Read Mid Life Love for Free Online Page A

trespassing, so I put on my best
apologetic face. “I’m sorry for today. I won’t interrupt your kindergarten
class again. I’m gonna go—”
    “I’m not going
to call security on you.” He laughed. Then he suddenly looked serious. “Where
are you from?”
    I didn’t say
anything.
    “Okay...Do your
parents know you’re here? I’m sure they’re worried sick about you...”
    “They’re in
prison.”
    He looked
sympathetic. “Well, your legal guardians must be looking for—”
    “I’m eighteen .”
I wasn’t a ward of the state anymore. I didn’t belong to anyone, and if his
classroom wasn’t so warm I would have walked out as soon as he asked me what my
name was.
    “You must have
made pretty good grades in high school to get accepted here, Jonathan...What
number were you in your class?”
    Why do I feel
like I can trust this guy?
    “First. I gave a
speech and everything.” I reached into my backpack and pulled out my crumpled
speech, tossing it to him. I was hoping he would actually read it for some
reason—unlike my foster parents who’d seemed completely oblivious to the fact
that I was the valedictorian.
    As he looked
over the speech, I realized I hadn’t opened the brown paper bag from Corey. I
peered into the bag and saw a framed picture of me, him, and Jessica, a
flash-drive with “read” scribbled across it, a stack of my parents’ unopened
prison letters, and a one thousand dollar check addressed to me. There was an
orange post-it clipped to the back of it: “ Cash it some place sketchy—like a
liquor store or a bail bonds place so I can re-route the information about
where it was cashed...Your welcome, Corey. PS—Please let me know if you find the
Fountain of Youth while you’re traveling...I’m convinced it’s in New York now... ”
    “Jonathan, what
if I told you that I’ve been looking for a student with your potential to help
me out on a new computer that I’m developing?” The professor caught my
attention. “A computer that would change everything?”
    “I would say I
don’t believe you. Then I would say I hope it’s not one of the computers that I
saw today.”
    “Fair enough.”
He chuckled. “Well, what if I said I wanted to help you?”
    Ha! “No thanks. I’ve
had enough help to last me a lifetime.” I took my speech from his hands,
stood up, and headed for the door.
    Before I could
turn the knob, he jumped in front of me. “I have a one year assistance
scholarship that I can award to any student. It’s supposed to be for graduate
level students only, but if your background checks out...It’ll cover one year of
tuition and a small part of your room and board. You would still have to find a
job or two to cover the rest, but I honestly think you would make an excellent
student and an even better developer one day. And, if you work hard enough
during your first year, I could convince the academic committee to consider you
for other scholarships.”
    What?
    “I’ll do a
background check on you tonight.” He adjusted his glasses. “If you are who you
say you are and you agree to work with me on this project, you’ve got free
classes at Harvard and a once in a lifetime opportunity to work on a national
project. What’s your phone number so I can—”
    “You think I
have a cell phone ?”
    “I’m sorry...” He
looked me over, probably noticing that I was still soaking wet and carrying a
dingy and holey backpack. “I just assumed that you...Where were you planning on
sleeping tonight?”
    I didn’t answer
him. I just looked around the classroom. I figured that since my next bus
wasn’t scheduled until tomorrow that I’d hide out in the building and sleep
underneath a staircase once the janitors were done cleaning.
    “My name’s Mr.
Lowell, Jonathan.” He walked over to his desk and grabbed his briefcase. “If
you don’t have any prior obligations, Mrs. Lowell is making pasta
tonight and we have a guest room you can use for a few days while we