“Why?” Raylen asked.

“Props,” she answered.

He raised an eyebrow in question.

“Earth, wind, and fire. I’ll call on the spirits to steer me to the right future for the people,” she said.

“Hocus-pocus.” He chuckled.

“Spirits.” She smiled.

“Honey, I would try to move earth, wind, and fire for you when you smile like that. I’d even talk the angels out of their wings and the devil out of his pitchfork for you tonight,” Raylen whispered.

“That is one very good pick-up line,” Liz told him.

“It’s the gospel truth,” Raylen said and headed straight to the table where Becca was holding court with half a dozen cowboys.

“Why are you stealing my candle?” Becca asked when Raylen picked up the candle in the middle of her table.

“Fire. Madam Drabami told me to bring her fire, and her wish is my command,” he said.

“You’re goin’ to get burned,” Becca said.

“Not if I don’t stick my fingers in the jar,” he told her. He carried the candle over to Liz and set it in front of her. “Smile at me again, and I’ll go find you some wind and earth.”

She flashed a bright smile and he picked up a plate and headed outside.

***

“What in the hell are you doing?” Colleen asked when she caught him carrying a plate full of dirt back into the barn.

“Taking earth to the fortune-teller,” he said.

“You are crazy and you’re goin’ to get hurt,” she said.

“Not if someone like you don’t blow hot air across my dirt and get it in my eyes,” he said.

He passed by the bar and picked up a cauldron.

“Hey!” Jasmine yelled.

“Got to have wind if the folks want their fortunes told,” he said.

“Then take it and be off with you, knight-in-shining-Indiana-hat.” She waved him away.

When he returned, Liz had a deck of cards in her hands, shuffling them. He’d never seen such quick hands or such speed. Colleen couldn’t even put on a show like that, and she was a professional blackjack dealer.

***

Liz spread the cards on the table, quickly picked them back up, and did an air shuffle that reminded her of Blaze. She looked across the table and pictured him sitting there beside Raylen.

She blinked and it was gone, but she couldn’t stop thinking about Blaze. They had shared everything, including one kiss along the way. She was eighteen and both had had one too many beers that evening. They’d been scraping and painting wagons all day with Poppa and they were tired and sweaty from the work inside the warm barn. She’d reached for a beer at the same time he did, and their hands and eyes met somewhere in the middle. Looking back, it was inevitable since they were thrown together so much, but it had been awkward instead of passionate.

When it was over, she wondered why the women acted like mama cats in heat every time they were around him. And he’d wiped the kiss away with the back of his hand.