“Well, sweetheart, I guess you don’t get that bear tonight. Or else you’ll have to find another cowboy to win it for you,” Raylen said.

The man laid out another dollar and popped three balloons. Liz blew up three more and Raylen tacked them to the corkboard.

“Keep it or try again?” Raylen said.

The cowboy shook his head.

The lady looked at the bear and stuck out her lower lip in a fake pout.

He laid out another bill and popped three balloons again. The woman traded her tiny piglet for a medium-sized zebra.

“That’s it, Misty. You can either keep the zebra and go dancin’ tomorrow night at the Twisted Spur, or else we’ll try for the bear,” he said.

Misty kissed the zebra and they walked off.

“If you’d been fishing, then that big old bass would have just flipped back into the water,” Liz said.

Raylen squeezed her hand. “Your turn. If you put another hundred in your pocket before the next fish gets off the hook, I’ll make you breakfast in bed.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Then you are breakfast in bed,” he teased.

“Does that mean you are going to spend the night with me?” she asked.

He chuckled and tilted his head toward a soldier in uniform hugged up to his girlfriend. “Are you askin’ me to sleep over at your house tonight?”

“I just might be,” she whispered.

“What do I have to do to get that big bear?” the soldier asked.

Liz told him.

“Then let’s play,” he said and laid five dollars on the counter.

Twenty dollars later the soldier handed the big brown bear to his girlfriend.

“I bet that lucky guy is a sniper,” Liz said.

Raylen pulled Liz to his side and gave her a hug. “He’s not as lucky as I am.”

Chapter 20

Liz had already thrown back the covers when she remembered it was Sunday and she didn’t have to go to work. She eased back down and snuggled up to Raylen’s back.

Raylen turned over in his sleep, slipped one arm under her and another over the top, and snuggled up next to her, burying his face in her hair. Lying in his arms the past two nights, even without sex, felt so right, but doubts had begun to creep into her mind.

Leaving now would break her heart, but if they ever got married and it didn’t last, she would die of a broken heart. Her mother knew men much better than Liz did.

Marva Jo’s words played through her mind in a continuous loop. Just remember our wanderlust is only appealing for a little while. It didn’t last with your father. It won’t last with Raylen. Enjoy it while you have it and then let it go. Kind of like a butterfly on a pretty red flower. Know when to fly away before it’s too late.

Give it until Christmas, Uncle Haskell’s voice argued. You’ll know by Christmas if you want to give up the land, and you can tell me when you come home to Claude for the holiday. Don’t make a rash decision until then. You’ve only been there a few weeks, and you’ve just had four days of carnival. See how you feel when they’re gone and you’re back in your normal schedule.