“I’m a lot of cheap talk,” Madeline admitted. “The truth is, I’m pretty traditional at heart. I want to fall in love, settle down, get married and have some kids. You know, normal but not exciting. What about you?”

I want to see the world. The thought came out of nowhere and surprised Maya. See the world? Since when? Sure, she had her scrapbook, but it had been years since she’d added to it. She’d never been all that interested in the world beyond getting into network news. And she’d left that dream behind when she moved to Fool’s Gold.

It was Del’s pictures, she thought wistfully, remembering the slide show they’d shown the Saplings. So many interesting and beautiful places. She wanted to see them all.

“It wasn’t supposed to be a hard question,” Madeline told her.

“What? Oh, sorry. I got lost in something else. I want to be in love with someone who loves me back,” she said.

“But not home and hearth?”

“That would be nice, but it isn’t a requirement.” It had been once, she reminded herself. Until a few weeks ago. Was she figuring out a truth about herself, or was being in love with Del messing with her head? Hard to be sure.

They walked into The Man Cave. There was a life-size statue of a caveman right by the entrance. Several tourists were taking selfies with the statue.

Maya and Madeline walked past them and looked for their friends. They found Shelby and Destiny sitting at a table. Jo was with them.

“Scoping out the competition?” Maya asked with a laugh as they approached.

“No, this is pure fun for me. Will has something going on with a friend of his. So here I am.” She looked around. “It’s nice. A good vibe.”

“Wait until the live entertainment,” Shelby said, smiling at her sister-in-law Destiny. “It’s going to be amazing.”

Destiny sipped her glass of water. “You’re very loyal. I’m nervous. Being nervous isn’t a good thing.”

“You’ll be fine,” Jo said. “And if you’re not, who are we to judge?”

A reasonable sentiment, Maya thought, not sure it would help Destiny’s obvious case of jitters. The venue might be a local bar and the event simply karaoke night, but Maya knew it was more than that for Destiny.

She and her sister had recently signed a record deal with a Nashville label and were set to head to the studio in a few weeks. So she wasn’t simply a small-town girl out on a girls’ night.

Madeline grabbed Maya’s arm. “OMG. I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe.”

Maya turned to see her friend gesturing frantically with her free hand. Shelby looked up and grinned.

“Well, look at that.”

Maya turned and saw Shep of the search-and-rescue team had walked into The Man Cave with none other than Jonny Blaze.

The action superstar didn’t do anything other than accompany a friend to the bar. Even so, conversation momentarily dipped as everyone turned to stare. Most immediately went back to what they’d been doing before. A few tourists pulled out cameras.

“Nice-looking man,” Jo said, her voice very matter-of-fact. “Nothing as good as my Will, but still. Broad shoulders.”

Destiny nodded slowly. “He’s taller than I expected.”

“A lot of muscle,” Shelby added.

Maya smiled. “I like his eyes.”

“What is wrong with all of you?” Madeline asked, her voice low and breathy. “It’s Jonny Blaze. You can’t separate him into parts. He’s... He’s...”

“You should go say hi,” Maya teased.

Madeline glared at her. “I should not. Speak to him? Are you crazy?”

“Why not?” Destiny asked. “He’s just a person.”

“There’s no just. Don’t say just.” Madeline looked away, and then immediately swung her head back. “I can’t breathe.”

“If you can talk, you can breathe,” Jo told her. “What’s the big deal? Maybe he’d like to meet a local girl. You’re single, he’s single.”

Madeline put her hands on the table, then rested her head on them. “Kill. Me. Now.”

Maya patted her friend on the back. “You don’t want to die before you’ve slept with him, do you?” she asked teasingly. “Isn’t there a song about heaven only being a kiss away?”

Madeline straightened. “Ha, ha. Very funny. I get it. Totally. I’m basing my reaction to him on his looks, how he is in his movies and nothing real. But you know what? I’m okay with that. It’s fun. The reason I don’t want to meet him is that he might be a jerk. That would spoil everything.”

Shelby grinned. “You’re adorable when you go for logic.”

“You are.” Maya hugged her. “For what it’s worth, Phoebe says Jonny’s actually a very nice man. You sure you don’t want to go say hi?”

“I’m sure. Why on earth do I feel this way when I’m around him?” Madeline asked.

“It’s the movie-star thing,” Shelby told her. “The power in the tribe. We want to be close to the most powerful tribe member. It means survival. At least it did, you know, back when we still lived in caves. Whoever was the best hunter or soldier got the best lodgings and most food. That meant not dying when...” Her voice trailed off. “What?”

Maya saw they were all staring at Shelby. “You sort of morphed into someone else just then.”