Zoe smoothed her hair. “We’re fine. Really. Arcade has this weird goal of seeing more of New York City, so this walk will definitely help him.”

“It’s a thousand degrees out here. Let me help.” Michael pulled a twenty-dollar bill out of his pocket and held it out to Zoe.

Zoe pushed it away. “No, I can’t let you do that.”

Michael shoved the twenty in the hand with the flowers and grabbed Zoe’s hand with his other. “I insist.” He tried to put the money in Zoe’s hand, but the money and the flowers got tangled and bobbled. Everything hit the ground instead. Michael and Zoe bent down at the same time to pick it all up, and they bonked heads.

Finally! Some good entertainment.

Zoe and Michael both grabbed their foreheads.

“Oh, man, I’m such a dork.” Michael bent down and picked up the money and the flowers.

“No, that was my fault,” Zoe said.

Michael grinned. “Yes, it was. You should have taken the money.”

Zoe put a hand on her hip. “What? I was just being polite. You can’t fault me for that!”

“I won’t, unless you refuse the money.” Michael held out the twenty-dollar bill again.

TAKE. THE. MONEY. ZOE.

Zoe sighed and looked up at the sky. “Okay, but I’m going to pay you back.”

Michael chuckled. “Okay, you can do that by buying me lunch at school one day. I’ll be the one sitting all by myself while Trista sings herself to stardom on Broadway.”

Zoe smiled. “Deal.”

Michael blew out a breath and looked at me. “Wow. Your sister’s a stubborn one.”

“Oh, man, you don’t even know the half—”

Zoe reached out and put her hand over my mouth. “Be quiet, Arcade.”

Michael turned to leave, but he stopped a second and looked down. In the collision, a rose had broken out of the bouquet and was laying on the ground. He reached down, picked it up, and handed it to Zoe.

“Have a beautiful day,” he said, and then he vanished into the crowd of New York City walkers.

*  *  *

I had to jog to catch up with Zoe, who seemed to be running away from something.

“Hey!” I came up beside her. “Some of us are hauling shrimp, you know. Are we headed to the subway?”

Zoe stopped. “Well, that’s the plan, Einstein. I didn’t just endure the most embarrassing moment of my life to NOT use this twenty to get us home.”

I breathed out. “Oh, good. Hey, that Michael’s a nice guy, isn’t he?” I pointed to the rose, winked at Zoe, and then ran toward the 59th Street subway station. Zoe followed close behind, kicking the back of my shoe every other step.