“I’m on my way,” she answered.

“Well, now, that’s amazing news!” Blaze’s deep voice almost made her drop the phone.

“I thought you were someone else,” Liz said quickly.

“That’s disappointing,” Blaze said with a sigh. “I just woke up. I miss you. Come home.”

“I am home,” Liz told him. “I love it here and I can’t wait for you to see my new home.” She emphasized the last word. “It’s as big as our winter place, and I’ve got a barn and a dog and a cat and enough Christmas decorations to light up half of Texas. And Raylen is next door and he’s not married, Blaze. And I’m sitting here in my truck looking at the barn where we had a dress-up Halloween party last night, and I’m going to help Raylen with cleaning it all up this afternoon.”

Blaze laughed. “That sounds like you are trying to convince yourself. What did you say you did last night?”

“I was next door at a Halloween party,” she answered, “with a live band and open bar at the neighbors’ ranch—Raylen’s place—and I told fortunes.”

“Did you wear the turquoise dancing outfit as a costume?” Blaze asked.

“No, orange,” she answered and her face turned scarlet at the memories.

“And?” Blaze pressed.

“And Raylen took me home afterwards,” she said.

“Damn, Lizelle. Tell me what happened. I feel like I’m pulling teeth,” he groaned.

What had happened between her and Raylen was too personal and too intimate to even share with Blaze. “The setting was so easy because they had cauldrons with dry ice in them, so that gave me the wind, and fire came from a candle. Raylen brought dirt from outside to use. You showed up in one of the readings I was doing for a red-haired woman.”

“What’s her name, and how well do you know her?” His tone changed to the one she’d heard dozens of times when he was sweet talking a woman.

Liz bit back a giggle. “Her name is Colleen and she’s Irish to the bone. She’s got deep green eyes. You’ll meet her when you come to visit when you are here for the Bowie gig. She’s Raylen’s sister and she works as a blackjack dealer at a casino over the border in Oklahoma.”

“And what card did you see?” Blaze asked.

“Oh, no! I don’t kiss and tell, not even to you, when it comes to cards. It was her personal future. If you want me to read the cards for you then you have to come see me at my house. I won’t even do a reading for you when I visit y’all at the carnival,” Liz told him.

“Tressa can do it anytime I want,” he threatened.

“Yes, she can. I don’t think you’d like Colleen anyway. She’s independent as hell and doesn’t stutter when she speaks her mind. The first time you looked at another woman she’d tie your carcass to an altar and cut off your family jewels. The cards must’ve been wrong to even suggest that you’d meet her in the future, or else they were right and you’d better go on down to the funeral home in Claude and get fitted for a casket.”