Raylen draped his arm around Liz’s shoulders again. “We’d better elbow our way up to the buffet bar or else we’ll go hungry.”

Colleen shot Raylen a dirty look, but he ignored it. His sister had always been a force to deal with, and she’d been overprotective of him since they were toddlers. He winked at her, but it didn’t help one bit. She set her mouth in a firm line and glared at him.

“I’m starving,” Liz said. “A home cooked meal is so much better than burgers and fries on the road.”

Rye handed her a plate. “I agree with you. If you need help settling in, just call me or Austin. We’ll make sure you have our numbers before we leave. How are you liking Ringgold so far?”

“I haven’t seen any of the actual town except Uncle Haskell’s place and this one. How big is Ringgold, anyway?”

Raylen chuckled. “If we round up everyone from the Red River to halfway between us and Bowie, we could probably rustle up about a hundred people.”

“Uncle Haskell told me it was tiny and that the fire from a few years ago burned up a lot of it,” she said.

Rye draped his arm around his wife. “That was a disaster, but we were lucky. The fire only got a few acres of our ranch.”

“Are you Irish?” Grandma asked.

Liz figured she’d be asked a lot of questions, but all the eyes on her made her a little uncomfortable. Sure, she had performed at the carnival for a crowd, but this was different.

“No, ma’am,” she answered with a smile. “Not that I know about, anyway. Are you?”

“Oh, yes, I am. I come from a long line of Irish. With your dark looks I thought I saw some Irish. Maddie was an O’Malley before she married Cash,” Grandma explained.

“I done good when I lassoed Maddie.” Cash leaned over and kissed Maddie on the cheek. “She is what made this ranch what it is today. A good Irish woman is hard to come by.”

“You got that right about my daughter-in-law.” Grandma was piling her plate high. “Maddie can take a colt that’s all gangly legs and turn it into a million-dollar racer.”

Grandpa yelled from the dining room, “I could say the same about you, sugar.”

Grandma grinned at Liz. “Got ’im fooled.”

“And we’ve all got the temper to prove that we’re Irish,” Gemma piped up. “And Raylen is the worst of the lot. That’s why he’s not married.”

Colleen poked her sister on the arm. “He’d be runnin’ a close race to you and—”

Dewar pointed. “Don’t say it. Y’all come on over here and sit with us. Ain’t room at that table to cuss a cat without gettin’ a hair in your mouth,” Dewar said when Raylen and Liz had their plates filled.

“You really interested in a job?” Jasmine asked when Liz sat down beside her.

“I could be,” Liz answered.

Dewar reached out to steal Jasmine’s hot roll and she aimed a fork at his fingers.