I forgot how exciting it is to watch a teenager grasp a new concept. Jake had mixed up his formulas for friction and gravity, but as soon as I got him on the right track, he was racing through his homework problems like they were rudimentary, rather than advanced physics.

”You’re a freshman in high school?” Elizabeth had failed to mention that her son was a damned genius. ”I didn’t even take physics until my senior year.” The year I met ...