Chapter 37: Activity Guide

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After prom, Nolan and Katherine took a cab home.

He had the driver stop early so they could walk the last stretch.

They had changed back into normal clothes. Nolan carried two garment bags with the rented formalwear they would return the next day. Katherine walked with her hands behind her back, holding the red-soled heels he had bought her.

She looked down at the sidewalk and sighed.

"High school is over."

"Have you decided on college?"

Katherine shook her head.

"Depends how much I can earn this month. I signed up for two jobs, and I am trying to sell insurance the way Mia does. Maybe I get lucky." She lifted her chin. "If we had money, we could spend the break traveling around California. A honeymoon."

Nolan had already decided he did not want Katherine buried under federal student loans.

The direct-loan program was changing, but debt was still debt. Stafford limits would not cover everything, private lenders would be worse, and a standard repayment plan could turn four years of school into ten years of monthly pressure. Interest had a way of making poor choices look permanent.

Katherine deserved options, not a decade-long bill.

He counted in his head.

The final college decision deadline gave them roughly a month. To give her real freedom, they needed thirty to forty thousand dollars available. Katherine might scrape together four thousand. Mia might manage five. Nolan already had close to twenty thousand.

The gap was painful but not impossible.

One more sure football win and some creative pulling from every corner would get them close.

Two wins would make life breathe again.

There were two other paths.

Mia’s script could sell this month.

Or Lisa could decide Katherine was worth helping.

The second possibility might actually be more realistic. It was the emergency lever Nolan did not want to pull unless he had to.

"Our volleyball team made the playoffs too," Katherine said. "It probably will not change scholarships much, but I still want one last run."

BHHS volleyball had been weak for years. Katherine’s whole high school career had passed without a playoff appearance. She wanted to fix that before she left.

Nolan asked for the schedule and promised he would be there.

Then he began describing possible honeymoon stops: Disneyland, San Diego Comic-Con, Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, Death Valley.

"San Francisco," Katherine said suddenly. "William should be coming back soon."

William Callahan.

Their older brother was at Stanford, finishing his second year and heading into his third.

Nolan had almost forgotten.

William was working while studying, but expecting him to cover Stanford costs alone was not realistic. That meant another expense, another person the family had to keep from falling through the cracks.

Nolan felt a headache forming.

Katherine, fine. He had chosen that.

William was an adult. At some point a man had to learn to solve his own problems.

"Also," Katherine added, "the first stop of our ’honeymoon’ is coming soon. Aerosmith is in a few days."

At the motel, they found Mia pacing along the hallway.

Katherine pulled her hand back at once.

"You’re home," Mia said brightly. "I am going to exercise. You two get some sleep."

She left as if she had seen nothing.

"Why is she going out this late?" Katherine asked. "She was exhausted today."

"Maybe she wants to give us time alone."

Katherine knocked him lightly on the forehead and pushed him toward the bathroom.

When Nolan came back from his shower, Katherine was already under the covers with only her head visible. Her hair spilled across the pillow. The bedside lamp was on. Her clothes were folded neatly on the chair. The radio played Pink Floyd’s "Comfortably Numb," low and dreamlike.

The room felt still in a way motel rooms almost never did.

"Nice setup," Nolan said.

Katherine glanced toward the nightstand.

"The Random House Weekend Activity Guide for Married Couples. 1951."

"That explains the conservative smell."

Half a century old. A different America. In old movies, married couples had separate beds, and even desire needed a respectable label.

Nolan reached behind him.

"I brought supplies."

Two glasses. A half bottle of red wine. A videotape borrowed from the motel owner.

The wine was there for nerves, not pressure.

The tape was also encouragement.

Katherine took one sip and made a face.

"That is my first drink."

Then the television picture changed.

Her eyes widened.

"And that man’s chest hair is awful."

When the warm-up on screen ended, Nolan took the glass from her. She had drunk less than half a glass, enough to loosen nerves and not enough to truly dull her.

She had graduated. Nolan had turned eighteen months earlier. The choice in the room belonged to them.

"Here we go," he said.

Katherine kicked under the sheet, tried to cover three places at once, and finally hid her face with both hands.

She was clumsy, nervous, and painfully earnest.

"Why is it like this?" she asked after a while.

"Forget the book," Nolan said. "Follow what you feel."

Not long after, her voice turned breathless.

Late into the night, Katherine lay on her side facing him, cheeks flushed and smile soft.

For once, neither of them needed to speak.

Nolan opened his arms.

She moved into them.

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