Before he could reply, Rose popped up next to me, magically. She must have gotten here before us. “Hi, I’m Rose Carver,” she said as she held out her hand. Her smile was dazzling. Why was I not surprised when they shook hands.
Hamlet’s eyes lit up even more than the lit-upness they already were. “Oh wow! I didn’t know there was a new employee!”
My dad leaned in the doorway to the truck. “Well, these two are working the KoBra this summer as punishment.”
“Really?” Hamlet’s eyebrows practically rose into that amazing hair of his. “What’d you guys do?”
I looked at Rose. “Let her tell the story. She’s really unbiased, like Fox News.”
She did this little head flip—if her hair had been longer, it would have whipped my face. “We got into an argument and almost… well…”
“You attacked me. And we almost burned the school down,” I said flatly.
Hamlet did a little surprised hop, raising a fist up to his mouth. “Noway!”
Rose made a face at me. “Don’texaggerate.” Then her eyes flitted over to Hamlet—a split second of self-consciousness. “We didn’t burn it down! And anyway, we only fought because she pulled this prank at junior prom—”
“What kind of prank?” Hamlet’s head swiveled toward me and his eyes sparkled. “I really love prank stories.”
I frowned. It was like the time a lady pointed at my bloody-bunny T-shirt and said, “Ilovecreative shirts.” The truly earnest made me so uncomfortable. I muttered, “I reenacted the end ofCarrie.”
Confusion clouded his features. This guy’s emotions were closed-captioned on his face. “What’s that?”
“What’s what?” I asked, almost just as confused.
“What’sCarrie?”
My jaw dropped. “What! You don’t know whatCarrieis? Jesus, do you live under a rock?”
He shrugged. “I grew up in Beijing.”
Rose shoved me, getting closer to him. “Wow! When did you move here? Your English is flawless.”
I tsked. “That’s so racist.”
She bit her lip, mortified. “Oh! No, I didn’t mean…”
Hamlet laughed and held up his hands. Two nice, strong-looking hands, with elegant fingers. “No, no, it’s fine! I moved here in sixth grade. I’ve had time to get pretty good.”
Rose tilted her head and smiled. “Cool! I’d love to talk to you about that experience one day!”
For Pete’s sake.
“Oh, for sure! But I actually have to run—starting my second shift,” he said regretfully, picking up his sign. “It was great meeting you guys. I’m sure I’ll see you around this summer then?” Was it my imagination or did he hold my gaze a bit longer than necessary?
He ran off, leaving us with a clear view of my dad. Pai was grinning. “Oh, you girls.”
“What!” Rose blurted, spending an inordinate amount of time tucking her hair into her cap. She glanced at me. “Do you think he was offended when I made that comment about his English?”
But I wasn’t paying attention. Instead I watched Hamlet run toward a coffee kiosk under a big shady tree. He whipped off his shirt, tugging it from the back of his collar. My mouth went dry. He was bare chested and glorious for a full two seconds before pulling on a white polo shirt, a navy apron, and a matching cap. Then he served someone coffee.
“What in the world?” I asked out loud, pointing at Hamlet.
Both my dad and Rose looked to where I was pointing. Noticing us, Hamlet waved and yelled, “Jack-of-all-trades!”
Before I could stop myself, I laughed. My dad smirked at me, and I threw a towel at him.
CHAPTER 9
