Darn Good Cowboy Christmas

by Carolyn Brown

  “I guess so,” Liz said.

  Colleen stared right into Liz’s eyes. “Don’t break his heart.”

  Liz didn’t blink. “I won’t.”

  Liz expected more but Colleen looked out the window at the truck pulling into the parking lot. “I’m staying at the ranch tonight. Raylen says your place looks like the Griswold house. I’m looking forward to seeing it.”

  “It’s the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen. I’ve got presents under the tree, and it’s huge. Oh, I’ve been meanin’ to ask you if we could borrow your tables next Wednesday night, Gemma. Colleen, did Gemma tell you everyone is invited? I can’t wait for y’all to meet all my carnie family,” Liz said.

  “Wow!” Colleen said.

  “Is that sarcasm?” Liz asked.

  Colleen tilted her head toward the door. “Hell, no! Look! I ain’t seen nothing like…”

  “Blaze!” Liz shouted, crossed the floor in a dead run, and jumped into his waiting arms.

  “Hi, sweetheart! Who is that gorgeous redhead?” he whispered.

  Liz’s answer was somewhere between a laugh and a groan. Colleen and Blaze! The devil would be line dancing in heaven to Charlie Daniels’s “Devil Went Down to Georgia” before Texas was big enough for that combination.

  “There’s two women back there. You sure you’re lookin’ at the redhead?”

  He spun her around and set her down. “That gorgeous one with the dark red hair and the jean jacket is who I’m seeing. Introduce me if you know her,” he said.

  “I planned on it.” She picked up his hand and led him to the table. “Gemma and Colleen, this is my best friend, my surrogate brother and cousin, and part of my carnie family, Blaze. Darlin’, meet Gemma and Colleen, Raylen’s two sisters.”

  Colleen held out her hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  Blaze’s eyes never left her green ones as he shook her hand, holding it longer than necessary before letting go and turning to Gemma. “I understand you’ve been a big help in getting everything ready for Lizelle’s Christmas party.”

  “We just call her Liz.” Gemma looked from Colleen to Blaze.

  The man was dressed in black jeans and a black T-shirt that hugged a six-pack of hard abs and strained at the bulging biceps. His hair was blond, in need of a decent cut, and his eyes as dark as Liz’s. He had two days’ worth of light brown scuff that matched his eyebrows, a slight dent in his chin, and dimples when he smiled.

  He wasn’t a bit sexier than Ace or even Wil, but Colleen looked like she could see underneath all that black and could eat him instead of turkey and dressing for lunch.

  “Order up!” Jasmine yelled.

  Liz grabbed Blaze’s arm. “Come on. You’ve got to meet Jasmine and…”

  “Hey, y’all! Got any special left? I’m starving!” Raylen yelled as he came through the door.

  “And Raylen,” Liz finished.

  They were like two tomcats that had just jumped on the yard fence at the same time. Time stood still. The sun was afraid to move. The clock stopped dead. Liz could see their fur fluffing out and their tails straighten up as they met in the middle of the café floor.

  Raylen extended a hand. “You have to be Blaze. Liz wasn’t expecting to see you until this evening. It’s nice of you to drive up here and surprise her.”

  Blaze intended to crunch Raylen’s hand, but he’d met his match. The cowboy’s handshake was as firm as his. “I couldn’t wait to see my favorite girl.”

  “Order up!” Jasmine called again.

  “Gotta go work. You want the special, Raylen?”

  He dropped Blaze’s hand.

  “Yes, darlin’, I want the special.” He brushed a quick kiss across her lips.

  Then he turned back to Blaze. “Come on and sit with me and my sisters. I’ll buy your lunch. Want some turkey and dressin’ or one of the best burgers in the world?”

  “I’d like one of those famous chicken fried steaks,” Blaze said.

  Raylen led the way to the table. “They’re really good.”

  Liz plowed through tension as thick as a rangy old bull’s hide all the way to the kitchen. She leaned on the doorjamb a minute before she picked up the tray. “Colleen was just barely a speed bump.”

  “It’s all relative. I’d say she was the speed bump that got you ready for the big hairpin curve.” Jasmine laughed. “He’s pretty, but he doesn’t make me have to go change my panties. Go on out there and sit with them. I’ll bring out the guy’s orders when they are done and meet him.”

  Liz whispered, “Colleen might need to buy some new underbritches or borrow a pair of yours.”

  Jasmine leaned away from the grill and peeked out at the table. “Well, I’ll be damned.”

  “I know. Raylen will kill me or worse yet break up with me. Blaze can charm the hair off a frog’s ass. Colleen doesn’t have a chance. And he’ll be gone in a week.”

  Jasmine shook her head slowly. “It’ll take more than a tight shirt and dimples to get Colleen’s britches wet.”

  Liz put on her best smile and carried out Colleen’s and Gemma’s orders. “Turkey and dressing for you, and bacon cheeseburger basket for you. Jasmine said she’d bring y’alls on out when it’s done.”

  Raylen pulled a chair from an empty table and wedged it in between him and Gemma. When Liz was seated he brushed a kiss across her forehead and sat down beside her, taking her hand in his and resting their laced fingers on top of the table.

  “Is everyone busy getting set up at the carnival?” she asked Blaze.

  “They were getting positioned. Marva Jo has been antsy for two days. She’s missed you. Is that your place south of here that looks like a North Pole store?” Blaze asked.

  “That’s it. Uncle Haskell made most of it,” she answered.

  “So you grew up next door to Uncle Haskell?” Blaze asked Colleen.

  She had a mouth full of food so she nodded.

  Liz glanced at Raylen. If looks could kill, Blaze would be a pile of cold bones on the café floor right then. And she didn’t even blame him. She’d told him about Blaze and his conquests and there he was, flirting blatantly with Colleen.

  “What do you think of Liz’s place?” Blaze asked Colleen.

  “Haven’t seen it since she moved in. I thought I’d drop by tonight and look at it. It’s all Raylen and Gemma have talked about all week,” Colleen said.

  “I’m going to help with the setup and see Momma, but I should be back by nine,” Liz told Colleen.

  “Orders for the guys,” Jasmine said at Liz’s elbow. “I’ve heard a lot about you, Blaze. Are you looking forward to a long, slow winter?” She set their food on the table, dragged a chair from the nearest table, and sat down.

  “Liz has talked about all of you. And yes, I’m looking forward to the winter this year but I’ll miss Liz. Thank goodness for cell phones so we can talk every night.” He turned his attention back to Colleen. “Will you be takin’ in the carnival?”

  “I haven’t been to a carnival since I was a kid.”

  “They keep a body young.” He smiled.

  Liz rolled her eyes at Jasmine. Colleen was a sheep being led to the slaughter by a wolf.

  “I’d think all those terrifying rides would scare a few years off a person,” Colleen said.

  Liz cut her eyes around to Colleen. There was heat when she looked at Blaze but something else. Rock hard steel in her eyes said that she was attracted but she wasn’t rolling back on her heels and falling into a motel bed with him. If he liked what he saw, he was going to work for it.

  Gemma bounced a knee off Liz’s and winked when Liz looked her way. Suddenly everything looked much better. Raylen wouldn’t kill Blaze or break up with her. Blaze, bless his heart, didn’t have any idea that the gorgeous redhead was a panther, and he’d only tamed little house kittens.

  Blaze ate fast, complimented Jasmine on her cooking, flirted with Colleen, kissed Liz on the cheek, and told them all to come on out to the carnival an
d he’d see to it they had free armbands, so they could ride anything all evening without paying. Then he was gone and the static electricity in the café settled down.

  “Is he your aunt’s son or what?” Colleen asked.

  “It’s a long story but I’ll give y’all the short version. We winter about halfway between Amarillo and Claude, Texas. We’re sixteen miles from Amarillo and fourteen from Claude. My mother’s people had a lot of land in that area when the depression hit, and they sold it to buy a small carnival. They kept enough to park the carnival for the winter months, and that’s where we’ve always gone the week before Thanksgiving. The nearest neighbor is half a mile up the road and they had a daughter, Mary Lou, who was friends with Aunt Tressa. She got mixed up with a hippy group that decided to go to Wyoming and grow their own food when she was about eighteen. That lasted until she got pregnant and decided she’d rather grow longhorns than tomatoes. She came home and had the baby. Her folks died the year after he was born in a small plane crash going to Brownsville. Her dad had a heart attack at the controls and it went down. Then she got cancer and died when Blaze was fourteen. Aunt Tressa took him to raise. So he’s not blood kin but just heart kin as Aunt Tressa says.”

  “What about the ranch where he lived?” Gemma asked.

  “By the time Mary Lou died, she’d sold it off to pay for medical bills until all that was left was a small trailer and two acres. Aunt Tressa sold that and put it in a trust for Blaze, gave him a job, and he’s been a carnie ever since.”

  “How did he feel about being jerked out of one world and tossed into another?” Colleen asked.

  “He loved it from day one. He told me that he used to hang on the fence out by their place as we drove away in the spring and wish he could go with us. He’s got that hippy blood in him from his biological father, I guess.”

  “Who was?” Gemma asked.

  “His name was Jamey.”

  “Why’d she name her baby something like Blaze?” Jasmine asked.

  “I asked Aunt Tressa that back before he came to live with us. She said Mary Lou didn’t want him to have a common name. She was going to name him Phoenix like the bird that rose from the ashes. But when she was in labor she said it was like blazing fire, so that’s what she named him. And there’s no middle name. Just Blaze McIntire.”

  Gemma dropped the spoon she’d been fiddling with. “He’s Irish?”

  “To the bone. Mary Lou was an O’Riley and Jamey was a McIntire.”

  “Imagine that.” Colleen smiled.

  Chapter 17

  Liz felt like she’d gone home when she walked onto the grounds. Everyone waved, yelled, or came out to hug her, tell her how much they’d missed her and/or ask when she was coming back. It was half an hour before she reached the middle of the concession row where Tressa helped Joe and Linda, a couple that had been with the carnival for twenty years, set up the awning to the side of the funnel cake wagon.

  Liz hugged all three and asked, “Where’s Momma?”

  “She just headed into the Porta-Potty. She’ll be out in a minute. Hold up this pole,” Tressa said.

  Tressa had flaming red hair and aqua-colored eyes. She was taller than Liz but at fifty-six, she still had the same slim build. She wore jeans, a denim jacket, and lace-up work boots with steel toes. Joe was a tall, lanky man with a crop of gray hair that always needed cutting. Linda was a short woman with mousy brown hair and big green eyes.

  Liz held up the poles while they stretched the awning. When they finished, they all headed to a semitrailer to bring folding tables and chairs to set up under the awning. Rain or shine, folks liked to sit and visit while they ate, and it brought more sales.

  Liz leaned on the funnel wagon and watched for her mother.

  “Hey, kid!” Marva Jo said.

  Liz turned and wrapped her arms around her mother. “I was lookin’ the wrong way. You snuck up on me. I missed you so bad.”

  She hugged Liz close to her and then stepped back to give a thorough once-over. “You have put on five pounds. Much more, and your belly dancing belt will be too tight.”

  Blaze appeared out of nowhere. “Is she tellin’ you about that cowboy who won’t let her out of his sight and all her new girlfriends? She doesn’t miss us a bit. Don’t let her lie to you.”

  Liz shot daggers at him. “You will always be in my life even if you are not in my sight and even if I’m mad at you.”

  “Mad at me! I came all the way up to Podunk, Texas, to see you and you’re mad at me?” Blaze asked.

  “I’m mad at you for saying that about not missin’ my momma. I’m so mad at you that I might even stomp on your hat,” she said.

  “You never did tell me what happened about that. See, she doesn’t even confide in me anymore, Marva Jo. She doesn’t love any of us,” Blaze teased.

  “Children, this is no time to fight. We’ve got work to do and lots of it,” Tressa said. “Blaze, get back to the Ferris wheel. And you, young lady, come help your momma work on the fortune wagon so we can visit. We’ve got to have this show up and ready before we go to bed tomorrow night, because the people will arrive at ten o’clock on Thursday.”

  Liz took a deep breath. She’d missed the smells of setting up, the oil and the dust. She’d missed the sounds of the drills and hammers, the horses complaining about being cooped up in a truck, and the people all talking at once as they worked. But most of all, she’d missed her mother. She looped her arm through Marva Jo’s and they headed off toward the brightly colored fortune telling wagon together.

  “All we have to do is check the electricity and snap down the wires,” Marva Jo said. “Blaze couldn’t wait to see you. He says your friends are okay, that one named Colleen is knock-down gorgeous, and that Raylen is not what he expected.”

  Liz waved at everyone they passed: vendors, hawkers, ride managers, and the maintenance crews. She knew them all by name. Knew their kids’ and grandkids’ names. Knew where they went home to winter after they had parked their wagons in Claude the week before Thanksgiving. And she’d missed every one of them.

  “Did you hear me, Lizelle?” Marva Jo asked.

  “Why did you full-name me? I was listenin’. I just want to see everything and everyone and can’t do that and talk, too. What did Blaze expect out of Raylen?”

  Marva Jo was six inches taller than her daughter, had strawberry blond hair and blue eyes. She was heavier than her sister but still looked damn fine in tight jeans and a fitted Levi’s jacket.

  “The way you’ve talked about him, Blaze said he thought he’d be six feet tall, bulletproof, and sitting on a big white horse.” Marva Jo threw an arm around Liz’s shoulders.

  “He’s five feet ten inches tall, has dark hair with red highlights when he gets in the sun, the clearest blue eyes you’ve ever seen, even lighter than yours, and he fell off his pedestal the first time we had a big fight,” Liz said.

  “And what was that over?” Marva asked.

  “Blaze. I was talking to him on the phone and ignored Raylen who was putting up my Christmas lawn things so everything would be beautiful for y’all. And he forgot his hat and I threw it at him. He got mad because of his damned precious hat so I stomped it too!”

  Marva Jo laughed. “And I bet you dropped down on your knees and apologized and made nice, didn’t you?”

  “Hell, no! I plowed right into his house and told him he was a horse’s ass. His best friend is this bitchy woman that hates me. At least Blaze didn’t act like he was better than Raylen like Becca does me.”

  Marva Jo laughed even harder. “How’d he react to a woman calling him names?”

  Liz had backed herself into a corner. She took a deep breath and spit it out. “When I went into his house I saw that damned precious hat so I slapped it on my head and plowed right into the bathroom like a bulldozer. He was in the shower, so I jerked the curtain back and we had our fight right there. When I got my piece said, he jerked me in the shower, clothes and all, and kissed me.”

&
nbsp; Marva Jo really guffawed. “Now that’s a man I could like. He’ll keep you on your toes. What happened to the hat?”

  “He pitched it on the vanity before he jerked me in the shower.”

  Marva Jo couldn’t stop laughing.

  “What did Blaze tell you about Colleen?” Liz asked.

  Marva Jo swiped at her eyes with the cuff of her jacket. “He is smitten. Something I never thought I’d say about him, but after he told us about where you work, that girl was all he wanted to talk about. Here we are. I’ll run the cord out to the main box and plug it in. You check the inside and out for burned bulbs. If it’s all good, we’ll snap it down.”

  Liz knew exactly what to do, and when she’d made sure everything worked, she yelled out across the lawn where Marva Jo was talking to Tressa, “It’s all good. Where we goin’ next?”

  “To the midway. Fred needs someone to unpack and hang stuffed animals,” Marva Jo said.

  Liz hopped down from the porch where she’d danced at least twice a week for the past decade and walked with her mother toward the middle of the grounds. She’d always liked the Bowie gig. They had lots of room, and the grass was nice. She didn’t like playing in Denton where they set up on concrete. Spilled drinks and food were messier to clean up on concrete than grass so they had to hose it down every morning. When they set up on dirt and grass there was little cleanup except for picking up paper. The birds ate what food was dropped, and the ground soaked up the liquids.

  Marva Jo hopped up into the back of a semi and handed Liz a cardboard box. “Are you smitten with Raylen?”

  “Maybe. Stack another one on top.”

  “What are you going to do about it? You’ve got to be honest with him, Lizelle.”

  She shrugged her shoulders. “See what happens. Right now I’m just happy where we are. We’re having fun being together. I’m not in a hurry.”

  “That’s good. Maybe you’ll decide to come home. I’m thinkin’ about shooting my brother.” Marva Jo dragged three boxes to the edge of the truck and jumped down. She added another one to Liz’s and then picked up the remaining two and led the way to the gallery.