Jasmine nudged Ace. “Of course I will. But we’ve still got gifts to help wrap while you three get Santa up on the rooftop, and then we’ll have burgers and pie.”

“Slave driver,” Ace muttered, but he had a big smile on his face.

Gemma started singing the Christmas song about Santa being up on the rooftop. When she got to the part about him coming down through the chimney, they all joined in. “I can’t believe that I’ve made such good friends in only a couple of months,” Liz said when they finished singing.

“Friends?” Raylen raised a dark brow.

Liz raised up on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. “And boyfriend.”

***

“It’s beautiful.” Liz couldn’t see everything about her yard and house fast enough. Her eyes went from the side windows of Raylen’s truck to the front, and then she twisted around as much as possible to look out the back. Jasmine and Ace were ahead of them in Ace’s truck, and Gemma and Dewar led the parade going to the café in his vehicle.

“Just be glad that Haskell put in lots of high-powered wiring to provide the juice to run all that stuff. I bet the electricity meter is going so fast that it looks like a blur,” Raylen said.

“I don’t care how much it costs. It’s worth every dime. I cannot believe we got it all done. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you,” she repeated.

Raylen reached across the console and laid a hand on her shoulder. “Jasmine rounded up the posse and did a lot of the bossing. We just followed her orders.”

She covered his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “But they’re your family and friends, and I wouldn’t have known any of them if it weren’t for you. And”—she paused, not really wanting to spoil the evening—“we need to talk about us before…”

“Before what?” Raylen asked. “Are you going to have Christmas and then go back to the carnival?”

“No, not that, but right now our relationship is new and hot, and we can’t get enough of each other. I want to be with you all the time. Every time someone comes into the café my heart skips a beat because I think it might be you. But when the fire dies down and there’s nothing but cold ashes left—what then?” she asked.

“Here’s the way I see it,” Raylen said. “Our hot kisses and love making is going to feed this fire for a long, long time, and then when we’re old and gray we will sit in the ashes and remember the good times.”

“So, you think we’ll be old and gray together,” she asked.

Raylen tapped the brakes, removed his hand from her shoulder and turned into the parking lot of the café. “Grandma says that it’s a good thing we don’t know what the future holds, so don’t ever read cards for me. If there’s a future without you, I don’t want to know about it.”