Chapter 62

Blake was waiting as Jenny walked down the boarding ramp into the arrival lounge at L.A. International. She was smiling, and he thought that was a good sign. "Welcome back," he told her. "You have a good trip?"

"Wonderful," she said. "Best time I've had in years. How did yours go?"

"Not so well," Blake admitted, "But, I'll tell you about it later." He took Jenny's carryon, and they started down to the luggage pickup area.

As they walked along, Blake slowly became aware that Jenny was singing to herself, just low enough for him to hear. He couldn't make out the words, but Jenny singing to herself was just about unprecedented, and Blake was surprised to hear it. "You do sound like you're in a good mood," he couldn't help but commenting.

"I had a good time," Jenny said. "Got a couple things worked out. I've been thinking, Blake. Let's shake around, come up with a little new material, something I can work on to take a break from shooting the next couple of months."

"I don't know what it is about the air back there," Blake said, "But it sure sounds like it made you a demon for work."

"It'd be fun to do some new things," Jenny replied. "What's the schedule look like? I know this movie is going to keep me going through the middle of September, and there's that Australia - New Zealand tour the end of the month and the first part of October, but am I going to be clear enough to go back home for a week or two toward the end of October?"

"I think so," Blake said, still wondering what had happened to her. "It is now, anyway. Knox called, oh, Thursday or Friday, and he's interested in you doing a couple weekend dates in Vegas in October."

"The hell with Vegas. I want to go home in October. I've got some business to take care of there, and this time, I want you to come with me."

They arrived in the luggage pickup area, and didn't have a chance to talk for a minute. They found Jenny's luggage quickly, and headed out for the short-term parking before Blake could comment, "If you want me to go to Spearfish Lake, then you had some trouble."

"There was a little, but nothing my friends couldn't handle," Jenny admitted.

"It wouldn't have something to do with a crew from Inside Hollywood, would it?"

"How'd you hear about that?" Jenny said, getting in the car.

"I had a call from a guy who heard from a guy who heard from a guy that an Inside Hollywood crew got worked over by some cops and dumped in a swamp, and barely escaped with their lives."

"I didn't have anything to do with it," Jenny said. "Well, not much, anyway. That's what I like about Spearfish Lake. I've got friends there, friends that will take care of me and stick by me. Blake, no criticism, but you couldn't have handled it that well."

"I'm not sure I want to hear the whole story," Blake said. "I think this falls in the category of 'what I know won't hurt me'. Well, anyway, this guy said the crew told Inside Hollywood to take their job and shove it."

"Hey?" Jenny said, realizing something. "How'd you hear about that? You said you had a call a couple of days ago, and that Knox called you last week. I thought you were up in the Bay area, cruising the bars."

"Like I said, my trip didn't go as well as yours. I got up there, and you know what? I guess I've been hanging around you too long. I found that I just wasn't interested. After a couple of nights, I realized that I was bored with it. Of course, AIDS has got everybody running scared up there, too, and that doesn't help much. So finally, I said the heck with it, went back to Malibu, laid around the house, and did a little surfing. Kind of relaxing, but not what I intended."