Chapter 5: Midnight Call

“I was helping a spectator. He had too much to drink and couldn’t safely drive home.”

Jason shook his head, “Braxton, this is the person you pay to take care of my horse?”

“She needed a break,” Anna huffed. “I covered for her.”

“You aren’t paid to cover for her to go on random rides with strangers,” Anna’s boyfriend paced slowly in front of the stalls.

“Whoa there,” Braxton raised his hands slightly, “I may have started the conversation off a little hot… Jason, Aurelie does a great job, and did message me to tell me what was going on. Anna did a great job helping. I would like to know, however, where you had to go with this spectator. I wanted to start packing up.”

Aurelie sighed loudly, clasping her hands and looking away.

“Aurelie?” Braxton coaxed.

“I ran into that guitarist again,” she spoke in barely a whisper. “The one I ran into at the last show. He was taking a break from recording to eat… and fans were following him so he tried to hide. He came here and had a few drinks, then he couldn’t drive back to his hotel so I drove him, then one of the other band members drove me back here….”

Crickets chirped bravely in the heavy silence that fell in the barn. Even the horses seemed to be listening.

“You… what?” Jason stepped forward and tilted his head.

Anna stood, stunned, beside her boyfriend, looking from one person to another. “You ran into Tobin Moray again… again?”

“Come on,” Jason scoffed. “Unbelievable.”

Braxton stayed quiet, looking at Aurelie with an experienced eye.

“You aren’t lying,” he smirked. “You lucky duck.”

Shaking his head, he turned away with a smile.

“Start wrapping the horses legs so we can load the trailer. Thank goodness this was a local show, I’m tired.”

Jason, Anna and Aurelie could hear the trainer laughing quietly in disbelief as he went down the aisle. Jason then stormed towards his car.

“I’ll be waiting, Anna.”

Aurelie slipped into Mako’s stall. Anna followed and leaned on the stall door.

“Feeling better?” She asked.

“I think so,” Aurelie replied. “I just had one bad ride. I’ll do better next time.”

Anna nodded in agreement.

A friendly silence fell on the two young women. This was the first time Anna had ever stood up for Aurelie and the two seemed to have rekindled an old friendship.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you right away,” Aurelie admitted. “I didn’t want everyone to freak out… Thanks for taking care of Mako.”

“I can understand why you did that. I know I’m a bit crazy about the band, and I have to say I am a bit jealous,” Anna shrugged and changed the subject. “Mako tried hard today. Arenas can be dark in spots and Mako just needs to trust you. That will take time.”

“Thanks,” Aurelie patted the horse. Mako curved his head around to nudge his human companion.

“Taking care of Mako got me thinking,” Anna said thoughtfully. “You’ve taken care of my horses and helped me at shows since we were small. I don’t know if I ever said thanks… so…. thank you, Aurie.”

Aurelie looked at her barnmate, surprised into silence.

“Let’s get coffee sometime,” Anna waved and left.

Braxton appeared at the stall door and raised his eyebrows.

“Time to go.”

It was late when Aurelie finally arrived at her parents’ home and slid slowly into a warm bubble bath. Her mother cracked open the door and tossed in a towel.

“Here… now enjoy your bath, Aurie. Your dad will want to hear all about this Mako tomorrow.”

Then, Aurelie was alone. She closed her eyes and exhaled. Finally she could digest the day’s event.

Tobin’s face floated into her mind, the way he had stood in the door way, the way he almost smiled, the way he stared at her with his vivid hazel eyes. Aurelie found herself smiling.

There was a knock on the door.

“Aurie, your cell phone is ringing,” Aurelie’s mother mumbled through the door.

“Who is it?” Aurelie groaned, sitting up and reaching for the towel.

“Hello?”

She heard her mother speaking on the other side of the door.

“Mom… no!” Aurelie bolted out of the tub. “Just look at the name…”

It was too late.

“May I ask who is speaking?”

Aurelie rested her head in her one hand while she gripped the towel around herself with the other.

“Aurie? It’s Tobin… Moray.”

Aurelie ripped open the door.

“Give me the phone,” she mouthed silently.

Her mother raised her eyebrows suggestively and her father popped his graying head around the end of the hall.

“Who’s Tobin?” he asked.

Aurelie shut the bathroom door.

She cleared her throat, her mouth suddenly dry, “Hello?”

“Is this Aurelie Hawkins?” a crisp deep voice asked.

“Yes,” Aurelie replied.

Before she could say one more word, the voice on the other end said, “This is Ross Sunderland, I do Public Relations for Select Hospitality. Please hold for a moment.”

“Hey,” the familiar voice of Tobin Moray reached Aurelie’s ear.

“Hello, Tobin,” Aurelie replied. “You’ve recovered well?”

There was a slight pause, “Yeah, I’m fine.”

Another pause.

“Since I wasn’t swarmed by crazy fans after you left, I assume you kept your word and didn’t tell anyone you saw me,” Tobin continued. “So I’d like to offer you a chance to meet the band as my thanks.”

“Really?” Aurelie responded breathlessly. “I would enjoy that very much.”

“You are excited about meeting a band you know nothing about?”

Aurelie could hear the mocking in Tobin’s voice.

“I am excited and am thankful for the opportunity to expand my musical appreciation,” Aurelie said just as sarcastically.

To her surprise, Tobin gave a short laugh.

“Good. I’ll have Ross call you with details.”

“Thank you, Tobin,” Aurelie couldn’t stop smiling. “I look forward to it.”

“I’ll see you soon, Aurelie,” Tobin said. “Goodnight.”

With that, he hung up.

Aurelie burst out of the bathroom and dashed down the hall to her bedroom. Although she had her own apartment on the other side of the city, she often spent weekends at her parent’s house.

“Who’s Tobin?” asked her father as she shut the door to her room and pulled on some pajamas.

“Just a guy I helped. He’s a musician and offered to have me meet his band as a thank you,” she called back.

“You have a date?” Mr. Hawkins asked humorously.

“Dad!” Aurelie rolled her eyes. “No. I’m just meeting his band.”

“What’s the band’s name?” Aurelie’s father continued.

“Select Hospitality.” Aurelie stated.

“Select Hospitality,” her parents said together.

“Isn’t that the band Kyle just went to see?” Aurelie heard her mother ask her father.

Aurelie listened to her parents discuss the latest concert her brother went to, groaning inwardly as they worked it out.

“That’s a pretty famous band there, Aurie,” her dad said.

“Yeah, I guess so. Hey, I’m really tired, can we chat more tomorrow?” Aurelie sighed.

“Oh, we’re sorry, honey. Come on Francis, we are keeping her up,” Mrs. Hawkins gave her daughter a quick hug. “Go to bed and we will see you in the morning.”

Aurelie lay down and was just pulling the blankets around her chin when her cell phone lit up. She squinted at her phone to see a simple text message.

“Tuesday, 7:30 pm, Eldorado’s Taqueria, 485 Malverns Avenue.”