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“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.

Chapter Eleven

Link walked into Bull House to the sound of several voices all talking over one another. They usually held ranch meetings next door at the main homestead, in one of the wings up on the second floor, but Uncle Ward had invited everyone here today. His wife, Aunt Dot, had brought up a huge spread of pizza and baked pasta from her landscaping company.

Apparently, she’d just redone the asphalt at the Italian restaurant, and the owner had sent over enough food to feed a small army. Link wasn’t going to say no to free pizza, even though he’d just come from grocery shopping in town and had grabbed a hamburger on the way home from City Hall.

He rounded the corner to find a half-dozen of his uncles standing around the oblong table, which did hold a metric ton of food.

“Link.” Glory Rose, a tall, lanky fifteen-year-old, brightened when she saw him. “You’ve got to see this poll on Two Cents.” She whipped her phone from her back pocket, and Link smiled at her jean-clad legs, her red-and-white plaid shirt, and her cowgirl hat. She’d clearly just come in off the ranch from doing some chore, and Link pulled her into a side-hug.

“Hey,” he said. “Where’s your daddy got you today?”

“Workin’ with Uncle Preacher down in the equipment shed,” she said. “We haven’t been through stuff down there in years. It’s so gross.”

“Good money, though,” Link said.

“Yeah,” Glory Rose said. She smiled up to him. “I’m going to have more than enough for that truck I want next summer.”

“Yeah?” Link glanced over to Aunt Dot, who poured a glass of orange juice for Silver, Glory Rose’s younger brother. He didn’t see his other Ward Glover cousin, Flint, but he’d probably be along soon enough. He tended to the small animals on the ranch—when Aunt Dot and Uncle Ward could get him away from his sketch book.

“Is your momma gonna let you get it?”

“It’s my money.” Glory Rose lifted her chin and held up her phone. “Uncle Ranger just released the results of the Summertime Favorites list.”

“Oh, boy,” Link said. “Let’s go.” He peered at Glory Rose’s phone while his uncles laughed about something, thinking he could find something for his first date with Misty tomorrow night.

No, he thought as he scanned the list of food trucks, events, outdoor activities, and restaurants that the townspeople in Three Rivers had voted on as the places to be this summer. You have a plan for your date tomorrow night.

Dinner suddenly felt a little too simple to him, but Link didn’t know what else to do. He wasn’t going to replicate the things they’d done last summer and fall. This was a brand new start. Something fresh and new, and he needed them to be fresh and new too.

“There’s Three Cakes,” he said. “Aunt Holly will be happy about that.”

“She’s already planning a party.” Aunt Dot appeared in front of Link and drew him into a hug. “How are you, baby?”

Link hugged his aunt back, because he loved her immensely. She was very, very good at making room for him in her life, in her husband’s life, and here at Bull House. Uncle Ward and Uncle Preacher were both foremen for Shiloh Ridge, and everyone knew Link would most likely take over for one of them.

So he’d been working with them a lot in the past couple of years, and he’d most likely replace Uncle Ward, as he had an agricultural degree, and adored the rotational ranching Ward had been doing for decades.

“Good,” Link said. “I’m sure you heard Misty and I got back together.” He pulled back and met his aunt’s eyes. “My momma isn’t known for keeping secrets.” He grinned at her while she smiled back.

Dot had dark hair and eyes for miles, and her genes had overpowered the lighter, blue-eyed genes in the Glover family. All of her children were dark, with Flint having a hint of red in his hair. Glory Rose sported freckles to go with her brunette locks, and Silver wore a thick pair of clear-framed glasses wherever he went.