by him and went down the steps, leaving Link confused and suddenly feeling like this walk to the spot that overlooked the town of Three Rivers was a very bad idea.

He loved the spot on the edge of the lawn of the Ranch House. He’d gone there often as he’d grown up, more and more as he’d approached graduation, with questions about what his future held.

He’d never taken a woman there, and he didn’t go with others very often. Sometimes, Uncle Judge came out and handed him a cup of hot coffee or hot chocolate, but he never said anything. Just clapped Link on the shoulder, looked down at the quaint, perfect town of Three Rivers, and went back into the house.

Link followed Misty down the steps and caught up to her easily. “Hey, are you okay? We don’t have to do anything tonight. I’ve been up since you called, and?—”

“I have to do this tonight,” she said, her legs making long strides though she wasn’t a very tall woman. “If I don’t do it tonight, I’ll never do it, and I just can’t stand you not knowing.”

“Not knowing what?”

She kept on, and Link wasn’t sure if he should just keep up and let this storm inside her blow out, or if he should stop her and make her talk to him right now. He’d never seen her like this when they were dating previously, and Link honestly didn’t know if they were dating now.

This is a date, he told himself. They were out together, doing something meaningful to him. It was a date.

He opted for silence as they went down the road. “To your right,” he said quietly, reaching for her hand when they came to the T in the road. “This here’s my parents’ house. I grew up there, for the most part.”

Misty relaxed a little. “For the most part? What does that mean?”

“Well.” He inhaled through his nose and breathed it all out through his mouth. “I lived in town for the first several years of my life. My momma was a mechanic. She owned that shop right on the southern edge of town. I’m sure you’ve seen it.”

“Yes,” Misty said. “Ralf took his truck there once.”

“Right.” Link hadn’t told her about his parents—the man and woman he’d been born to. Their relationship had been casual, and despite him slipping and sliding toward falling in love with her, he hadn’t told her too many intimate things.

“Wait. So Bear Glover isn’t your father?” Misty looked at him with wide eyes.

“Not biologically, no,” Link murmured.

“Where is your biological dad?” She spoke with a touch of harshness in her voice that Link didn’t understand.

“I, uh, I’m not sure we should be talking about stuff like this,” he said, his own heart turning hard. “I didn’t tell you before, because it’s not what casual couples talk about.”

Misty came to a halt, and she pulled on Link’s hand. “Stop and talk to me.”

“I am talking to you.” Link released her hand and took a couple more steps. He couldn’t look at her, and he rolled his neck, trying to find his patience, his self-respect, his dignity. He sighed and finally faced her. “What do you want from me?”

She gazed at him, her emerald eyes firing with passion, with determination, with anger. She lifted her chin and said, “I want more than casual.”