Liz sipped her coffee. “No, I’m from all over the state, the lower half of Oklahoma, and even some of Arkansas. My mother and aunt own a carnival, so I grew up traveling.”

“Well, that sure sounds like fun.” She nodded toward the porch. “Looks like Slade Luckadeau and his grandma and aunt are our first customers today.”

Liz looked up to see two elderly women and a handsome cowboy coming through the doors.

“I’ll get it,” she said.

“Okay, go get your feet wet, Miss Carnival.” Amber giggled.

“Good morning, folks. What can I get you this morning?” Liz asked as she whipped the strings of a white apron around her waist and tied them in the front.

“These two old grouchy women didn’t want to cook this morning, so we’re eating before we go to a farm auction down in Chico.” Slade, a tall, blond, blue-eyed cowboy, winked at her.

“Don’t you be callin’ us grouchy,” one of the women said. “You’re the one who was bitchin’ about gettin’ up too damn early. I’m Ellen and this is my sister, Nellie, and that’s her grandson, Slade. We have to keep an eye on him, or he’ll be buyin’ nothing but culls. He’s married to a woman who helps him buy good horse stock, but me and Nellie have to help him out with the cows.”

“Don’t listen to them two. They’re just grumblin’ around,” Nellie said. “They’re both so happy to be goin’ somewhere today they could just dance a jig in a pig trough. I want the big breakfast, the one that comes on a platter with scrambled eggs, pancakes, sausage, and biscuits and gravy.” She was tall and slim, wore jeans and boots, and had short gray hair.

“Me too,” Ellen said. “Only I don’t give a tiny rat’s rump about cholesterol so bring me two pieces of sausage.” She was shorter than her sister, had dyed hair swept up in a ratted hairdo popular in the seventies, and wore a sweeping, multicolored skirt with a bright orange ruffled top that reminded Liz of her Aunt Tressa.

“Make mine with bacon instead of sausage,” Slade said.

Liz wrote everything down and carried the order to the kitchen. “That’s one sexy cowboy out there.”

“Yep, if he wasn’t married, I’d be on the other side of this business flirtin’ with him,” Jasmine said.

Liz leaned against the doorjamb and kept an eye out for more customers.

Jasmine went on. “I’m just teasing. I’m not getting involved with anyone for a while. I don’t have good sense when it comes to the opposite sex.”

Amber nodded, her expression stone cold serious.

Liz cocked her head to one side and frowned.

Jasmine cracked eggs into a bowl. “But if I ever trust another man it’s goin’ to be someone like Slade. He’s so in love with his wife, Jane, that he’s blind to other women. I swear, Angelina Jolie could walk right up to him and whisper in his ear and it wouldn’t affect him. Jane is his whole life. Well, Jane and those two little girls they have.”