Darn Good Cowboy Christmas

by Carolyn Brown

  Marva Jo went to the refrigerator and took out a Diet Coke. “I like your Raylen. He reminds me of your father except that your father had jet-black hair and eyes, like you have. And he was much shorter than Raylen.”

  “Then what makes him remind you of my father?” Liz asked.

  “The way he looks at you. Just remember we are exotic to a gadjo for a little while. It didn’t last with your father. It won’t last with Raylen. Enjoy it while you have it and then let it go. Kind of like a butterfly on a pretty red flower. Stay until you tire of it and then fly away,” Marva Jo said.

  “What if I don’t get tired of it?” Liz fastened charm bracelets with little brass bells around her ankles.

  “It’s not up to you. He’ll get tired of it and then you’ll find out that the place for you is in the bosom of the carnie. He’s the only reason you went there and the only thing that holds you. When it’s over, you’ll come home. History repeats itself.”

  “What if it’s five years down the road and we’re in a committed relationship?” Liz asked.

  Marva Jo kissed her on the forehead, being careful not to mess up her makeup. “What ifs could go on all night. You haven’t forgotten the business like you did your ankle bracelets, have you? I wish you could dance tonight, but from what the weatherman says, it’s going to be too cold. Such is life this late in the year. Sometimes it’s nice and warm, and sometimes we don’t even make enough to pay the electricity bill.”

  “What did you think of Colleen and Gemma?” Liz asked.

  “I liked them but Colleen the best.”

  “You got to be shittin’ me!” Liz said.

  “No, I’m not shittin’ you and that’s a gadjo phrase which proves my point. Now get out of here and go do your job. You’ve got just enough time to get settled into the wagon and turn on the crystal ball light before your first customer.”

  She was on her way from the trailer to the carnival and had just waved at Blaze who was working the controls at the Ferris wheel when she heard someone yell her name. She was surprised to see Austin and Rye not five feet from her.

  “I almost didn’t recognize you,” Austin said.

  “It’s me in living color. I’m telling fortunes tonight. Tomorrow night they’ve got me working the shooting gallery and Aunt Tressa is working the fortunes, then Saturday night I’m back at fortunes. Y’all are brave souls in this weather.”

  “This is the only night we get to come, and I love carnivals. Rye took me to a carnival on one of our first dates. I make him take me to one whenever it’s close enough. Maddie is keeping Rachel for us,” Austin said. “I don’t care if I get wet. I’ve got dry clothes at home. And you didn’t look like that at the Halloween party. You wore a genie outfit.”

  Liz smiled. “You’re going to have to tell me the story of your romance when I have more time. Maybe we can all get together for a girls’ night out sometime. And that outfit was my belly dancing outfit; this is my official fortune telling costume.”

  “Name the place and time. Maybe we can have it at my house and you can teach us how to belly dance,” Austin said.

  Rye’s grin covered his face. “Can the guys have a guys’ night out and watch?”

  Austin kissed him soundly and giggled. “No, but you’ll reap the benefits of our learning, I’m sure.” She herded Rye off toward the Ferris wheel.

  Liz noticed the paint was beginning to chip on the fortune-teller’s wagon when she slipped inside and got it ready for business. She flipped a switch that turned on the recessed dim lights and another one that lit up the iridescent bulb at the base of the crystal ball. She struck a match and fired up two incense cones, and in a few seconds, the wagon smelled like sandalwood. Then she sat down and touched a button under the table that flipped a sign on the door to “ENTER.” While she was with a customer, she would touch the button again and the sign would flip over to say, “DO NOT DISTURB.”

  She had missed the business. She’d missed the feeling of waiting for the first customer, the smell of the incense, the tinkling bells when she crossed and uncrossed her legs, and the pretty light in the crystal ball. And most of all the excitement in the faces of those who got their fortunes told.

  Excitement!

  That reminded her of Raylen that morning and the intensity of quick sex. They’d never had slam, bam, thank you ma’am sex. But then she’d never made love in a shower or against the wall either. Raylen was a complex, exciting man that kept her on her toes. She looked into the crystal ball and saw her own distorted face smiling back at her.

  Chapter 19

  The door swung open and Liz looked up at her first customer of the evening.

  “Hello. Welcome to Madam Drabami’s Fortunes,” Liz said in a low voice.

  Becca took two steps and sat down across the small table from Liz. “I came to see if you’d changed your mind about my fortune.”

  “Cards, ball, or palm?” Liz strained to keep her tone professional.

  “What’s the difference?”

  “Palm is five dollars, cards and ball are twenty.”

  Suddenly, Liz didn’t miss fortune telling at all. She wanted to strip out of the costume, then go home to her dog and cat and Christmas decorations.

  Becca threw a twenty on the table. “Give me the works. Tell me that I’m going to marry Raylen when you move on and I pick up the pieces.”

  “I’ll tell you exactly what I see, not necessarily what you want to hear. Do you want to change your mind before I start?”

  Becca leaned across the table and said, “I don’t like you. You are a fake and you’re going to hurt Raylen.”

  “The works it is,” Liz said. “Please lay your hands, palms up, on the table.”

  Becca laid them out with a thump. “Didn’t you hear me?”

  “I did, but you didn’t put twenty dollars on the table to fight with me. You laid it out for a fortune. We can fight later. I don’t charge for that.” Liz picked up her hand. “I see a long, long life ahead of you. This line says you will be married for many years and this short one here suggests that you’ll marry again after that, but it won’t last long. I would think the first time you marry it will be for love, and when that love has passed on in your old age, you will look for it again and not find it.”

  Liz picked up the cards and shuffled them.

  “That could be anyone’s future,” Becca said.

  “It could be and it probably is for lots of people, but it is yours today,” Liz said.

  “I’ll cut the cards and turn them. I don’t want you to cheat,” Becca said.

  Liz handed the deck to her.

  Becca reshuffled them, cut them, and then laid the deck on the table. She turned over the top card.

  “Turn three side-by-side. One card can mean one thing but next to another one it takes on a very different meaning,” Liz said.

  Becca laid out two more cards and crossed her arms over her chest. “What does that mean?”

  “You will have exceptionally good luck for a little while and then a reasonable measure of success, but you are walking on the edge of the cliff when it comes to your romantic side, and one misstep can put you over the edge. Be careful, or you will trade true love and happiness for contentment.”

  Becca shivered. “Okay, now the ball.”

  Liz rubbed her hands over the glass ball and looked closely into it.

  Becca leaned in, but she saw nothing but her own face.

  “I see you at a birthday party. Is it yours?” Liz asked.

  “Could be. My birthday is the first week in November,” Becca said.

  Liz kept her eyes on the ball. Becca was a Scorpio. No wonder she was so biting with a scorpion for a zodiac sign.

  “You thrive under intensity. You like adversity, but your dreams are bearing down on you, and you have an ongoing thorn in your side right now. Balance is not easy for you. You are drawn like a moth to the flame when it comes to drama. You like to stir up trouble and you are good at it. You need to let g
o of the control issue in your life and let your heart lead you. Your mind and those around you want one thing, but your heart wants something different, Becca. The reason you are in conflict between heart and head is because you are walking close to the cliff when you give in to your head. Let your heart lead you away from the edge of that cliff, and success in romance, business, and life will be yours.”

  Becca was listening to the words and the soft tinkle of bells so intensely that she didn’t even hear the soft click. When a chilly wind circled around her, she thought it was the fortune hitting a home run to her heart. She pushed the chair back with so much force that she had to catch it before it fell as she stood up.

  “I don’t love Raylen,” she said bluntly. “I love him as a friend with all my heart. I’d kill for him as a friend, but I don’t want to marry him. Daddy has given me until June or he’s going to cut me off.”

  “Sit down.” Liz turned off the cold air.

  “How much more?” Becca opened her purse. Her face was ashen and tears welled up behind her eyelashes.

  “Nothing. This is not for sale at any price. I was raised in the carnival. I love it, but something in my heart keeps pointing me to another way of life. It’s not easy. I want both but that’s not an option. Momma says I have wings, not roots. Pulling the feathers out of my wings is not easy, but I do it every day because I’m determined to put down roots. Listen to your heart, Becca.”

  “I don’t want to be poor,” she whispered.

  “It’s the foreman, isn’t it?” Liz asked.

  Becca dabbed at her eyes with a tissue she pulled from her purse. “Taylor is his name. He’s ten years older than I am, and he asked me to marry him. Daddy will fire him on the spot and cut me off.”

  “You sure about that? Talk to your dad. Can’t do any more damage than what you’ve already worked up in your mind. Take Taylor with you and have an adult conversation with your father. Tell him you are ready to start working instead of playing. I bet you have a good head for organization and figures. It goes with the Scorpio sign,” Liz said.

  “Thank you,” Becca said. “Don’t tell Raylen.”

  “You’ll tell him when the time is right,” Liz said.

  Becca left and Liz pinched her nose between her thumb and forefinger for a full minute before she flipped the switch under the table that shot out a blast of chilly air and the one that turned the door sign to ENTER.

  ***

  Liz applied cold cream to her face after she’d removed her costume and dressed in jeans, a T-shirt, and lined denim jacket. She’d shut down the fortune telling business at ten and took a long look out across the midway: not much happening there. The Ferris wheel was still, and only the tilt-a-whirl was operating. There weren’t twenty people milling around, and no one had looked like they were interested in palm readings or crystal balls.

  She stomped her bare feet down into cowboy boots and hoped that the gyro wagon was still making sandwiches because she was hungry. It was her lucky night. She ordered two and a Diet Coke, found a seat under the awning, and sat down for a late supper. Before she could remove the paper wrapping from the first one and take a bite, Blaze had parked himself right beside her.

  “Thought I’d find you here. Hope it picks up tomorrow night, or we might as well pack it up and go on to west Texas,” he said.

  “Oh, no! You are coming to my house on Monday and staying until Thursday. Tuesday is rest up day and Wednesday night we’ve got a Christmas party in the barn. It’s all planned and invitations have already been given,” she said.

  “Who all has been invited?” he asked.

  “All the O’Donnell family. They’ve been good to me. And Ace and his hired help, which is four guys, and Wil and Pearl and their foreman, Jack and Jack’s family, and then Austin and Rye are coming with their baby girl, and Slade and his wife and girls and his granny and aunt. You’ve got to meet Ellen. She’s the grown-up, eighty-year-old version of the women you like,” Liz said.

  Blaze smiled brightly. “Darlin’, I wouldn’t miss your party for anything. Now talk to me about this O’Donnell family some more.”

  “The family or Colleen?” she asked.

  Blaze laughed. “You know me too well.”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “And I know you just as well. You are in love, but is it real love or are you in love with the idea of being in love? That’s the question you need to ponder in the crystal ball.” He pushed his wet hair back out of his gold-flecked eyes.

  Unlike most blonds, he had to shave every day or he had a heavy scruff. That night he’d shaved smooth and Liz caught a whiff of his most expensive shaving lotion.

  “So who’s the lucky lady who’ll be picking you up at midnight tonight?” She looked around.

  “Could have a date. Don’t have a date. Catching up on sleep tonight. Maybe tomorrow night someone will come along that takes my eye,” he said.

  Liz polished off her first gyro and unwrapped the second one. “I don’t know if she’s coming or not. Did you see Gemma tonight?”

  “Yes, with your boss lady. They rode the wheel twice and ate Indian tacos and cotton candy. I heard her tell Jasmine that Colleen was going to love the tacos tomorrow night.” Blaze grinned.

  “She has roots. Deep ones,” Liz said.

  “You have wings. Big ones,” he shot back.

  “Be careful, Blaze.”

  “I can’t. Not this time or I’ll lose what my heart really wants, and you can’t say a word because you’re floating the same boat as I am,” he said.

  “Yes, I am,” she admitted.

  He held up a beer. “Here’s to roots and wings. May they both have the ability to change.”

  “Last week you wouldn’t have said that. You were begging me to give my house back to Uncle Haskell and come back to the carnival. And love at first sight is…”

  He poked her playfully on the arm. “Love at first sight is bullshit. But the heart can reach out and know its soul mate at first sight, and then the love can come later.”

  Liz wadded up her papers and put them in the trash can at the end of the table. “Blaze, you are a romantic. Next thing you know, you’ll be sprouting roots.”

  “No I’m not, but I can hope someone else will sprout wings someday. Got to run. Tressa is motioning to me. I think she’s about to call it a night and shut up an hour early. See you tomorrow night?”

  “Oh, yeah. I’m running the dart gallery. Colleen ought to love it when she sees me hawking for customers,” she groaned.

  “We are what we are.” Blaze waved good-bye to her.

  ***

  Raylen opened the door when she walked up on the porch. Candles glimmered in the background and Christmas music floated out to meet her. He wore flannel pajama bottoms, no shirt, and he was barefoot.

  That much turned her into a whining bag of hormones. When he pulled her inside, kicked the door shut with his bare foot, and started a long series of long, lingering passionate kisses, she groaned.

  “Stop!”

  “Why?”

  “One more kiss and we’re going to bed and forgetting all dancing except for the horizontal kind,” she said.

  He took two steps back. “I’ve pictured this for days. I want the dance.”

  She took him by the hand and led him to the recliner. “Sit right here and I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  He wiggled.

  He squirmed.

  His hands were clammy, so he wiped them on his pajama legs.

  A fine bead of sweat broke out on his forehead. He wiped that away with a tissue from the box on the end table.

  He wanted her. He didn’t care if she danced or not.

  But she’d said she was looking forward to the dance and God only knew how bad it had affected him all week, so he waited.

  “Wait is a four-letter word,” he grumbled.

  He leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling. Sugarland was singing “Winter Wonderland.” He listened to the lyrics that said
that a new bird was there to stay, that he sang a love song as they walked in a winter wonderland. Well, he and Liz had been listening to a new love song and they damn sure had a winter wonderland out there in the front yard.

  The music changed right in the middle of the singer talking about facing the plans they’d made, unafraid, as they walked in a wonderland. Suddenly it sounded like snake charmer music, and Liz appeared out of the darkness, taking tiny steps toward the center of the room as her arms moved to the flute music, as if she were truly charming a snake.

  The drums started and she did a one-foot spin, landing on both feet so close to him that he gasped. Then she slowly turned around, her arms beckoning to him and her belly muscles rolling. The tempo picked up, and she leaned backwards until her black hair touched the floor, and she was looking at him upside down. When the flute took center stage again she rolled back up, each graceful move as subtle as it was sexy.

  She wore a different outfit that night and if possible, it was even sexier than the orange one. Turquoise hip-slung pants hugged her legs to the knees where ruffles in silver and lighter blue flirted with him every time she moved. A shimmering skirt was attached to the hip band and flowed down the back, and the bra was covered with beads that shook every time she shimmied.

  The music changed slightly, bringing in a piano and she did another one-foot spin and removed the skirt. Raylen had no idea where the long silver scarf came from, but when she wrapped it around her hips and kept time to the music with hip clicks and belly rolls, he could hardly sit still.

  The dance was so different than the orange one. The piano added a salsa flavor that had him sweating bullets by the time she started winding down with baby steps and shimmies that brought her closer and closer to him.

  When the last drum rolled and the flute stopped, she bent down and claimed his lips in a kiss so passionate that he couldn’t wait another minute to touch her. He wrapped his arms around her to find that she was heaving from all the exertion.

  “Hard work,” she panted.

  “Hard everything,” he gasped.

  Sizzling hot kisses started when he picked her up and carried her toward the bedroom. He laid her on the bed and fumbled with the tight pants until she reached behind her and unfastened a zipper. He tugged them off and tossed them to one side, without taking his lips from hers. He jerked his flannel bottoms off and was on top of her before she could even think about removing her hair jewelry or her bra.