It helped that I was in my room most of the time, studying like mad for exams. Also, he made a valiant effort to remember to put the toilet seat down. Most importantly, though, he made Mom and Tristan happy, so I kept the backhanded comments to a minimum.With final exams coming up, I’d had to cut my hours at work considerably. Lucas did too. Rudy understood that this was the one of the drawbacks of hiring students, but that didn’t mean he stopped calling us to cover shifts. Finally, when he called me in a panic on Sunday morning to tell me that two of his other employees had called in sick and he needed someone now, I decided to give in. I needed a break from math anyway.Sunday mornings at Jitters were almost as crazy as Saturday nights. Rudy came out to man the cash whenever the line-up started snaking around the display cases, but for the most part I was on my own until Claudia arrived for her shift at one. I was so busy I didn’t even notice Cole’s presence until he was standing right in front of me at the register.“Medium bold roast, black,”
