Raylen looked at Liz. “I’ll drive you home.”

“No need. I drove myself,” she said.

“Then let me drive your truck home and I’ll walk back through the pasture,” he said.

Liz laughed. “I didn’t see any devils or blackbirds in the cards.”

Raylen frowned. “Blackbirds?”

“They signify dire misfortune,” she said.

He laughed. “Well, there’s crows between here and your place, so I better see you to the door.”

“Okay,” she agreed. “But that Dalton fellow really should be taking me home since I promised him a dance and got so busy that I never did dance with anyone.”

Gemma took her feet off the table and stood up. “Hey, girl, let Raylen take you home. Dewar got hooked up with Angie Sutter and took her home. I really did think you and him would hit it off but guess I was wrong. Remember what you told him?”

Liz nodded. “That love was on its way to meet him, and he had a strange adventure in his future.”

“What’d you tell Raylen? I didn’t hear his fortune,” Gemma asked as she switched off the lights.

“I didn’t do his,” Liz answered. “He was my wingman and we didn’t have time to see what the earth, wind, and fire could conjure up for him. We’ll have to read his cards next time around. Good night and thanks for inviting me.”

“It’s me who’s thankin’ you. I’ll probably see you tomorrow at the café,” Gemma said.

Liz and Raylen were both quiet on the way to her house until he parked in front of the porch. “You had a glow about you when you read the cards. It was downright exotic. You belong in a carnival, not on a horse ranch. I don’t like to admit that, but it’s the truth.”

The evening had plumb worn Liz out. When she worked at the carnival, her hours were different. She worked until midnight, spent an hour locking everything up, another one talking to Blaze or Tressa and her mother, and then slept until midmorning. Tomorrow the alarm would go off at five. It didn’t care if she’d told fortunes until midnight or if she’d gone to bed at ten o’clock. The café opened at six, and customers were usually sitting in their cars waiting for the doors to be unlocked.

Raylen got out of the truck, helped Liz out and walked her to the door, waited while she opened it, and stepped inside without being asked.

“Raylen, it’s late,” she said.

“I want three minutes of your time,” he said.

She cocked her head to one side. “Why?”

“I want you to dance for me,” he said.

“Why? Haven’t you seen a belly dancer before, or do you think that because you just told me that I belong in a carnival that I’ll pack up and leave tomorrow morning?” she asked.

He shook his head. “You are so beautiful, and I’ve imagined you dancing all evening. Please?”

“Okay,” she agreed.

She picked out a song on her phone and started it. Raylen settled into one recliner while Blister claimed the other and Hooter slept on the floor in between. Liz went to the middle of the floor and turned her back. When the music started, her hands were up, with her shawl tangled up in them and one leg slightly cocked outward. Her body and the music became one entity.