“He wants someone who’s been here awhile to show him the place.” Jeff shuffled his feet with excitement or maybe it was nerves, Karen couldn’t tell.

She shrugged, trying to act uninterested. “You’ve been here awhile. Why don’t you do it?”

Jeff stood a little taller. “I’ll be with you…but you know the kids better than anyone here. If anyone can plead their need it’s you.”

“Fine. Let me know when moneybags gets here.” And the Oscar goes to…

She moved back to the kids at her table and checked their work.

“You know, Juan, if you ever want to move past algebra you’re going to have to do some of the work,” she told the one teen at the table who acted like he didn’t want to be there.

“I’m never going to use this stuff.”

“You don’t know that.”

Juan stopped leaning back in his chair and glared at her. “Yeah, I do.”

He was probably right, but she’d take a bite out of her own tongue before telling him that. “So where do you hide your crystal ball…the one that tells you the future?”

Juan smirked.

“C’mon. I’ll spring for pizza on Friday after your test if you come back with a C or better.”

The other kids at the table perked up.

If she thought for a minute that Juan wasn’t capable of obtaining a C in his sleep, she wouldn’t have added the pressure. The kid wasn’t unintelligent, just cocky and uninterested.

His friend smacked him upside his arm. “C’mon, Juan. I can help.”

Juan picked up his pencil and started solving for x.

Twenty minutes and several problems later, the noise level in the room started to rise. Karen and the kids at her table looked toward the entrance.

Wearing designer jeans and sunglasses that probably cost enough to feed every kid there pizza for a week, was her future husband. Michael stood next to Jeff and a shorter man Karen didn’t recognize.

When Jeff motioned for her to come their way, the kids started whispering.

“Oh, my God. Is that Michael Wolfe?”

“Michael who?” Karen asked. Might as well make this good.

“The actor,” Amy said, her face unable to contain her excitement.

Karen pushed away from the table. “Action flicks, right?”

“Seriously, Miss Jones, you don’t know?”

Karen winked at the girls. “I go to the movies, too. He’s just a person, no better than you or me.” Making the kids believe they were just as valuable to society as Michael Wolfe might be difficult, but not impossible.

She offered a polite smile when Michael caught her eyes.

“Here she is,” Jeff said. “Karen Jones, this is Michael Wolfe, who I’m sure you recognize, and his manager, Tony.”

“Action flicks…right?” She asked, extending her hand.

He took her palm in his and sandwiched it with his other hand.

Oh, the two-sided handshake. Very convincing.

“That’s right.”

She turned to Tony. “Nice to meet you.”

“Mr. Wolfe wanted a tour of the place, Karen.”

“Sure. Anything to help the kids. You don’t mind meeting some of them, do you Mr. Wolfe?”

“Michael. Please call me Michael.” He tucked his sunglasses into his shirt and looked around the room. It seemed everything and everyone stood silent as he walked between her and Jeff. “I’d love to meet the kids, Miss Jones.”

She thought of suggesting he use her first name, but that would be way too easy.

A couple of the braver girls followed behind them while others huddled together in the corners whispering.

The kids’ goo-goo eyes weren’t going to leave them alone. Karen placed a hand on his briefly and stopped their progression through the club.

“Hey, guys?” she called to the kids in the room. “We’re going to give Mr. Wolfe a quick tour of your club but he’s promised to stick around after to meet you. So why don’t you go back to what you were doing, OK?”

Most of the kids kept staring, but some moved back to their work or to playing whatever it was they were playing before Michael walked in.

“I don’t think Mr. Wolfe promised anything, Karen,” Jeff said under his breath.

“Yeah he did…he said he’d meet the kids. Right, Michael?”

“That’s what I said.” He smiled and stared at her. His gaze would have been unnerving if this were a chance meeting.

He’s g*y, she reminded herself.

“Have you ever been in a Boys and Girls Club?”

“No, I haven’t.”

She walked him through the game room. Several couches and chairs, beanbag chairs, and pillows were thrown about. “Our mission statement really does define what we do for the kids. To enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens.” Karen had memorized the statement a long time ago.

“We accomplish that by having a safe place for kids to hang out after school. Kids love video games so we have that here for them.” There was a big-screen television she had personally bought for the club along with two gaming stations. A few older arcade games were lined up along the walls. “There’s also table tennis and a pool table when the video monitor isn’t working for them. We have a yard outside I’ll show you when we get there.”

“How many kids come in?”

“It varies. We’ve had up to a hundred kids signed up to come in daily…but double that who only come in periodically.”

Michael looked at the kids who were trying to act uninterested but failed. “They have to sign up?”

“For our insurance purposes they do. We have a pay-what-you-can system. Most of these kids aren’t able to pay. We rely on donations and outside fundraisers.”

“The kids themselves do some of the fundraisers,” Jeff added. “We had a car wash last month that brought in a couple hundred dollars.”

“A couple hundred doesn’t sound like it would pay your power bill.”

“It doesn’t,” Karen said, surprised at the level of interest in Michael’s voice.

“We help the kids after school with their homework and school projects. It’s mainly teens but sometimes we get kids that are eleven or twelve.” Karen walked by her math table and glanced at Juan’s paper as she did. “You’re never gonna get that pizza if you don’t get past problem six, dude.” There was laughter in her voice. She really did want the kids to do well.