Moreno's: Moreno Brother's prequel (Moreno Brothers)

by Elizabeth Reyes

  When they got there, they found out why it was so cheap. The listings with photos she’d seen in her local paper had photos of the mobile homes. They were stationary and looked like big square manufactured homes. The mobile home they’d be living in was an actual movable one like the ones they’d often seen on the freeways. The kind people went camping in. And the trailer park was not as peaceful, beautiful, and serene as the recording indicated when she’d called the rental office.

  “This is just temporary,” her mother reminded her as they stood outside the mobile home with their luggage. “As soon as we find jobs, we’ll find a better place.”

  Finding jobs had also proved harder than they thought. In Las Cruces, they’d both been employed at restaurants where speaking mostly Spanish hadn’t been an issue. But so many of the jobs listed in the paper there in National city required fluent English. Isabella could say she was fluent now, but her mom wasn’t quite there yet. Still, the only experience Isabella had was in the restaurant business. Transportation was another issue. They couldn’t take the jobs that were too far since they’d be looking at long commutes on the bus, which meant spending more. Months went by without either of them being able to find work, and Isabella was beginning to think they’d made a terrible mistake. Their funds were beginning to run low.

  Isabella finally got a bite at small mom and pop restaurant, but it didn’t involve cooking or helping prepare food. She’d be washing dishes and it paid very little. But she’d been desperate. It’d been over three years since she’d last heard from Alejandro, but her hopeful heart was still holding out on the possibility of a miracle.

  She’d only had a chance to take the ride out to San Ysidro a few times but didn’t even know where to begin. For all she knew, Alejandro’s dad’s dream had failed and they were back in Pueblo De Oro. Though the last she heard from the few people she still kept in contact with at her old town just months prior was that the Morenos hadn’t come back yet. The last anyone there knew was they were still out in California, but no one knew where in California.

  One of the days she’d been off early from work she took the bus out to San Ysidro. She had no idea what she was looking for, but she’d gotten a map and visited some of the parks in the area. It was a long shot, but she held out hope she might find Alejandro that way. Every time she came across any of the food vendors, her heart would tighten. Even when it wasn’t him, she’d ask if they knew of him or his father. None ever did.

  That evening as she stared out the window of her bus still in San Ysidro, she sat up straighter as they passed a catering truck. The name on the side of the truck said Hermanos Ochoa.

  “What are the odds?” she whispered as she pulled the cord so the bus would stop at the next stop.

  When it did, she rushed out back toward where the truck was parked. They had a handful of customers waiting on their orders. She hurried to the window but didn’t recognize the lady taking the orders. “Is this your truck?” she asked a bit too hopeful and she knew it.

  The lady looked at her weirdly and shook her head. “Piki panish?”

  Immediately, Isabella asked again in Spanish. The lady said she just worked for the owner, so Isabella asked if she knew if the owner’s name was Octavio. Her heart dropped when the lady instantly shook her head. She wasn’t even sure why she thought she might get so lucky. Then she heard the lady ask someone else in the truck if they knew where Octavio’s truck was parked that day, and Isabella’s heart spiked. The lady let the man know someone was looking for him when he asked why.

  “Octavio Ochoa?” Isabella asked anxiously.

  “Si.”

  Recognizing him immediately as Cido’s uncle, Jose Maria, when he peered out the window at her suspiciously, Isabella’s heart nearly burst.

  “Quien lo busca?”

  Isabella hadn’t expected him to recognize her. This was one of the uncles who’d lived in Juarez and only came into town on occasion. Only reason she recognized him was because he looked so much like Octavio. She explained quickly who she was. That she’d just moved out recently and that she hadn’t seen her friends in years.

  “I’d like to say hello and see how they’re doing.”

  Jose Maria continued to stare at her, a bit unsure, but finally nodded at the lady and walked back to where he’d been cooking. The lady told her to try the trolley station. It’s where Octavio and his son were at usually at this time of day.

  Isabella’s heart nearly burst. She actually choked up as she rushed toward the station. The lady said she could take the bus there, but Isabella was too fired up to wait around for the bus. The station was ten minutes away according to the lady in the truck, so Isabella hurried there on foot, practically sprinting.

  By the time she breathlessly made it there, she’d shed a few tears. “Oh my God,” she gasped as she turned the corner and saw the truck.

  Seeing the movement in the truck made her heart clench, wondering if any of the people she saw moving around through the windows of the truck might be Alejandro. She hurried toward the truck, her heart beating faster with every step she took.

  When she reached the window, she craned her neck to look inside. Feeling her heart nearly burst when she saw a young guy inside move quickly past the window, she gasped. She’d been so busy trying to see past the man at the window she didn’t even notice who he was. All she knew is he was too old to be Alejandro.

  “Chiquitita is that really you?”

  Her eyes were immediately on the man at the window with the big smile and thick mustache. It took her a second to recognize Octavio. He’d gained quite a bit of weight since she last saw him, but she recognized the gleam in his eyes.

  “Señor Ochoa?” she practically cried out, the lump in her throat already beginning to suffocate her. “Yes! Yes, it’s me. Isabella from Pueblo De Oro. Oh my God. How are you? It’s been years.”

  “I’m good. I’m good. Enjoying the good life.” He pointed around at the truck; then he looked back into the truck. “Cido, come look who’s here.”

  Just hearing the name had her bringing her hand to her mouth. A few seconds later, Cido was at the window. His mouth dropped when he saw her. “Isa?” She nodded adamantly, unable to hold back the emotion. “Holy shit!”

  His dad scolded him for the language even as Cido hurried away from the window then jumped out the door near the front of the truck. In the next second, she was in his arms in a crushing hug. “I can’t believe it’s you,” he said against her ear; then he pulled away to look at her. “What are you doing here? I thought you were in El Paso.”

  Isabella couldn’t believe how much he’d changed in the almost four years since she’d last seen him. He was a full-grown man and even more handsome than she remembered. Though back then, she’d been blindly in love with Alejandro. She never thought Cido unattractive. He’d just never held a candle to what she felt for Alejandro. Now she could at least appreciate the handsome man he’d grown into.

  “I haven’t lived there in years,” she said.

  Isabella explained quickly as she wiped the tears from her eyes about living in Las Cruces and how, only recently, she and her mom had moved to National City. As soon as she was done, she asked the million-dollar question.

  “Are you and Alejandro still working together?”

  The huge smile on his face instantly waned, and he shook his head. “I haven’t talked to him in well over a year. Last I heard he left San Ysidro, but I don’t know where he went.”

  Instantly deflated, the knot at her throat grew heavier but not for the joyous reason it’d lodged in there in the first place. “You didn’t stay in touch with him?”

  “Nah, my old man and his had a falling out. He and I tried to stay close, but it was tough since we both sided with our dads.”

  “A falling out? About what?” Isabella couldn’t even imagine. They’d been so tight for so long.

  Cido shrugged. “Business. It happens, I guess. I thought maybe he and I could still remain friends,
but he stopped coming around, and I didn’t go see him for a while. When I finally did try to call and see how he was doing, his phone had been disconnected.”

  He explained that Alejandro and his dad were out here before Cido and his dad. How they tried working together again but Alejandro’s dad didn’t want to do the fifty/fifty thing anymore. He wanted Cido’s dad to just be his employee not partner. So, his dad had to finally walk away and try getting his own thing going.

  Cido turned to look at the truck proudly. “We have three now. My uncles and dad partnered up when they came over the border.” He shrugged with a somewhat wounded frown. “My dad says everything happens for a reason. So, it’s probably better that we kept it in the family only. Just sucks that it cost me my friendship with Alej.”

  “You really have no idea where he’s at now?”

  He shook his head, lifting his Padres ball cap and scratching his head. His expression went a bit poignant. “None. But he knows I’m here, and he’s never come down to try and reconnect. Did he stop staying in touch with you, too?”

  Cido asked this like it was something Alejandro had purposely done to her as well. She quickly explained about the moves they made. How without being able to exchange the information after each had new addresses, they’d lost touch. She said it with conviction, because she was certain there was no way Alejandro had willingly stopped staying in touch with her. She felt bad that, clearly, it’s what he’d done with Cido, but it was almost insulting that he’d imply that might be the case with her. Isabella knew it wasn’t.

  Nodding and lifting a brow as if he’d picked up on Isabella’s wounded words, he didn’t comment further about that. “It’s been almost . . .” he thought about it for a moment then turned to the window where his dad was just handing a customer a plate. “Apa, how long has it been since we lost touch with the Morenos?”

  Octavio mimicked what Cido had done earlier lifting his own ball cap and scratching his head. “Casi dos años?”

  Isabella’s heart dropped. Almost two years? “And you’ve heard nothing of where he might be?”

  Cido stared at her for a moment, his eyes dropping to her lips then were back on her eyes again. “No. For all I know, they may’ve gone back to Mexico.”

  Isabella shook her head. She was certain that wasn’t the case. For years and in all the letters he’d written her, he spoke of how determined his father was to come out here and make it. It’d been his life’s dream. He wouldn’t come out here and just give up.

  “So, how’ve you been?” Cido asked, smiling again. “You said you and your mom moved out here. Does that mean you’re not married yet?”

  It’d been about three and a half years since she left Mexico and it still seemed wrong for Cido to be even asking. Isabella still hadn’t given up even after all this time. Her heart was still holding out that she’d find him and they’d finally be together again someday.

  “No,” she said, shaking away the irrational annoyance. “I was actually hoping I might still find Alejandro.”

  She left out that it’s why she’d been so emotional when she’d realized she actually found Cido and his dad. It seemed rude. While she was happy to see her old friend again, it didn’t even come close to what she would’ve felt had Alejandro been here with him. She was feeling even more emotional now about how close she’d come and still she wasn’t the least bit closer to finding him.

  Cido didn’t comment on her hoping to find Alejandro. Instead, he mentioned how he was still single himself then changed the subject altogether. “Are you in National City now? With family?”

  “No, it’s just me and my mom. We’ve only been here a few months, but it’s been so hard to find jobs. I finally got one only it pays so little I’m still looking for a second job.”

  His eyes brightened. “My dad and I are looking to get another truck, so we’ll be needing more help. We can’t pay too much hourly, but we would pay you minimum wage at least, and we’re out here all day most days, so it’d still be a lot of hours. Ten or twelve hours some days if we don’t run out of food. The hardest thing about this business is being slaves to it. Unless you trust your employees enough to leave them on their own, it’s hard to take time off.” He smiled even bigger. “I know I’d trust you and your mom.”

  Isabella felt her gloomy mood take a turn, and she was even smiling now too. “Oh my God, that would be such a relief. My mom hides it well enough, but I know she’s been so stressed about not being able to find a job yet, and we’d be willing to work all the hours you need us to. Whatever days.”

  Cido smiled big. “I’ll talk to my dad tonight, but I know it’s the one thing he worries about most. We’ve had some issues with past employees. Coming up short in the register, them giving their friends free food and shit or just flaky employees who call out last minute and we’re scrambling shorthanded. I know you and your mom would be trustworthy, Isa. I’m not sure when we’ll be getting the new truck, but we’re already short, so I may be able to get you some hours in this truck already.”

  Bringing her hand to her chest, Isabella was once again feeling emotional. The past few months had been more stressful than she cared to admit. Her face scrunching involuntarily had Cido hugging her again, and she wrapped her arms around him. “Don’t worry, amiguita. I got your back.”

  As promised, Cido had Isabella and her mom working that very next week. Her mom was beyond relieved. He wasn’t kidding either when he said they’d been shorthanded, especially on the weekends.

  They had spots near some of the clubs and bars that let out at two in the morning with many drunken and very hungry customers. They were the shifts that most of their employees flaked on, being that they were young and likely wanting to go out themselves.

  Isabella didn’t have much of a social life, and her first priority was to get out of that trailer park. They’d already had several incidents where they’d been woken up in the middle of the night by sirens and patrol car lights called out for domestic disputes. They’d even witnessed a car chase that ended at the trailer park when their idiot neighbor thought he’d outrun the cops and make it into his trailer. Isabella wanted to at least be able to afford even a studio apartment somewhere safer.

  Two weeks into their new job, Isabella was working the closing shifts with Cido and another co-worker Magdalena. Her mom had been opening with Octavio and it seemed they’d been getting scheduled that way more and more.

  Magdalena was a tiny thing with short fuse and a mouth to match. Though unlike the girls Isabella had grown up with, her attitude wasn’t aimed at her more so than the men they worked around. Especially Cido who constantly had to remind her that, yes, he was her boss when she’d snap at him with her “you’re not the boss of me” line. Her famous response to that, which she delivered each time with what Cido called her sassy neck roll was, Okay pero no te pases!

  It didn’t take long to figure out why Cido put up with his feisty employee’s attitude. Despite being one of his youngest, she was also one of his most reliable and punctual. She was also a very good listener who could be trusted to keep things to herself, and Isabella began opening up to her. For the first time in like ever, Isabella had made a good female friend she could talk to. With Magdalena opening up to her about the guys she dated, Isabella let her in on the only guy she’d ever given her heart to and who, to that day, it still belonged to.

  “That’s some romantic shit, right there.”

  It’s what Magdalena had said when Isabella had told her about how devoted she still felt to Alejandro even after all these years. She called them almas gemelas, and insisted Isabella never give up on finding him. “That kind of love between two is far and few, girl. You can’t give up.” Isabella only prayed it was true, but it was really beginning to feel so impossible as the time passed with hope of finding him again.

  Isabella had been working her shift alone with Cido that night. This wasn’t a weekend night, so they wouldn’t be open past nine. When they were done and wrapped i
t up, Cido asked if she wanted to take a drive out to the beach before he dropped her off at the truck commissary. Isabella couldn’t even remember having time to just relax and enjoy herself in years, so she agreed.

  They dropped off the catering truck at Cido’s family’s house then drove out to Border Field, a, beach park right on the border of Mexico and California. Cido told her how they had horseback riding and hiking and it was one of the less crowded parks in the area.

  Thinking back to the times she rode on the back of Atrevido with Alejandro, Isabella stared out into the moonlit sky, taking a deep breath. “It’s been so long since I’ve been horseback riding.”

  “You should come out here and ride. It’s not expensive and it’s so tranquil to ride up in the trails. In fact . . . “ He pulled out a small notebook from his front pocket. “This Thursday I have you scheduled to close with me and Magdalena again. But the day before we’re not closing, so it won’t be too tiring to come out here and ride Thursday morning. My treat.”

  Isabella smiled. “That’s sounds like fun.”

  “It will be. I’ll pack a picnic. It’ll be relaxing. No swimming though or we’ll be too burned out to work, but we’ll go for a ride then just enjoy a peaceful lunch before heading back to work.”

  “Sounds good,” she said, smiling even bigger.

  They walked around a little as Cido told her about how they’d gotten the business off the ground. After parting ways with Alejandro and his dad, Octavio, who was still working part-time for a ship-building factory requested to be switched to full-time. He saved up and convinced his brothers to come over and join him in trying to get the catering truck business going. He was able to get them into the factory where he worked. Between the three of them, they saved up to buy the first truck and hustled like crazy.