Chapter 75: Jennifer’s Answer

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Nolan liked this arrangement.

After all, when there was work, the secretary handled it. When there was no work...

"By the way," Lisa said, "did Jim interview you this time?"

"Of course. He came straight to Canoga Park High. A lot of media showed up."

"Maintain good communication with the press," Lisa reminded him. "Especially television."

In an age when the internet still meant very little to most people, television was the most common and direct way for an audience to learn about a football player.

"It would be best to choose one consistent news partner," she added, already planning several steps ahead for him.

"You remember that sports reporter from Prime Ticket?" Nolan asked. "Penny Webb."

"Her?" Lisa cut straight through him. "You just want to sleep with her. She is too low in the station to be useful."

Nolan’s little thought was exposed before it could grow.

"I told you before about the woman at FX," Lisa continued. "She may still have contacts at Fox’s new sports operation and Prime Ticket. She worked around that world before. I mentioned you to her last time, though she did not give me a firm answer. Here is what we will do. Pick a night you are free, and the two of us will visit her."

Lisa had gone this far to build routes for him. Nolan had no reason to refuse.

"Probably the night after tomorrow," he said after thinking. "Tomorrow is Katherine’s signing day."

Tomorrow was the final deadline for Katherine to choose a college.

After that, Nolan called Susan and asked her to make preliminary contact with the middlemen one by one, testing what they wanted and what they could offer.

By the time he finished handling everything, night had fallen. Nolan decided to go to Jennifer’s house, pick Katherine up from tutoring, and give her a surprise.

"Katherine... already left," Jennifer said when she opened the door. "About twenty minutes ago."

She was wearing a purple sleep dress and a pair of pink plastic slippers. The whole thing made her look unexpectedly cute.

"Oh." Nolan nodded.

Perfect timing. He had missed the surprise and now had to go back the way he came.

"Um... I was about to go out too," Jennifer said. "I can drive you home."

"That would be great. Do you know where Katherine and I are staying?"

"Bel-Air? Holmby Hills? Beverly Glen?"

Jennifer named several expensive neighborhoods around Beverly Hills.

Nolan shrugged.

"Compton."

Jennifer visibly flinched.

Compton was Los Angeles’s gutter in the popular imagination. In violent-crime terms, it was not the worst city in America, but it still sat far above the national average. And that was only violent crime. Theft, street work, and drugs were their own categories.

"What? Scared?" Nolan asked.

"No," Jennifer said at once. "It is just not on the way."

"That is fine. With me there, you can enjoy Compton’s beautiful evening streets."

Nolan truly did not want to take the bus back again. In summer, packed with every kind of sweat Los Angeles could produce, the smell was strong enough to pickle a man from the inside.

"Fine," Jennifer said at last. "Let me change."

Jennifer invited him in. From the furniture and layout, her family was not especially well-off.

Nolan also saw Jennifer’s mother. She only nodded to him and did not say much.

After a while, Jennifer came out in the ripped jeans she had worn to the concert and a short gray T-shirt that showed her waist. It was a common, pretty campus look.

On the way out, she took a set of keys from the wall and headed for the garage.

She did not have a car of her own. She was borrowing her father’s Ford Explorer. Her driving skills, unfortunately, were not impressive. She could not even get the vehicle cleanly up the little slope out of the garage.

Nolan could not watch anymore. He got behind the wheel and backed it out smoothly.

"Katherine told me you do not have a license," Jennifer said, confused.

"But I am an old driver."

He returned to the passenger seat.

They headed south toward Compton. Nolan asked why Jennifer was going out at night, and she explained that the studio was booked during the day. She could only record at night.

From the way she spoke, she was busy all the time and did not earn much. Most of what she made went back to support her family. Her life probably had less fun in it than an ordinary high-school student’s.

Her earlier years had not been much better. A few years ago, her family had moved to Los Angeles. She had no friends around her, had been bullied in middle school, and spent most of her time running between work and home. She had barely seen the city she lived in.

Soon, the car entered Compton.

"Slow down," Nolan said. "See her?"

He pointed toward a woman standing near the street on the front right. Her clothes were aggressively revealing, her platform heels looked like stilts, and fishnets were apparently required by law.

Compton’s neon-lit night life widened Jennifer’s eyes. She had thought women like that worked inside clubs. She had not expected so many on the street.

"How much?" she asked before she could stop herself.

"Usually under fifty dollars," Nolan said. "The wider the fishnet openings, the more adventurous the service tends to be."

"How do you know that?"

"Reese told me."

Nolan nodded solemnly.

The drive gave Jennifer a thorough education in what Los Angeles could look like after dark. Some outfits made her ask, "Where did her pants go?" or "Is that a swimsuit?" or "Whose passenger is she going to be tonight?"

Her shocked expression proved that tonight’s artistic content was very high.

The short art tour ended when the Explorer stopped in front of the motel.

Nolan did not get out immediately. Jennifer did not urge him.

For a few seconds, they sat in silence, both looking through the windshield.

There was only the sound of cars rushing along the road nearby, children crying faintly somewhere around the building, and the night wind moving through palm fronds. In the distance, a stray cat lifted its tail and slipped around a corner.

"Want to see more of Los Angeles?" Nolan asked.

Jennifer rested the back of her head against the seat and turned toward him with a smile.

"You are not actually taking me to a club, are you?"

Her voice was sweet, with a little girlish edge to it.

Nolan shook his head.

"Not that kind of scenery. Real scenery. The Hollywood Hills. Sunset Strip. Santa Monica Pier. Point Dume. Griffith Observatory."

Those places lived in the original Nolan’s memories, but Nolan wanted to see them for himself. Katherine had been to them so many times that dragging her along would be pointless.

He needed another companion.

"But I am busy," Jennifer said.

"I know."

"What I mean is..." She brushed hair behind her ear. "You need a car first."

It was not an insult about money. In America, buying a car was not difficult. She meant the practical problem.

"So you are saying yes?"

"Of course I am saying yes."

Jennifer grinned, showing clean white teeth, and nodded firmly.

Nolan actually made it home before Katherine.

When Katherine came back and reached for her key, she saw the light on in Nolan’s room. She stepped over, pushed the door open, and froze.

Then she dropped the large bag from her shoulder, ran three quick steps, jumped, and wrapped herself around him.

"When did you get back?"

Her face was full of surprise.

Nolan held her and spun twice.

"This morning. I came back early for the game."

Then he told her the next plans.

"We need to move out of Compton as soon as we can. It is not safe for you to come back alone at night. And about the trip we promised each other, after the final we can relax for a little while."

"The trip may have to wait," Katherine said. "I have to tutor Jennifer. Her brain is not exactly impressive."

That judgment was only relative to Katherine herself. In Katherine’s view, most people were not very bright.

That included the old Nolan.

They were still close together when Katherine brought up college.

Right then, Mia came home from work.

"I cannot believe Nolan made it back before William," Mia said, irritated. "That boy is on break and still wandering around outside. Tonight is important for Katherine. Nolan, call your brother and ask where he is."

William had said he would come back today, but he still had not appeared.

Nolan called his older brother.

The phone rang downstairs.

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