Until We Touch (Fool's Gold #15)(38)

“Where are we going?” Percy asked, following him.

“You’ll see.”

Jack led him to the side of the building where the actual campaign work was done. The graphics area had several offices, along with a big open layout room with massive printers that could handle poster-size paper. Behind that were a series of smaller offices.

Jack went to the end of the hall and pushed open a door. Inside was a small desk, a bookcase and not much else. There weren’t any windows and the walls were bare. He was pretty sure this room was usually used by interns. He’d checked with Taryn before claiming it for Percy.

On the desk was a laptop. A small printer stand held an all-in-one, with plenty of paper and printer cartridges below. There was a desk chair and a second less-comfortable chair for visitors. Jack sat in that one and motioned for Percy to sit behind the desk.

The teen did so and looked at him.

“So here’s the thing,” Jack began. “You need to learn to read to succeed in life. So that’s where we start.” He pointed to the laptop. “You know how to work one of those?”

“Sure. We used them in school.”

“Good. We’re going to go online and you’ll do a reading assessment. Then we’ll download the appropriate software to get you to the next level. Once your reading skills are at a tenth-grade level, we’ll move on to other topics. Kenny, Sam and I are going to divide up the subjects. You’ll meet with us an hour or so a day for tutoring, then you’ll be responsible for handling the study part on your own.”

He held Percy’s gaze. “I’m not going to kid you. This will be a lot of work. You’ll get frustrated. You’ll want to quit. None of us can make you do this. You have to want it. You have to be willing to do the work.”

Percy’s eyes filled with tears, but the teen didn’t look away. “I don’t understand. Why you doing this? You’re some famous rich guy. I’m a kid from South Central L.A. You owe me nothing.”

Jack leaned back in his chair. “Why aren’t you in a gang?”

“I told you before. My mom would have killed me. She worked hard so that would never happen.”

“Did you go to class?”

“Sure. But it was tough, you know. When I was little, I just couldn’t get the letters and stuff. But they kept sending me to the next grade. When I was nine, I had this great teacher. She had me stay after and I was starting to get it. She said there was nothing wrong with my brain, that it had just taken longer for me to figure out what was what. Only she moved on and the next teacher didn’t care as much.”

Pushed through the system, Jack thought. He was sure it happened more than it should. Especially in inner-city schools where resources were limited.

“At some of the foster homes they cared about school and stuff. So I would learn a little. I got my reading back a few times, but then it was hard to keep up.”

“How’d you find out about the summer camp?”

“There was a flier in my neighborhood. I went to see the guy who put it together and he got me enrolled.”

Jack was sure there were thousands of kids who had lived a variation of Percy’s story. While he and Larissa couldn’t save them all, they could do something with this one.

“You up for this?” he asked.

“Getting my GED?” Percy nodded vigorously. “I’ll do whatever it takes. You’ll see. I can get my work done here, then do my schoolwork before we go home.”

“Oh, you’ll be working at home, too,” Jack told him. Then he understood what the teen was missing. “Percy, this is your laptop to take back and forth with you.”

Percy swallowed hard. He put his hands on the computer. “I’ll take real good care of it. You’ll see.”

“I know you will.” Jack tapped the laptop. “Start the assessment. We’ll see where you are and move forward from there. It takes about an hour. Come get me when you’re done.”

His cell buzzed. He glanced at the screen and sighed. “Okay. I have to go help Taryn with something. If I’m not back by the time you’re done, go see Kenny or Sam. They’ll get the right software loaded.”

“Sure thing.” Percy was already booting up the laptop.

Jack got up and started out of the office. He paused, then glanced back. “Remember to eat lunch.”

Percy grinned. “Promise.”

* * *

JACK STARED AT the sign on the door. Closed for a Private Event. He thought about taking that as proof he should hightail it out of there but knew that running wasn’t an option. Instead, he knocked.

A couple of seconds later Larissa opened the door of Paper Moon and grinned at him.

“I wondered if you’d come,” she said by way of greeting. “I should have known better.” She handed him a glass of champagne. “This is way more fun than I thought it would be.”

She swayed just a little as she spoke. Her blue eyes were wide and a bit unfocused.

“Are you drunk?”

She smiled. “Maybe. Wow. I’ve never been drunk in the morning before.”

“You’ve probably never had anything to drink before noon before.”

“That’s true.”

He stepped into the store and put his free arm around her waist. To steady her, he told himself. The touching was purely medicinal. She rested her hand on top of his and leaned against him.