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If only she’dsooner, then she would have had more notice and she could have transferred s money market But that took a minimum of two days Plus, it would be risky, because that ed to Zeke and it was supposed to be for eht, but not the kind she and Zeke had scrimped and saved for

She pulled into the parking lot with ten minutes to spare After a quick peek in the minivan’s rearview mirror to make sure she didn’t look like a oman, she hustled into the studio A reeted her at the door He was bald with a neck tattoo and wore a cowboy hat

“You must be Mimi Grant,” he said in a not-too-friendly way “I’ot the check?”

“Actually, I don’t, but I can explain,” she rushed to say

Instead of looking displeased, however, he smiled like he was relieved “Sorry, but no check, no performance”

“I understand, but we have some…complicated circumstances I can pay you the rest on Monday, plus a bonus for the inconvenience Say, another five hundred dollars to ht thousand even?” She was one hundred percent positive they’dabout the festival with a degree of enthusiasm that Mimi hadn’t heard in years And if by some miniscule chance, they didn’t make the e

“A contract is a contract Like I said, no check No band”

“But there’s hundreds of people who’ll be expecting Fatback Bubba to play! We’ve put up banners and done Facebook proanization, can’t you cut us some slack?”

“No can do Now, if we’re through here, I need to lock up the studio I got a lot of work to do and I have to drive to Tallahassee tonight, then drive back here to start packing up”

“Packing up?” Mi boxes “Where are you going?”

“Fatback Bubba has just been signed on to open for Billy Brenton,” he said proudly “Their first show is tonight and we only have a day to pack things up before we head to Pensacola on tour”

No wonder this Keith wasn’t so keen on the Spring Into Summer festival His band was about to hit the road with country est star! Mi “Isn’t there some e can resolve this? Maybe if…they played for just thirty ”

He chuckled “Sorry, lady, but a deal’s a deal”

She felt like all the air had been sucked fro to fix this? The toas expecting a well-known country western band at the festival She had less than forty-eight hours to come up with a substitute But how?