Time Out of Mind (Suncoast Society #43)(81)

“Holy crap, how big is this place?”

“Yeah, right? It’s huge. I’ve seen it in the daytime. They’re what we’d call ‘old money’ in the States.”

They emerged from the trees into a large parking area where a polite man in a yellow rain slicker waved them up to a line of cars waiting to pull into a covered portico area. Valets were running back and forth to get everyone parked.

“No slogging through the mud,” Doyle noted.

“Right? They’re classy, I’ll give them that.”

When it was their turn, two attendants opened their doors for them and Tilly handed the keys over to the one on her side. A smiling woman with a clipboard and a radio greeted them at the doorway.

“Good evening, and welcome. Names, please?”

“Tilly Cardinal LaCroux and Doyle Turner. I might be the only one listed on there with a plus-one. Last-minute name change for our company’s tickets, if that helps. We called this morning. Sorry about that.”

“Right, I have you both on here.” She stepped aside, still smiling. “The coat-check is just inside. And dinner and the festivities will be down that hall and in the ballroom on the right, starting in approximately thirty minutes. Feel free to mingle before then. You’re at table two tonight, and you’ll see your name cards at your seats. Please don’t change seats, because we’ve arranged them for the children.”

“Thanks. Sure thing.”

After checking their coats they were met by a server with a tray of champagne.

Doyle held up a hand. “No, thanks. Just ice water for me. Sparkling, if you have it.”

Tilly glanced at Doyle and smiled. “Two, please.”

Another uniformed man hurried off to get it as the two of them stepped out of the way and looked around. There were no signs anywhere, but lots of child-friendly decorations, including actors dressed as treasured children’s cartoon and movie icons.

“This place is huge,” he whispered.

“Yep.” She leaned in closer, barely whispering in his ear. “Can you imagine the dungeon parties we could have here?”

He couldn’t help but laugh.

“There’s my psycho Dom buddy.” The man walked up with their sparkling waters on a tray. “Ah, thank you.”

When they were alone again, she stared up at the ceiling. “Yeah, before we built the new house, we looked around. Nothing as big as this, but there were some we looked at for the hell of it and they were huuuge. No freaking way. I want to be able to take care of it myself. I don’t want to need a staff just to keep it livable.”

“They probably have bathrooms larger than my apartment in LA,” he muttered.

She snorted. “True story.” After snagging a canapé from a passing tray, she smiled. “These are nommy, though. Let’s go scope this place out.”





Chapter Twenty-Eight


On the ride over to the venue, they were still working out the set list, swapping songs based on the lyrics and music. Mevi didn’t want to perform anything inappropriate in subject matter, and wanted to keep things upbeat and light in tone.

“You know this is going to be fine, right?” Bonnie teased. “You always stress like this over one of our charity shows. And it’s always fine, they always love it.”

“I want to give them a good show. Especially the kids. What if this is one of the few really good memories they have?”

She sighed. “And that, dude, is why we all love you.”

They were to perform first, before dinner was served, then they’d be sitting around the room at different tables with people to chat and socialize. Anyone who wanted pictures or autographs with them could have them, and they’d had a lot of merchandise, including T-shirts, shipped over in plenty of time for the organizers to make up goodie bags for everyone. They’d had their team on the ground purchase lots of other kid-friendly toys and goodies, with the direction of the charity, to add to the goodie bags.

They also wouldn’t leave that night until every last attendee had been able to get a picture or autograph, if they wanted one.

Also, due to the nature of the charity, and the privacy for the patients, there wouldn’t be any outside press in attendance. Only three photographers for the charity, and the band’s own publicity team, who’d provide photos and video free to the charity and families for them to use as they needed. They didn’t have their band logo plastered all over everywhere, either. It wasn’t about them, it was about the charity and the kids they were helping, and that’s the way they always approached these things.

As a practical matter, they also kept their participation quiet ahead of the event to prevent the venue from being mobbed by fans. The charities approached their biggest donors first, and they knew the rules.

They kept it quiet.

The kids were kept in the dark about the band until the event itself. Another way to protect their privacy.

Mevi loved doing these events. It was one of the things that pissed him off the most about the theft, because he’d been looking into donating several million dollars to a children’s hospital for cancer research, something meaningful.

Something in Tom’s memory.

Something so that, at the end of his life, he could look back beyond the music and could point to a tangible action that really saved or improved lives. Especially for kids.