February Fever Read Online Free PDF Page B

confession.
    â€œThere’s a little thing I forgot to tell you.”
    She, Jed, and I were squeezed in my car, pulling into the Detroit Lakes train station on the north end of a town fifty miles north of Battle Lake. We were all in and committed to this trip, which is why Mrs. Berns’s latest sentence struck me with the same foreboding that I imagine General Custer must have felt when his scout said, “Sir, I think we may have underestimated.”
    â€œWhat little thing?” Trying to quell the sudden greasy feeling in my stomach, I steered the car into the last open slot, tucked in the rear next to a mountain of plowed snow. I turned off the ignition and gave her my full attention.
    â€œYou know how there was only one sleeper car left, and Jed was lucky to even get a ticket in coach class?”
    Jed and I both nodded.
    â€œIt’s because this is a special train.”
    I cocked my head. “Like the Polar Express?”
    â€œMore like a seventies-era Studio 54 on rails.”
    â€œRock on, dude,” Jed chimed in from the back seat. I didn’t think he was familiar with the famous bacchanalian New York nightclub. He must have just liked the sound of the seventies .
    â€œThe AmeriTrain?” I asked, doubtfully. “I went to their website yesterday. If it came out of any decade, it was the eighties.”
    â€œDid you look at the specialty trains?”
    My stomach dropped. I had a feeling I was about to find out why Mrs. Berns had been so eager to head to Portland that she’d moved heaven and earth to make it happen. “No.”
    She handed me a circular. Typing up bad news was apparently the latest, coolest way to deliver it. The paper was dotted with pink and red hearts designed to look like they were exploding from a heart-shaped box of candy. The chocolate inside the box was arranged to spell out the words Valentine Train . Underneath:
    Join us on AmeriTrain’s first annual Valentine Train! Singles encouraged. Guests will have the opportunity to meet and mingle during on-board dances, classes, and experiences! Book your seat now. Filling fast.
    Below that were limited routes and dates. The February 12 Miss-Sea we were about to board was one of them. “You knew about this before I even told you about Johnny going to Portland,” I accused. My throat was tight.
    Mrs. Berns patted my hand in a pitying gesture. “Mira, Mira, Mira. That is true. But don’t be a dumb bunny. You think the Fates would have thrown this all together if we hadn’t been meant to go? I’ve been working for weeks on a way to get you on this train with me, and Johnny plopped it right into our lap. How could we resist such a set of bee’s knees?”
    â€œWow, man,” Jed said from the back seat. “That is wild, if you think about it. It’s like you were meant to go to Portland.”
    â€œAnd Kennie’s package ?” I stabbed my thumb toward the trunk, where a squarish bundle wrapped in butcher paper lay. It was the size of a small microwave, about as heavy, and neither ticked, meowed, nor smelled of marijuana. I thought those were fantastic qualities in baggage. Still, I didn’t feel good about transporting it, especially with Kennie unwilling to let us know what was inside.
    â€œRight?” Jed said, missing my sarcasm. “Kennie’s package, too. Dude, the Universe wants you to go to Portland. It’s a good thing you’re listening.”
    I almost rolled my eyes but didn’t want to squelch Jed’s eternal optimism. It wasn’t his fault that I was not a social person, that the phrases “Valentine Train” and “meet and mingle” made my ovaries shrivel. I was in a relationship, so it wasn’t the fear of rejection. Rather it was the safe knowledge that every time I interacted with a new person, it was one more chance to put my foot so deep down my mouth that the appendage ended up where it