Liz braked and parked in the front yard. Gemma trotted over to the truck and swung the door open.

“Wow, girl, when you dress up, you do it right!” Gemma said and then turned her attention to the police car that had come to a stop right behind Gemma. “Hey, Sammy, are you in costume or not?”

Liz stepped out and asked, “Is he for real?”

The patrolman waved. “Not. I just came by for a minute to see how things were going. Who’s your friend?”

“New neighbor. She’s tellin’ fortunes tonight. You sure you can’t stay?” Gemma asked.

“No, I’m on duty. Ten minutes tops and that’s my break time,” Sammy said.

Gemma turned her attention back to Liz. “Where did you get that getup?”

“Just one of my carnie costumes. I guess Creed isn’t here tonight or you’d be Daisy Duke,” Liz said with a grin.

Gemma was dressed as a witch in a short outfit with a neckline that scooped low enough to show a couple of inches of cleavage. Her pointed hat was covered in black sequins and glittered in the dark.

Gemma frowned, drawing her dark brows down until they were almost a solid line. “Oh, he’s here, but I got word early that he was bringing along some girl he met in college. They are Mickey and Minnie Mouse. She’s crazy, I’m tellin’ you, just plumb crazy. Creed is so damn fine he should be Tarzan or Fabio, not Mickey Mouse. And he’s crazy for letting her dress him tonight. I’d never dress something as sexy as Creed up like a Disney character. I might dress him up like a stud bull, but not a cartoon mouse!” Gemma fussed as the three of them walked toward the barn.

“He’s too young for you anyway,” Sammy told her.

“Probably so,” Gemma agreed. “But Ace could pull off a Mickey costume better than Creed. Never did see what all the women saw in Ace anyway, but his brothers are a different matter with all that dark hair and those big old soulful blue eyes. Dalton and Ryder are too young for me, but Creed is just one year younger than me, and at my age what does a year matter?”

“Wow!” Liz gasped when she stepped inside the barn.

“We do get carried away. We buy new things every year and add them to what we have in storage, so each year gets better. Jasmine is running the bar for the next hour and then I have to relieve her. Pick a spot where you want to tell fortunes for us tonight.”

“Palms or cards?” Liz asked.

At least Gemma hadn’t asked her to dance in front of the whole crowd. Dancing before strangers was easy; doing so before her newly found friends wouldn’t be.

“I don’t care if you read tea leaves, but when Becca gets here, you tell her that she’s going to be dirt poor and wind up living in a trailer house with six kids and four hound dogs,” Gemma whispered. “I do not want her for a sister-in-law.”