“Magdalena, por favor.” She turned to her friend as she reached the stove and stirred the chorizo and eggs she’d been cooking on it. “First of all, I’m still holding out and praying that it’s not true. I can’t even imagine going through something so tragic. And second.” She shrugged, turning back to the pan on the stove. “What’s he been doing all this time then? Because looking for me isn’t it.”
“Well . . .” Magdalena paused to look around cautiously as she reached the counter next to Isabella. “Is your mom home?”
“Yeah, but she’s asleep. She worked a double shift last night.”
“Oh, okay.” She hopped onto the counter and made herself comfortable. “It could be one of two things. It’s too soon and he feels like it’d be disrespectful to his late wife if he doesn’t wait longer. Because after everything you told me about you and him, there’s no way I’m buying that he’s no longer interested in you. I’m not blind either, Isa. I saw the way that hunk of a man looked at you that day near his restaurant. Even your mom said he gazed at you in that same enamored way he always had.”
Isabella frowned. “But he would’ve at least asked for my number, for future reference or at the very least maybe what city I live in now, so he’d know where to start once he was ready to start looking. Something.”
“Well, no. Back up.” Magdalena lifted her pointer finger. “That’s assuming he’s aware you’re no longer living with or even working with Cido anymore.”
Turning to her stubborn friend, Isabella scowled at her for insisting on giving Isabella all this false hope. “Magdalena, he said—” She caught herself when she remembered what Alejandro had actually said that day, and her friend’s lips were already curving into a very satisfied smile.
“He said Cido told him everything,” Magdalena finished her thought for her. “No telling what that idiota sin vergüenza told him. I’m inclined to believe this is the real reason why he’s stayed away. Though I’m surprised he wouldn’t be willing to fight for you. From everything you told me, even if he does believe you’re in a relationship with Cido, he’s gotta know there’s no way you’d feel for that imbécil anything close to what you’ve always felt for him. He wasn’t the only obvious one that day, you know. There’s no way he missed the lovesick way you gazed right back at him.”
Feeling horrible for being sadder about that now than his possibly losing his family, Isabella sighed as she removed the pan from the stove. “Yeah, well if that is the terrible truth, and Cido was talking about Alejandro’s wife, we’re at a stalemate. There’s no way I’m going to go reach out just to ask him if his wife is dead, and since he hasn’t made any attempts to fight for me, I’m inclined to believe a different theory.”
“Let’s hear it,” Magdalena leaned back against the cupboards, looking bored. “I’m sure it’s a negative one.”
“Well, how can it be anything else?” Isabella swatted her with a dishtowel. “He thinks his childhood best friend and love of his life”—glancing back to make sure her mother wasn’t anywhere near, Isabella lowered her voice—“the girl who lost her virginity to him, and might I add took his, betrayed him in the worst way.”
“Okay, first of all, mujer, don’t get it twisted.” Magdalena lifted her palm up. “Men don’t lose their virginity. Their virginity is the opposite to women’s. They hold onto theirs too long they’re a laughingstock. If they had more than one to give away, they’d get rid of as many as they could to a different girl in a single week, and they’d want everyone to know it. People find out we didn’t hold on to ours until our wedding night, we’re damaged goods—putas. And I hate to break it to you, amiga, but that man is fine. There’s no way, no matter how loyal you make him out to be, that he didn’t give it up to the many skanks who I’m sure threw themselves at him over the years he waited to reunite with you.” She winced when Isabella glared at her. “I’m just saying. Es hombre. They’re different from us. Doesn’t mean he wouldn’t have dropped every single one of them and gone back to being hopelessly devoted to you once he found you, had the circumstances been different.”
“But as unfair as it sounds, we both know how it is. His being with someone else—all the pinche putas he might’ve been with—doesn’t compare to me giving it up to someone else, especially our mutual ex-best friend. And he thinks I did.”
“Exactly.” Magdalena sat up straight again. “Thinks. But you could fix that by just telling him the truth.”
“How can I be sure his wife isn’t still alive and he’s not still living with his happy little family? If you think I’m showing up at his restaurant to casually ask if she’s dead, estas loca.”
“You can call him.” Magdalena glanced around as if looking for the phone. “I’m sure his restaurant is listed. Where’s your yellow pages?”
“Magdalena, I am not calling him to ask if his wife is dead.” Isabella pulled the flour tortillas out of the fridge. “You wanna burrito?”
“Yes, please!” Magdalena smiled big. “I’m starving actually. You have frijoles?”
“Of course,” Isabella pulled the container of refried beans and cojite cheese out of the fridge.
They devoured their burritos as Magdalena continued to insist Isabella needed to at least find out what exactly Cido told Alejandro all about. She was adamant whatever it was is why he’d been so curt and dismissive with her the day at the festival.
“All I’m saying, is when he came around that corner that day, Isa, he looked completely struck. Same as you did. You two did not look like a couple that’s ready or even willing in the least to be separated. The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced Cido must’ve told him some bullshit about you two being all in love or something.”
Isabella knew better. Alejandro knew her too well. So well, it’d been exasperating at times when she was trying to hide what she was feeling and he saw right through her. There was no way, even after all these years, he’d believe she’d ever feel anything for anyone else the way she’d always felt for him. Her heart belonged to him completely and he knew it. She adored him as much as he’d adored her. It’s why she couldn’t get past the fact that she’d betrayed him with his own best friend. It didn’t matter that maybe they’d been each other’s firsts. Obviously, he couldn’t hold it against her that she’d moved on, if that’s what Magdalena was thinking. The guy had a pregnant wife the day they finally reunited for the love of God. He was as fair as he was loyal. He wouldn’t hold it against her after all those years for moving on. Except for the fact that he thought she’d done so with his best friend.
Isabella managed to move Magdalena off the subject before her mother woke and possibly start contributing to her theories. Her mother wasn’t nearly as relentless as Magdalena clearly was when she got something in her head. But she had thrown in her own two cents the day she and Magdalena tried in vain to console her on the way home after running into Alejandro again. She too was of the belief that Alejandro was still feeling much for Isabella. Even said his hasty departure that day felt more like emotional self-preservation, than a dismissal.
“He does have a wife and a child now, Mija.” Her mother had said that day. “And we’ve always known what a good guy he is. We both know it’s highly unlikely he’d ever consider leaving his family for another woman, no matter who that woman was. He can’t possibly be feeling everything I’m certain he’s still feeling for you and not be overwhelmed with guilt about it, especially if seeing you has him questioning whether he should give into his heart.”
But Isabella had to think of her own self-preservation now. Her grandmother had said it best. Accepting the harsh reality was always better than giving into false hope. And the last thing Isabella needed now that her heart was finally beginning to accept her reality was to go back to square one and begin setting herself up for yet another devastating emotional collapse.
They moved onto why Magdalena was up early and in her area that morning. To her surprise, it wasn’t just to come plead her case about her
Alejandro theories. She had an interview at a clinic nearby. She told Isabella about wanting to go back to school for nursing.
Thankfully, they stayed on the subject of Magdalena’s future goals and possible new job. “If I get it, my parents already agreed we could look into getting a place out here, so I’m closer to work.”
To Isabella’s relief, her mother was only up for a short while before Magdalena had to go and they never did get back to the subject of Alejandro’s possible dead wife. The idea was just too tragic and surreal for Isabella to seriously consider. It just felt wrong. So wrong she didn’t even tell her mom about it.
After Magdalena left, Isabella showered and readied herself for her afternoon shift at the restaurant. Glad for the distraction, because it was impossible to not think about everything Magdalena had dropped on her since last night, Isabella kept herself busy at work. She’d gotten through just about her entire shift before she got the call.
“Line one is for you,” Pauly, one of the waiters, said sticking his head in the back where she’d been finishing up her work .
Reaching for the phone absentmindedly, Isabella hit line one but brought her attention back to the paperwork in front of her. “Isabella speaking.”
“Eres tu!”
Starting to smirk, at her amiga’s usual enthusiasm, Isabella pressed her lips together when she realized this was likely about Alejandro again. “What, loca?”
“I can’t believe I hadn’t thought of it sooner. You’re the one Cido was talking about.”
“The one what?”
“His pregnant girlfriend. The one he warned someone—Alejandro—to stay away from.”
Jerking up straight, Isabella squeezed the phone’s receiver tightly at her ear. “He said that?”
“No, but it makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?” Magdalena said, making Isabella breathe a tiny bit easier—just another theory. “I spoke with Jose Luis again and asked him if he’s heard anything else about Cido’s pregnant girlfriend. He said he hasn’t and, as far as he knows, no one’s heard anything about her, nor has he ever brought anyone around. Then he said the only girl he’s ever heard Cido make reference to is someone named Isa. And get this, he said the only time he’s ever heard Cido even mention going on a social call since he started working there months ago was when he stopped by on his day off one evening a few weeks before the whole sting went down to get something he’d left in the truck. Jose Luis teased him about actually having showered for once because he was dressed up and reeked of cologne, Cido told him he was meeting his girl in Little Italy for dinner—tu!”
“Okay, but that doesn’t mean—”
“Isa, I laughed at first when even Jose Luis assumed Cido’s pregnant girl is this Isa chick he’s heard him mention. Like laughed out loud.”
Magdalena made a show of laughing animatedly, making Isabella smirk despite the angst she’d begun to feel again.
Then her silly friend suddenly stopped. “But then it hit me. I have no doubt now. None. When Alejandro said Cido told him everything, it wasn’t that you’d moved out and quit. Why would he look so somber about knowing you and Cido had officially gone your separate ways? I didn’t say anything then because you were so upset, but his saying he was happy for you was anything but genuine. You’d think knowing you were out of Cido’s clutches now he really would be. More important, why would Cido volunteer that information? If anything, finding out that Alejandro is free to pursue you now, Cido likely made sure to thwart any ideas he might get. If Alejandro so much as asked about you, I wouldn’t put it past that idiota to warn him to stay away from his girlfriend—his pregnant girlfriend. Isa, you have to call him!”
“Magdalena,” Isabella said calmly because her friend sounded too worked up, and, despite this theory making sense and having her heart racing already, it was still just a theory. “Calling him would be disrespectful to his wife if in fact we’re wrong about her being dead.”
“Por el amor de Dios—”!
“Especially since he’s set the precedent this whole time and been respectful about staying away from me.”
“If you don’t call him, I will.”
“No, you will not.” Isabella was on her feet now as the panic seared through her.
“I already looked up the number to his restaurant and everything,” Magdalena whined. “All it takes is one phone call to ask what exactly Cido told him. You don’t even have to bring up his wife. I’ll start looking up microfiche at the library this week of old obituaries for any Morenos in the last ten months, if you can’t bring yourself to ask him, and he doesn’t mention it. But you have to at least find out what Cido told him.”
Inhaling deeply, Isabella decided to humor her friend before she made good with her threat of calling him herself. “What’s the number?”
She couldn’t even smile when she heard Magdalena squeal, she felt so unnerved. Isabella wrote the number down as Magdalena rattled it off gleefully. “Are you calling him now?”
“No, I don’t want to do it from here, but I’m almost off. I’ll do it from home.”
Promising to call her the moment she was off the phone with him, Isabella was finally off the unnerving call. Twenty minutes later she was on her way home, trying to come up with a good enough lie as to why she hadn’t been able to get a hold of him.
“He wasn’t there,” she rehearsed out loud. “It was a woman who answered, so I wasn’t about to leave a message or tell her to have him call me.”
She frowned, remembering everything Magdalena said with such conviction. Why would he look so somber about knowing you and Cido had officially gone your separate ways? Eres Tu! Isabella sat up straighter, remembering his panicked expression when she started to try and tell him about not living with Cido anymore.
His saying he was happy for you was anything but genuine. I wouldn’t put it past that idiota to warn him to stay away from his girlfriend—his pregnant girlfriend.
Feeling her eyes widen, Isabella clutched her steering wheel, as she remembered his eyes falling to her blouse when he’d looked so panicked. Then not even being able to keep the eye contact before rushing off.
Then another conversation from so long ago came to her like a ray of light. Let this be a lesson. From here on, whenever it comes to us, go with your gut, at least until I’ve had a chance to explain my side of things.
Glancing up at the freeway entrance, Isabella hopped on before she could change her mind. Her throat tightened as she prayed she wasn’t giving into false hope. If there was any truth to her good friend’s theories, and Isabella had to admit it felt very plausible now, she had to find out—in person. They’d been separated for too long.
Nearly there, the inevitable insecurity began setting in. What if they were wrong? What if she arrived and his wife was there with him?
“You’ll walk right back out, that’s what,” she whispered firmly as she looked for a parking space near his restaurant. “But at least you’d have the answer to that cruel thought, and Magdalena would have no choice but to stop with all her nonsensical theories.”
Busy eyeing the restaurant, Isabella pulled into a parking space several storefronts down from it. It wasn’t even until she turned her car off that she noticed the car that slowed behind her and nearly stopped. She watched through her rearview window, wondering what they were doing stopping right behind her, but it was too dark to make out who was in the car. Pulling away suddenly with a skid, Isabella turned out her side window and watched as the car pulled in and parked up the street.
Shrugging it off, she took a deep breath and got out of her car. Taking a few more breaths just outside her car, she dug deep to summon the courage to go through with this. Just as she’d taken a few steps, her heart nearly stopped when someone grabbed her arm roughly and spun her around.
Capítulo 23
No Sacrifice is too Big.
Alejandro
It’d been weeks since Alej had finally made the decision to reach out to Isa. He’d read about
Cido and Octavio being released, and, despite hearing about the attorney dream team representing them in court, he didn’t trust that they wouldn’t still try to run. He knew Isa too well to know she’d be against it, and he was afraid, even if she protested running, she might be forced to anyway against her will. But of course, he’d had no luck trying to find her.
At first, it was because the trucks had been off the streets after being seized. But even after he’d been surprised to hear two of them were back on the streets, they weren’t at their usual spots. He did finally spot them again since he knew they were out there, and he’d been on a mission to find them. But so far, she hadn’t been in either every time he’d gone looking for her. Short of showing up at the Ochoa’s home, whose address was listed, he wasn’t sure how else to find her. Given Cido’s warning, he knew that might get ugly, and he couldn’t even blame the guy. Still, this was Isa, and he was worried about her well-being, so he was determined to find her and talk to her finally. The way he should’ve the second time he ran into her when he’d choked.
No matter what the circumstances were now, he owed their relationship at least that much. They’d been through way too much to let things end this way, especially now that he was free to at least try and salvage what they once had.
Half the kitchen was closed now since they were nearing closing time. Glancing at the clock as the final couple who’d been in there paid for their dinner, Alej’s mentally exhausted ass decided, he’d wrap things up earlier than the norm tonight. The couple walked out after paying, and his dad began clearing up their table. “I think I’m gonna close it up a half hour early tonight.”
His dad nodded, glancing up at him. “Sounds good. It’s been a long day.”
Picking up the plastic carrier he’d put all the plates in, his dad walked out of the dining room and into the kitchen. He started to unload the carrier into the sink but stopped and exchanged a glance with Alej. What sounded like loud talking outside that Alej had earlier assumed was the couple that walked out turned into a shouting match now.
Moreno's: Moreno Brother's prequel (Moreno Brothers) Page 20
