Moreno's (Moreno Brothers Series) - Elizabeth Reyes Page 0,3
all you’re buying?”
She nodded, and he rushed over to grab an onion before she headed over to pay for her beans. They walked to the counter together and paid for their things. Then they left together. The Infante’s old place wasn’t too far out of the way from his, so he decided he’d escort her home.
“I’ll carry that home for you.” He held out his hand for her to give him the bag of beans.
She hesitated at first but then did so when he kept his hand stretched out.
“Did you guys buy the Infante’s house?”
“No, my mom and grandma are renting. But if they could save up, they’ll have the option to buy it. They just want to see how they like living in this pueblo first.”
“How do you like it so far?”
“It’s different,” she said, and Alej couldn’t make out if that was a good or bad thing.
“You made friends fast.”
Isabella shrugged. “The girls seemed to like me well enough the first few days, but yesterday and today, I sort of got the cold shoulder from a few of them. It doesn’t surprise me, though. At my old school, I had more guy friends than I did girls.”
That really caught his interest. “You did?”
“Yeah, my mom said she was always the same way too growing up. She says it’s sad, but so many girls are so dramaticas. Boys are so much more laid back.”
Alej thought about that. Did this mean she’d be hanging out with the boys at school more now? Cido had since made another comment that week about her being cute. A comment that’d had Alej muttering under his breath since Cido hadn’t been the only guy he’d seen eyeing her in a way that said they thought so too.
The only good thing was, while the guys in this town might be more laid back than the “dramatica” girls, they were all pendejos, his best friend Cido included. Here Alej had only spoken to Isabella for a few minutes, and already he could tell she was far more self-confident and more mature than any of the boys he knew, himself included. Though the two years he had on her helped him play it off a bit.
“I’m sorry about your mom.” Her statement broke him out of his thoughts. “I heard about the accident. That had to be so hard for you.”
Alej stared at her for a moment. He hadn’t thought about his mother’s sudden death in a while. His sister had taken it so much harder than he had. Not that it hadn’t been hard on him as well. But seeing how utterly destroyed his sister had been by the unexpected loss of their mother, had made him step up along with his dad and be strong for her.
“Yeah, it was tough.” He stared out into space as they continued to walk slowly down the dirt road. “We’d been going into the city every weekend for as long as I can remember. So, coming home that weekend without her. . .”
He shook his head unable to finish. This wasn’t what he’d imagined his first conversation with the girl he’d been daydreaming about all week would be like. He swallowed hard, trying not to get emotional. The last thing he wanted was for her first real impression of him to be that of a sniffling marica.
“If I tell you something you promise you won’t share it with anyone?”
Alej turned to her, surprised by this. As if she’d read his mind, she went on before he could respond to that. “I’m only sharing this with you because I don’t think it’s fair that I’d know something so personal about you before ever speaking to you.”
He shook his head. “That’s okay. It was in the paper, and in case you haven’t noticed, chisme travels fast in this pueblo. So, everybody who lives here knew about it before we even got home that night. But yeah, I promise.”
She took a deep breath, staring ahead. “We didn’t really move here because my mom was recently widowed and we couldn’t afford living in the city anymore. I don’t even remember my dad. My dad was killed during a drug deal gone wrong in the city when I was just a baby.” She turned to him and rolled her eyes. “My mom had no idea he was involved in anything like that, but according to the police and witnesses, he was the one doing the selling, and they robbed him then shot him. So,