Page 5 of Audon

“I remember that. We looked for the baby for about two hours before we were notified that it was just the two of them in the car. Nasty accident that was.” Penrod shivered. “I think that it was the worst accident that I’ve ever come across. They were so young.”

“I heard.” Audon looked around the room, trying to find anything to capture his attention. There were lots of women dressed up in silk gowns, but none of them looked like anyone that he’d date. Most of them had escorts anyway, and he didn’t want to intrude on their night. He looked at his brother when he said his name. He pointed out Bruno and the Banton woman. “She’s beautiful.”

“I think so as well. Not as pretty as Lori is, but she could come in a close second. Look at all that red hair. I wonder if the baby had any of that color.” He’d forgotten that the baby had been at the hospital when the accident had occurred. Ms. Banton had been surrogate for her sister and brother-in-law. It had been all over the papers when the accident happened. “You should ask her out. I know that she and Bruno aren’t dating. He told me that he was her bodyguard. She’s having trouble with Pete Jacobson of all people.”

“Pete is the older one, right? What kind of trouble could he be causing?” He told him what he had heard through the grapevine. “Peter needs to be in prison. His dad had bailed him out enough where I think he must be having money troubles. Some of Peter’s antics have been really bad.”

“He’s currently sitting in jail as we speak. He stole a car from the dealership last night and went on a joy ride. Totaled the car, damaged a house and their yard while trying to evade the police. He’s a real good catch.” He decided to go and talk to her, but dinner was being called. “Thank goodness. I thought they were just going to have those little plates of food for the rest of the night.”

“I told you there was food. That’s the only way you said you’d come with me.” They found their names at a table and sat down. When Bruno came to sit with them, he looked around for Trinity. She was talking to the host of this thing. “She must be one of the speakers. Is that right?”

“Yes.” The three of them shook hands. “She’s not thrilled about it, but I guess they had a last-minute cancellation and they asked her. She’s going to bore the lot of us with her speech, she told me. I’ve not read it over, but she said that she was going to make it so they didn’t ask her again to speak.”

The three of them got a kick out of that, and when two more couples joined them, they went around the table introducing themselves. The Millers and the Coopers were from Columbus and had been given tickets to this thing from their lawyer. At five hundred dollars a plate, that was quite a generous gift. But he didn’t say anything. His ticket and his brother’s were free because he was getting an award.

When Trinity joined them, they stood up and shook her hand. She was a slight woman and had a well-shaped body. The dress she had on showed all her curves and dips, and he found himself stone hard, wondering if there was a way to get her out of the dress soon. Looking around, he tried to tell himself that he’d only just met her and that could be trouble, but he also knew that she was off limits to him, as Bruno seemed to be taking his escorting her very seriously. He doubted that he could get within five feet of her tonight.

Dinner was good. Not great but good enough to fill the void. He and Penrod had gotten steaks, and when he saw Bruno eating his, he wanted to laugh when he didn’t even eat half of it. Like he’d said, it was good. After their plates were cleared away and the sweet trays were brought out, he got fruit and so did Penrod. He noticed that neither Trinity nor Bruno ate anything from the tray and thought that was good. He didn’t care for sweets either. Wondering where his head was tonight, he tried to make himself think of the canvas that he was working on at home. That could get him out of the mindset of thinking about Trinity. They’d barely spoken a word to each other, and here he was trying to figure out if she was braless or not. Not to mention, was she wearing a pair of panties. Shaking his head, he looked at the couple next to him.

“Did you have any trouble finding this place?” Lame, he knew, but it started a conversation with them. After a few minutes of them telling him about how they’d gotten lost twice, he changed the subject. They talked with him for nearly twenty minutes before the host introduced Trinity as their guest speaker.

She didn’t bring up her family, and he was glad for that. It must have been hard on her with a new baby as well as losing her family. But she did talk about the donations that she’d made to the hospital and how she hoped that someday it would help someone as much as it did her in recent weeks. He wondered if she meant her family that had died and was surprised that she’d even speak about them. They had both died, and it didn’t seem to him that they’d utilized much in the way of the hospital when they were there. But he didn’t know enough about it to make a comment on what she’d been talking about. He stood up with the rest of the people when her speech was finished. Now it was time for the awards.

Audon heard his name called about halfway through the awards part. Walking up to the podium, he’d already figured out what he was going to say. Very little, as a matter of fact. Thanking the board for the award, he said he’d do it again for them if they wanted. He really had enjoyed painting the murals on the walls and was glad that he’d been asked to do it. As he was sitting down, someone patted him on the back, and it took him a few seconds to realize that it was Bruno. Hugging the man, they both sat down, and he set his award next to him.

It was a nice addition to the other awards he’d gotten over the years and would be put with the others on the shelf in his studio. His mom would get a kick out of it and go on about her pride in him, but that would be the last time anyone saw it. He wasn’t big on flashing around the things he got to do because he enjoyed working on the job.

He mingled around the room after the awards were given out. He was having a good time with his brother and thought perhaps he’d bring him to all his events. He kept him out of trouble and having a good laugh once in a while. He was the perfect counter to his own sense of humor. He caught himself looking for Trinity Banton when he was wandering around. He asked Penrod if he’d seen her.

“She left with Bruno.” He had never felt such disappointment before. “Yeah, I guess she said she had a headache and just wanted to get home. I’m sorry you missed her. Are you thinking of asking her out? I hear that she’s hard on men.”

“Why would you know that?” They both laughed. “Yeah, I was going to see if she wanted to go out to dinner some night. I know that some of her time is with the baby, but the two of us could have some fun.”

“You just want to get laid.” He looked at his brother, shocked, and told him to behave. “I thought I was. Anyway, she said that she’d talk to me tomorrow about the accident. I guess she wants all the gory details about what went down. I told her that we had pictures of the accident and she wants to see them too. She’s wondering if they either one suffered.”

“I doubt her brother-in-law did. Wasn’t he decapitated? I mean, there couldn’t have been much time for him to have gotten hurt like that.” He said that he was dead on impact. “Christ, I really don’t want to know anymore. I’m not even sure that I’d want to know if it was one of you guys. That would hurt me something terrible.”

They drove home careful of the rain. It had been raining the night that killed her family, and he didn’t want to think about how much that was the cause of the things that killed the two of them. Just as they were pulling into Penrod’s driveway, he turned to him. Handing him a slip of paper, he said that it was Trinity’s phone number.

“I can’t take that.” He asked him why not. “She didn’t give it to me, and I’d feel bad if she was pissed off at you for sharing it. I mean, I appreciate it; I would love to be able to call her up, but I’m going to do it the old-fashioned way and not because she trusted you to have it.”

“I never thought of it like that.” He put the number back in his wallet. “I will tell her if you want that you were looking for her. She might want me to give it to you then.”

“I’ll go by her house sometime. I’m to understand that she’s living in the sisters’ house.” He said that she was. “I know where that is. I’ve done some work around that area a few times. And I did the mural for the child’s room about six months ago. I know where she lives. Have you seen the house? It’s huge. I think it might have a few more bedrooms in it than yours does.”

“It’s in a large, homed area. I think we saw her other home yesterday when Stamos and I were looking at houses. The realtor let it slip that the house was on the market because of a death in the family. It’s a lovely home but smaller than either one of us wants. I don’t know why I have it in my head to have six bedrooms, but I do. The house only has three. And no place to put a studio. That’s mainly what I’m looking for. A place that has an extra lot or two so that I can build.”

“What about the studio you have now? I mean, how long have you had it?” He said that the only reason he paid so much for it is that he knew that it could be moved. “Smart man. I guess that makes sense. If you’ve already built the building, there is no point in leaving it behind. Plus you’ve gotten used to where things are.”

“I have. That doesn’t mean that I won’t move things around to suit myself when I rebuild. And for the right price, I’d leave it too to start over. I don’t have things that I want to do set in stone. Just on the house having some bedroom space.” He asked him if he thought that he’d have a bunch of kids. “Or adopt. And if the right woman doesn’t come along, I’ll still adopt. I’m a wealthy man and can afford the best if I go that route.”

After dropping off his brother, he made his way home. He thought about Trinity once again but pushed her out of his mind. He had a small crush on her, and he was over that. Right now, all he wanted to do was to get some sleep and work tomorrow.

Putting his award out where his mom could see it the next time she came over, he made his way up to his room. He couldn’t wait to get out of the condo, but he wasn’t going to rush things either. Having a house was the last thing that he needed right now, but if one came along that he wanted, then he’d purchase it. He was excited about finding himself someone to share it with too, but again, that was the last thing on his mind right now.

Chapter 3

Her cell phone was ringing when she got up. Not having any idea who it was, she left it to go to voicemail. They’d leave a message or not, but she didn’t care. Today was Lizzy’s appointment, and she was going to find out if she was doing all right or not as her mother. That was her biggest concern.