Liz liked this dance even better than the one she usually did when she wore the orange costume. The piano added a salsa flavor that had Liz sweating bullets by the time she started winding down the dance.

“Promise me one more time that I’m the only man you’ll ever dance for like that,” he said.

“Only for you on your birthday and Christmas,” she said as she sat down in his lap.

“And maybe July Fourth. We’ll make our own fireworks,” he teased.

***

Friday night was a little warmer and the stars were shining when the folks started coming out in droves to the carnival. Liz had made a hundred dollars from a man who’d been determined to win his girlfriend the biggest teddy bear on the rack. The poor fellow couldn’t have hit the broad side of a barn with a river rock, but he kept trying. Liz wanted to cheer for him when he finally popped one balloon with a dart, and gave the lady her choice of the medium-sized animals as a consolation prize. The couple walked off with smiles on their faces, and Liz reset the game.

When she turned around to the next customer, she found Raylen sitting on a small stool at the end of the stuffed animal display. She blinked twice and then once more, but he didn’t disappear. “Tressa said I could work with you tonight,” he told her.

Tressa’s voice was in her head. The best way to truly get to know someone is to work with them.

I already have worked with him, Liz mentally reminded her aunt.

“You look like you’re having a mental argument with someone,” Raylen said.

“I am, and her name is Aunt Tressa,” she admitted.

He pulled her closer to his side. “I’m not stalking you, Liz, but the best way to get to know someone is to work alongside them. That’s what Grandpa taught me when I was a boy.”

“That’s exactly, word-for-word, what Aunt Tressa just reminded me of. So I guess we were getting to know each other when we put up all those decorations, and when I helped clean up the barn after the party,” she said.

“You’ve seen my world. Now I’m seeing yours, and I can see the appeal of living with so much excitement week after week,” he said. “And here’s a customer eyeing the big bear. You going to reel him in or want me to try?”

“Give it your best shot.” She stood up.

“Hey, mister, your pretty girlfriend sure would like to take our big bear home with her. You can start to win it with only three darts. All you have to do is pop three of those five balloons and that gets you the first stuffed animal of your choice. Trade it back in and buy three more darts for the next size until you make it all the way to the big bear. What do you say?”

The man shook his head.