Wracking her brain to remember what he was talking about, nothing came to Isabella. He slid the back door of the truck open with his free hand as Isabella watched. There were several large boxes that took up most of the room in the truck. “What is it?”
“Remember the swing set we saw at Price Club?”
Sal’s little eyes went wide. “We got a swing set?”
Glancing away from Sal and then her husband, Isabella turned back to the boxes suspiciously. “Why do these boxes look so big? I don’t remember it being that big.”
“Well, I got to thinking.”
“Here we go.” Isabella crossed her arms.
“Hear me out, will you?” Alejandro grinned. “I’ve noticed a lot of other young families with kids moving into their homes around here. I figure, with us having one of the largest lots in the neighborhood, a lot of those kids will eventually end up in our yard. So, I decided to do a little shopping around and this one’s a little bit bigger.”
“A little bit?” She eyed what now looked like huge boxes to her.
“Hey, this is for our kids. You and them are who I live for now. What have I been saying to you since we were kids?”
She turned to him and smiled. “Nothing’s too much when it comes to me.”
“Exactly.” He leaned over and kissed her sweetly. “Same goes for them. Trust me. This is going to make them smile. Welcome home, mamas. I’m just getting started making you and these beautiful kids you’ve given me, smile. I adore you, baby.”
“I adore you too, Alejandro”
Alejandro
In the twelve years since they’d been married, they’d had three re-grand openings for their restaurant. Each time they added something significant or done some major renovating they’d had a big event to mark the re-grand opening to Moreno’s. This was the fourth and most significant to date, yet Alejandro had no intentions of slowing down the expansions and renovations as long as Moreno’s continued to do as well as it’d been doing for years. He was determined to perfect his and Isabella’s legacy for their kids.
Getting their restaurant opened in the US had been his dad’s legacy for him and Lucia. Though Lucia had since moved to Los Angeles with her family and had no interest in the restaurant business. When Alejandro’s padre had moved back to Mexico for good to help his sister care for Alejandro’s aging grandparents, though he refused it at first, Alejandro had insisted and bought him out. His dad had said he’d be putting part of the money away to leave for Lucia as her part of the inheritance of the dream he’d worked so hard for. Regardless of her not having any interest in running the restaurant, he said she and Alejandro had been his inspiration for chasing the dream all those years.
It’s how Alejandro felt now too, even if one or more of his kids decided not to follow in their parents’ footsteps of being restaurant owners someday. He wanted to be sure they were taken care of. So, as far as he was concerned, with four kids, he had a long way to go before their legacy was complete.
Even if Isabella hadn’t been a part of the very first opening of the restaurant, her restaurant management skills had only improved over time. She was instrumental to what ultimately led to Moreno’s ever-growing success.
But Isabella’s business-running skill wasn’t her only accolade. It seemed she was born to raise kids, because so far, she’d done so to perfection. Mind you they had three rambunctious boys. Alejandro had gotten home enough times to a silent home with Sofia being the only one in the front room watching TV. Her response to his questioning eyes as to why everything was so quiet and why weren’t the boys watching TV with her was a shake of her head and her infamous line, “The boys are bad.”
Each time he’d been in for an earful of what they’d broken, destroyed, or even blown up. But despite his boys’ shortcomings and the number of times he’d had to remind his exasperated wife that boys will be boys, he’d never had to talk to them about being disrespectful. It went without saying. They saw and picked up on the way their father treated both their mom and Sofie like the queen and princess of the house, as they deserved to be treated.
Even as rambunctious as things could get around the house, they all knew better than to ever pull Sofie into their horseplay. Hell, they didn’t just know better. As the years went by, they were getting so protective of their baby sister even Alejandro had to step in and break it up more than once now when one of them had unintentionally hurt so much as her feelings. But it always ended with a pat on the back, and a that-a-boy for stepping up for their sister because Alejandro expected nothing less from them, and he made sure they knew it.
Alejandro posed proudly with his family in front of the newly installed Moreno’s sign outside their restaurant just before their latest re-opening. The mariachis played their song as Alejandro ceremoniously opened the door to the restaurant and let the waiting crowd in. Like all the other re-opening events in the past, he’d scheduled this one for Sunday. Their brunches made Sunday by far their busiest day of the week for years. So, it was no surprise that they’d had at least twenty people waiting for them to open today. Even on a regular Sunday, they always had handfuls of people waiting for them to open, but this was still exciting.
Sal and Alex made their way into the kitchen where they helped handle the easier things like filling the tortilla chip trays and salsa bowls. Angel and Sofie lagged behind, talking to another boy around Angel’s age in the dining room. Alejandro took in the rest of the bustling dining room as Isabella called Sofie and Angel over to her.
“I want you two to walk around and pass out the raffle tickets,” Isabella explained how each person should write their name and phone number on the short end; then they could put them in the raffle box up front. “Each person gets one for free, but they can purchase more if they want. Be sure to point out the prizes by the front.”
“Who’s the kid you were talking to?” Alejandro asked curiously as he eyed the boy and what appeared to be his dad putting in their order to one of the waiters.
“Daddy, that’s Eric from up the street.” Alejandro did a double take when he glanced down at Sofie, and she looked almost annoyed that she’d have to explain it. “He’s only been over to our house like five times now, and he’s really nice. He and Angel are practically best friends now.”
“Guys don’t have best friends, Sof,” Angel protested then turned to Alejandro. “He’s been walking to and from school with us for weeks.”
Isabella touched Alejandro’s arm. “He and his single dad are fairly new to the neighborhood. If you get the chance, you should introduce yourself. They are our new neighbors.”
“Who’s the pirate?” Alejandro smirked, taking in the kid with the eye patch that had walked over to talk to Eric.
“Ha!” Alex walked up to them, holding a couple of baskets of chips in his hands. “Is that the guy that nearly hung himself on the volleyball net?”
Angel turned and chuckled. “Yeah, that’s Romero.”
“He nearly hung himself?” Isabella asked, sounding almost horrified.
“Well, not on purpose.” Angel clarified, chuckling even more now. “He went to spike the ball, all over-the-top like he does everything, couldn’t stop, and his head got caught in the net. Someone on the other side tried to spike it back and nailed him right in the face. He was out for a few seconds. It was hilarious!”
“I wish I’d seen it.” Alex laughed, shaking his head as he walked out into the busy dining room to deliver the chip baskets.
Alejandro stopped chuckling and cleared his throat when he noticed Isabella eyeing him with an arched brow. “Not nice to laugh at other people’s misfortune, Son.”
Angel and Sofie walked off with the raffle tickets, and Isabella shook her head as she pulled a couple of glasses out of the basket behind the bar. “He and his uncles are also our neighbors,” Isabella explained. “They’re just a little farther up the same street Eric lives on. Might do you good to walk around and mingle. I had the kids pass out flyers in the neighbor
hood about the grand re-opening. We’ll likely get a lot of our neighbors in here today.”
As always, Alejandro did as he was told and began to walk around thanking customers for joining them on their special day. Just as he approached the booth where the kid with the patch was sitting now with two men, he saw the kid blow something out of his straw. Whatever it was it landed in the coffee mug of the guy sitting across from him.
“Sorry.” The kid laughed. “I wasn’t aiming for that.”
“Swear to God, Moe.” The guy across from him tried fishing it out with his fork. “I’m gonna poke your good eye out, if you keep this shit up.”
“I can get you a fresh cup,” Alejandro offered, reaching out for the cup. “I hear we’re neighbors. I’m Alejandro Moreno, owner of this place.”
“Yeah, yeah.” The heavier of the two men, and closest to Alejandro, reached out and shook his hand. “Our nephew Moe here goes to school with your kids. I’m Manny. This here is my brother Max.”
“My son called you something else.” Alejandro addressed the kid, pointing his thumb over his shoulder.
“Meathead?” Max asked.
Manny laughed. “Wanker? Spastic?” He wheezed with laughter. “Oh, we could be here all day with this one.”
The kid laughed sarcastically at his uncles then turned to Alejandro. “Probably Romero. It’s my last name, and it’s what everyone at school calls me.”
“That’s it.” Alejandro pointed at him. “Romero. Heard about what happened to your eye.” He winced because, up close, he could see the bruising just under the patch. “Sorry to hear it.”
“Eh.” Manny waved his hand in front of him. “That’s just this week’s injury. They’ll be a new one we’ll have to deal with by next week. This guy never learns.”
“I’m good,” Max said, waving off Alejandro who was still holding out his hand for the coffee mug. But he did shake his hand. “I’m done with this anyway. But I’ll take a mimosa now.”
“Sure, I’ll let your waiter know. He’ll bring it right out.”
“Do you have virgin mimosas?” Manny asked.
Peering at him confused, Alejandro shook his head. “You mean plain orange juice?”
Manny stared at him, touching his own chin as if to seriously ponder that for a moment, then nodded and pointed at him. “You know? That sounds good. I’ll take one.”
“Okay,” Alejandro said as he excused himself and started to the next table.
“You’re such a virgin, Manny,” Romero said as Alejandro walked away.
“Shut up, boy.” Manny scolded but laughed. “Your ass don’t even know what that means.”
“Sure, I do. Means you’re too girlie to drink alcohol.”
Shaking his head with a smirk, Alejandro walked over to the table where Eric and his dad sat. Sofie approached them with the raffle tickets just as he reached their table and listened as she explained about the raffle. “You get one too, Eric.” She smiled sweetly. “Everyone gets one free ticket, but you can buy more if you want.”
“What do I win if you pick mine?”
“There’s lots of stuff.” She started to point over to where the gift baskets and other giveaways were but then touched his arm. “Come with me. I’ll show you.”
Alejandro introduced himself to Eric’s dad and spoke with him briefly before Sofie and Eric got back. “Buy extra ones, Dad,” Eric said, taking his seat at the table again. “Sofie sold me. There’s lots of good stuff. Like a Padres jersey. The kind the players’ wear.”
“Alright, I’ll take five more.”
Sofie quickly tore five more off. “I can help you fill them out, Eric.”
When she glanced up at him, Alejandro smiled with a wink, proud of his little princess for putting in the extra effort to sell more tickets. Already the restaurant felt like a full Moreno team effort. Glancing up from his daughter, who’d gone back to helping Eric fill out his tickets, he noticed Isabella waving him down.
“It was nice meeting you, vecinos. I’ll come by again in a bit to check on you.”
He walked over behind the counter where Isabella stood by their newest addition to the restaurant. The PC he’d purchased earlier that month. He’d bought two. One for the restaurant and another for their home. So far neither he nor Isabella were very good at using them.
Isabella held a floppy disk in her hand. “Pretty sure this is how I did it last time.”
“What are you trying to do, Mom?” Sal asked as he approached them.
“Trying to print the inventory list we put on this thing, but it’s not letting me insert it.”
Putting the basket of chips he’d been carrying down, Sal leaned over, pushed a button and out came another floppy disk. “You can only have one in there at a time.”
Trying to keep up, Alejandro watched, as usual, completely impressed with his son as his son took the disk from his mother, inserted it, hit a few keys, and navigated through a couple of different screens. “Just one copy?”
“Yes.”
Sal hit something else and the printer started printing. “There you go. It’ll feed all the way out to where you cut it. You don’t have to pull on the paper. Just tear it at the dotted lines.”
He picked up the baskets and headed back into the dining room. “Thank you, Mijo.”
Alejandro and Isabella exchanged glances. “Did you catch any of what he just did?” she asked.
“Claro que si.” Alejandro smirked. “Pushed this jiggy then that, and that did the hokey pokey and voila.”
“We’re gonna have to take a class or something, you know.”
“What for? When we have him?” Alejandro started toward the kitchen. “He can teach the other ones, and they can handle all that new technology shit. They’re the reason I bought it in the first place. I was fine with the old register and doing everything by hand.”
By the end of the day, Alejandro was completely exhausted, but it’d been another success. Isabella had gone home hours ago with Sofie, but the boys held out and stayed until closing time with him. After wrapping it up, they got in the family station wagon and headed home.
“So, what’s next?” Sal, who sat shotgun, asked.
Alejandro had to chuckle at his always ambitious oldest. “What do you mean? We just had the grand re-opening today.”
“Yeah, but dad this world is dog-eat-dog. Things are changing fast and we gotta keep up. My computer teacher said they’re coming up with new software every day.”
Listening to Sal tell him about the different kinds of software and other technology they should start looking into for the restaurant, Alejandro did his best to keep up and retain everything his son told him. “You know who we should talk to is Eric’s dad,” Sal said, sounding even more excited. “He programs computers. He probably knows all about the latest and greatest in the field. I’ll hit Eric up tomorrow.”
By the time they got home, not only was Alejandro physically exhausted but mentally as well. When he was finally in bed with Isabella that night, he pulled her to him, spooning her tightly as he groaned into the back of her neck. “What a day.”
Isabella turned her head slightly to him. “It went well, right?”
“Yeah, it did.” He kissed her neck. “And I know what Sal will be asking for come Christmas.”
“What’s that?”
“More computer crap. Talked about it all the way home. Said his computer teacher told him there’s new software coming out every day and we gotta keep up.”
“Speaking of.” She turned to face him. “Apparently, there’s a new Atari and Angel wants it. It’s a good thing the restaurant’s doing well because the holidays are gonna get expensive.”
“But stuff like that is cool,” Alejandro said, pulling her to him and getting back to his comfy spooning again. “Sure, it’s pricier than most gifts. But we can buy it and wrap it up for him and Alex.”
“Oh no.” She shook her head. “Haven’t you heard? Your old weight bench and dumbbell set aren’t cutti
ng it anymore. Alex said, now that he’s being moved up from junior pee wee to pee wee football, he needs to train harder to keep up with the older boys.”
“Pee wee? But he’s not even ten yet.”
“He will be soon, and have you not seen how much that boy eats these days?” Isabella shook her head. “No wonder he seems to grow an inch a day. The divisions go by weight, so it doesn’t matter how old he is. They’re moving him up or he won’t get to play.”
“Hmm.” Alejandro was quiet for a moment, thinking about all three of his fast-growing sons “What about mi princesa. What’s she asking for?”
“You don’t wanna know.”
Jerking his head away from where he’d been resting it on Isabella’s shoulder, Alejandro peered at his wife, who turned to look at him. “Why? What does she want? A doll? Teacup set?”
Isabella laughed, shaking her head. “You wish.”
“Cariño, she’s only seven,” he said, bracing himself. “What could she be asking for that I don’t wanna know about?”
“Relax, nothing bad, and she’ll be eight soon, FYI. But your daughter’s always been a bit ahead of her time. Always trying to keep up with her brothers, I guess.”
“So, what does that mean?”
“Means your baby girl is moving on from dolls and teacup sets, mi amor.” This time Isabella spun herself all the way around and wrapped her arms around Alejandro facing him. “She’s gonna start cleaning out her room and getting rid of a lot of her toys to make room for the new stereo she’ll be asking for along with the latest Michael Jackson, Culture Club, and Wham albums. She’s in love with those guys from Wham. She also wants something called a crimper.”
“In love? Wham?” Alejandro felt his face sour. Clearly getting a kick out of this now, Isabella chuckled, kissing him again. “And what the hell’s a crimper?”
“It’s for her hair. The latest craze I guess.” She touched Alejandro’s face and smiled before kissing him again. “Wham’s one of the most popular pop duos out there right now. Get with it, Viejo. When’s the last time you’ve been in her room? Her walls are plastered with posters and magazine cut outs of those two hot men.”
Moreno's: Moreno Brother's prequel (Moreno Brothers) Page 22
