Liz followed them into the barn. “After last night, you’ll be wiped completely out by end of shift.”

“Didn’t you work seven nights a week at the carnival?” Colleen asked.

“Guess I did in one capacity or the other,” Liz answered. “We were set up and running four nights a week. I did fortunes two or three of those. We were usually tearing down and moving two days and setting up the next day. Those days it was all hands on deck from daylight to way past midnight. We slept and ate when we could.”

“Do you miss it?” Colleen asked but she looked at Raylen.

“Of course. Would you miss blackjack?”

“I’d miss the excitement. There’s something about people who gamble. They are…” Colleen stopped.

“Electric,” Liz finished for her.

“That’s it. There’s static in the air and excitement,” Colleen said with a nod.

“I imagine it’s like a carnival inside a building.” Liz smiled.

“How can you leave all that behind for a dog and a cat and a waitress job?” Colleen asked as she stripped a table of its orange plastic cloth, wadded it up and tossed it in an oversized trash can.

“What would it take for you to leave your job behind?” Liz cleared cups, plates, and napkins from the next table.

Colleen stripped off another tablecloth and shoved it into the trash can before she answered. “I’m not sure, but it would have to be huge.”

“How huge?” Liz asked.

“Bigger than a waitress job at the Chicken Fried—and an old dog with arthritis and a temperamental mama cat,” Colleen said.

“Hooter and Blister and my job are pretty big in my dream world,” Liz said.

She didn’t add Raylen or her house and land into the mix. Raylen had waved at her when she arrived, but that’s all she got, which wasn’t a lot after the hottest sex on the face of the earth. Maybe he wanted a friend with benefits. He could wish in one hand and spit in the other and see which one filled up fastest if that’s what he had in mind. Liz wanted a whole lot more than that.

Colleen’s cell phone rang, and she dug it out of her hip pocket. “Hello… Yes, I can… Be there as soon as I can… Good-bye.”

She ended the call and put the phone back in her pocket. “My plans just got changed. That was my boss. One of the other dealers has the flu so I’m drawing down some serious overtime. Have fun. Gemma should be here soon,” she said on her way out the door.

Liz heard the truck engine pull away from the barn before she crossed the floor of the arena and propped her hands on her hips. “I won’t be a friend with benefits,” she spat out.

“I didn’t ask you to,” he said.

“Then why did you act like last night didn’t even happen?”

“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.” He took her hands in his and drew her close to his chest. “I didn’t know how you wanted to play it. If you want me to, I’ll crawl up on the barn roof and shout that we slept together last night so loud folks over in Oklahoma can hear me.”