Chapter 71: Coming Over

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Rain hammered Florida’s Turnpike as a black sedan cut north through the storm.

Inside the car, the radio was turned up loud enough to fight the weather. The station was still carrying live postgame coverage of the National High School Football All-Star Game.

"The game is officially over. The West All-Stars have defeated the East again, 30-21, extending their winning streak in this event. Players from both sides are shaking hands now, exchanging jerseys, keeping the mood friendly after a hard-fought exhibition. The camera is on Nolan Callahan, whose fourth-quarter performance gave us several of the game’s defining highlights. Yesterday, most casual fans did not know his name. After tonight, that is going to change..."

In the back seat, Lisa let out a long breath.

"That boy proved himself," Susan said beside her.

"Nolan came through." Lisa’s pride was impossible to hide. "I am proud of him."

"Lisa..." Susan looked at her carefully. "Do you think maybe you and he are getting too close?"

She had chosen the moment on purpose. If they were going to talk about Lisa’s young boyfriend, this was the cleanest opening she was likely to get.

Lisa laughed instead of shrinking from it.

"Susan, you are fossilizing. You only get one life. Why not listen to the part of you that still wants something?"

Then she leaned closer and lowered her voice.

"You think he is impressive too. Handsome. Built like a linebacker. And he has stamina."

"Absolutely not," Susan said at once, turning toward the window.

"Suit yourself. I offered. Just do not regret it later."

Lisa’s soft, wicked laugh filled the back seat.

Leaving aside that bold little conversation between two middle-aged women, Lisa’s trip to Miami and Fort Lauderdale had gone well. Distribution work had never been her lane, but friends had asked for help, and she had a personal connection with a senior woman at Blockbuster’s headquarters. For Mia’s script and the related package, Lisa had been willing to make the call herself.

Back at the Normans’ locker room, Thomas shook his head again and again.

"Unbelievable player. Unbelievable touchdown."

He could feel it clearly now. Nolan had grown stronger.

Even beside someone like Peyton Manning, he had not looked out of place.

Of course, Thomas was not blind. The weather had mattered. In a clean, dry, straight quarterback duel, Nolan was still behind Manning. The rain had dragged the field toward Nolan’s strengths.

Still.

"But now BHHS has a real star," Thomas said, and the relief in his voice was real.

In a hotel room, Katherine and Jennifer lay across the foot of the bed in nearly identical poses, chins propped in both hands as they watched Nolan on television.

On screen, he was trading jerseys with another player. When he pulled his top off, the broadcast caught the muscles across his chest and shoulders.

Jennifer’s mouth curved before she could stop it. Embarrassment warmed her face.

"Nolan is really disciplined," she said sincerely. She had learned something new about him tonight.

She still did not understand football well. Most of what she had taken from the broadcast was that the commentators could not stop praising Nolan.

But appreciating his physique? That part was easier.

Katherine gave a dry little smile.

Disciplined?

She knew exactly what Nolan’s nightly "training" looked like. He would start out serious, say something about needing exercise, and then somehow...

She had let him get away with far too much.

Then the memories came back in vivid flashes, and Katherine’s body betrayed her with one sharp, restless thought. Nolan had not touched her in a week.

"I need to use the bathroom," she said, already pushing herself up.

After the game, both teams went through the ritual of handshakes, brief conversation, and jersey exchanges. In the end, it was still an exhibition. Hard contact on the field, respect afterward.

"I will remember you," a voice said behind Nolan.

He turned and found Peyton Manning standing there.

The words could have sounded like a threat, but Peyton’s expression held no anger. He meant exactly what he had said.

"I made a mistake," Peyton said evenly. "I paid for it. I will be waiting for you in the NCAA."

The calm in his voice carried enormous resolve.

Nolan nodded. They shook hands and spoke briefly about the game.

Being marked as Peyton Manning’s next major opponent did not feel like a blessing. Not yet.

Because right now, Nolan knew the truth. He was not truly there.

In normal conditions, he was not Peyton’s equal. The rain had hurt Manning badly.

But Nolan had never been built to fear people. Not before. Not now. Not ever.

Peyton walked back to his family. Archie Manning and Peyton’s two brothers closed around him, asking questions, patting his back, and offering quiet encouragement. The youngest one, Eli, looked across the field at Nolan and gave a small nod that felt less like courtesy than a promise.

He would be entering high school soon too.

And Eli was not the only future problem. Beneath the surface friendliness, Nolan could feel eyes returning to him again and again.

The most troublesome pair belonged to Coach Bob Ladouceur.

Those eyes were still sharp. They just were not aimed at the East anymore.

They were aimed at Nolan.

In the near future, if the California high-school title picture lined up the way everyone expected, the coach behind a decade-long unbeaten machine and the sudden genius from Beverly Hills would become direct rivals.

For now, though, they remained friendly.

Ladouceur even raised the subject of a transfer.

"Nolan, your ceiling is not high school," he said. "It is the NCAA. It is the NFL. Right now, BHHS may limit what people see from you. You deserve a better team around you."

Nolan did not reject the idea. He even showed interest.

But he was not in a hurry. There was still more than a month before the next term. What mattered was not what people said.

Nolan had never judged sincerity by speeches.

He judged it by what people were willing to do.

The moment he entered the locker room, Pat Barrett was already standing on a chair with both arms spread.

"Who wants to go surfing tomorrow?"

The first day after the game, the beach was gone. Rain had ruined that plan, along with any fantasy of sunbathing, so the All-Star crowd settled for the public indoor pool at the Rosen Centre Hotel.

Splash!

Nolan leaped from the pool edge, twisted in the air, kicked one foot back to show off unnecessary flexibility, and let gravity drag him down. Water exploded several feet high, loud enough to sound like thunder in the enclosed room.

A few seconds later, his head broke the surface. He shook water from his hair.

"My turn!" Lisa backed up, then ran toward the pool.

She had wanted to wear a bikini with less fabric than one of Nolan’s palms, but Nolan strongly preferred keeping certain views private. Under his pressure, she had changed into a conservative one-piece that looked like something from the 1950s.

It did not remove the visual impact when she ran.

Unfortunately, her foot slipped at the edge. She flipped awkwardly and went in headfirst.

Nolan dove under and brought her back up.

"I cannot swim, lifeguard," Lisa said, turning toward him in the water.

"Happy to serve, Ms. Virgil."

His hands were very professional.

On a lounge chair by the pool, Susan watched Nolan sit at the edge with his back to her. His shoulders were broad, his back tapering down into a clean V, the muscle under his shoulder blades shifting when he moved.

Lisa’s words came back like a whisper at the wrong time.

’I offered. Just do not regret it later.’

The next second, water splashed her.

"Come play with us!" Lisa called from the pool.

"No," Susan said again.

Most of the All-Star players had drifted to the hotel pool too. Nolan eventually noticed Roberto Garcia, Santa Ana’s backup running back, arrive with his mother.

Both of them looked battered. Roberto had a swollen eye and bruises across his body. His mother was not much better, with a split lip and a red mark on her forehead.

Nolan had heard about it the night before. Roberto and his mother had gotten into a two-on-two brawl in the restaurant with Alberto Rodriguez and Alberto’s mother.

Apparently, Alberto’s huge mother had started it, driving Roberto’s mother’s head into a table while yelling, "That is what you get for messing with my son!"

Roberto, on the other side of the room, had gone after Alberto while shouting, "That is what you get for flirting with my mom!"

It was the same family disaster with a different kind of ending.

When Lisa heard the story, she had clutched her chest in relief.

"Thank God I am taller. Mia probably cannot beat me."

Nolan had answered just as seriously.

"Thank God I am bigger. I could probably pop every pimple on Reese’s face with one hand."

Jokes aside, Mia had gained a close friend. Reese had gained a good... teammate.

Everyone had a bright future.

A little later, Alberto and his mother came to the pool as well. The instant they saw Roberto’s family, they turned to leave.

Nolan got up and followed, catching Alberto near the pool entrance.

"You should know something," Nolan said. "Everything I did on the field was about winning."

If there was any real grudge between them, it came from what Nolan had said during the Santa Ana game. That word. The one he should not have used.

Alberto did not flare up when it came back. He even smiled.

"I understand. Players talk trash. Black players use that word with each other all the time."

He cleaned the whole thing off Nolan before Nolan could even apologize properly, and he used it to close the distance between them.

The difference in attitude was almost comical.

The biggest reason was obvious. Nolan’s All-Star performance had convinced him. The second reason was just as practical. Santa Ana’s secrets were out. Eric was in bed. The Big Four had cracked apart. Santa Ana’s foundation had collapsed, while the BHHS Normans were climbing.

"If it is possible," Alberto said, "I want to join BHHS."

That was exactly why Nolan had come after him.

The Normans’ left defensive end had been injured in the last game. They needed help. Alberto was an All-Star-caliber defensive end, and he had made a decisive tackle in the All-Star Game. There might not be a better option in the country.

If Nolan stayed at BHHS, the roster had to improve.

Alberto could also test whether the school was truly willing to invest.

"I can take your interest to the principal," Nolan said.

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