September Fair by Jess Lourey Page A

even own permanent markers. I hadn’t migrated to Battle Lake expecting to change my lousy luck with the opposite sex. In fact, I hadn’t even moved there expecting to find a guy who used correct verb tense, so when Johnny sailed into my life all open and sweet and smart, I didn’t know what to do with him. Keeping him at arm’s length had worked okay so far, but I could feel my reserve crumbling. The thing about guys, though, is that the closer you let them in, the more it hurts when they’re gone. I’d already learned that lesson too well, and twice. “He’s coming to the State Fair?”
    “Saturday. His band’s playing. They just booked it, filling in for a cancellation. He made me promise not to tell you, but as your friend, I couldn’t do that. He shows up to surprise you, and there you are all tree-frog ugly with your hair uncombed and wearing no makeup. Ugh.”
    “I never wear makeup, Kennie.”
    She pursed her lips and nodded, her expression saying, and see where it got you?
    I changed the subject to distract from the sudden thrumming in my rib cage. Johnny was coming to the State Fair, and honestly, there’s nothing like seeing your crush on stage, shaking his hair and singing for strangers, to make a gal hot. It’s primal. It’s mysterious. It explains how Roy Orbison and Tom Petty ever got laid. “So you’re up to see the sights?”
    “Oh no, baby. That’s not a tax write-off. I’m up here to work.” Kennie said this loud, as if the IRS may have planted a hidden microphone behind the lava lamp. “Battle Lake has a booth here, for one day only. It’s going up a week from this Saturday, on ‘I Love the Fair!’ day. All the proceeds will go to the municipal liquor store. I wanna get in some of that vodka with gold flecks in it, but Bobbie said we can’t order stuff that might not sell unless she’s got more cash in the pot.”
    I furrowed my brow. I had never fully understood the concept of city-owned liquor stores, though the financial investment had made sense the more time I’d spent in Battle Lake, where Old Milwaukee was one of the four food groups. That aside, a Battle Lake fundraiser at the State Fair actually sounded like a pretty good idea, which made me suspicious. Kennie was known for her ideas, but not one of them had been pretty good. In fact, most of them weren’t even legal. “How’re you going to raise the money? Specifically, what kind of booth is this going to be?”
    “That’s a big ’ol surprise.”
    Uhn-hunh. Thought so. “And you need to be here a week early to set up?”
    “Yes.” She raised her voice. “I must work while I am here at the Minnesota State Fair.” She drew it down to a whisper. “But between you, me, and the wall, I’m going to also reacquaint myself with one Mr. Neil Diamond.”
    Any camaraderie Mrs. Berns had shared with Kennie at my expense vanished. “Whatdya mean, ‘reacquaint’?”
    Kennie fluttered fake, glitter-sprayed lashes. “A girl’s gotta have her secrets. But if you insist. I have a little history with Neil. We shared a special night many years ago. I think he’ll be pleased to see me again.”
    “Were there five thousand other people there, sharing this special night? And did you have to pay to get into this special night, and was there stadium seating?”
    “Now, now, Mrs. Berns. No need to be jealous.”
    Mrs. Berns scowled, then grabbed me by the arm and led me to the back of the trailer into the only room with a door. I saw she had already laid her clothes across the bed, and had my suitcase packed near the door. “If you tell her I have backstage passes, I’ll pee on you while you’re sleeping.”
    My eyes widened. “Was that called for? Couldn’t you just ask me to please not tell?”
    “If she finds out, she’ll steal those passes from me as sure as you and I are standing here. I know how weak you are. You cave at the drop of a hat. Now, you keep my secret, and I’ll throw in a little something extra for