“Whoa!” Haskell said. “Slow down, Lizelle! You know how Sara liked Christmas, or maybe you didn’t, since you were so little. When she was still with me, I always cut a real tree. But the last few years, I just put up a little bought one because the real ones shed so bad. Can’t keep enough water in the pan to keep them happy.”

“That’s what I figured. I’m going to buy a big one and I’m going to have a house that puts the stars in the sky to shame,” she said.

“Then, darlin’,” Haskell said, “go out to the barn and look up in the loft. There are boxes and boxes of decorations out there.”

“What barn?” Liz asked. “The one behind the house? I thought that was O’Donnell property.”

Haskell chuckled. “It’s a little tough to picture twenty acres when you’ve lived in a trailer your whole life, isn’t it?”

“I figured it went from fence to fence after I left the highway and then to the back side of the yard,” she said.

“From the yard fence, you go on back to the barn that you can see from the kitchen window, and then to the fence back behind that. Then you’ve got twenty acres. The Christmas stuff is in boxes, and they are all marked,” Haskell told her.

Liz sucked in a lungful of air and let it out in a loud whoosh. “Do you mean I’ve got a whole barn to put stuff in? I may go back to Walmart this afternoon.”

“So, you like it there?” Haskell asked.

“Been here two days and I’m not ready to run yet,” she said. “And I go to work tomorrow morning.”

“Lizelle, you don’t have to work.” Haskell’s tone turned serious. “Take some time, girl. You’ve worked your whole life.”

“I know, but I want to. It’ll get me acquainted with more folks than the O’Donnells. Did I tell you that I had Sunday dinner with them yesterday and I played my fiddle and Raylen and I had a contest? I beat that cowboy, but his grandma called it a tie,” she said.

Haskell chuckled again. “They are good people, the O’Donnells. Been fine neighbors all these years. Raise some of the best horses in the whole state. They would probably hire you to exercise their horses, instead of you working at a café.”

“But I want to work at the café. I can’t wait. It’s going to be so much fun,” Liz told him.

“You are as stubborn as…” Haskell started.

Liz butted in with: “…as you are?”

“Busted!” Haskell said, his voice now back to normal. “How’s Blister and Hooter?”

“Spoiled and I’m making them even worse. How are you doing out there, Uncle Haskell? Tell me the truth.”

“Dad and I are cleaning up the big barn so we can pull in one trailer at a time and do some serious repainting and repair. He’s excited about all three of us being here together and he’s even considering letting me underpin his trailer before serious winter sets in. He misses the carnival life so much, but he’s wise enough to know he’s not able for it anymore.”