Moreno's (Moreno Brothers Series) - Elizabeth Reyes Page 0,45

instances had done was confirm what he’d always known anyway.

“Taking care of my needs has actually helped me further strengthen the belief I’ve had since Isa left Mexico.”

Peering at him in question, Cido shook his head. “How?”

Exhaling harshly, Alej shook his head. “As improbable as it’s beginning to feel that I might ever find her again, hanging with other girls has made me certain of one thing. Not one of these girls has come even close to making me feel what I felt—what I still feel—for Isa. It’s a fate thing, amigo.” He clapped his hand on Cido’s shoulder because he was ready to move on from this heart-wrenching topic. “If you’re lucky enough to ever find your soulmate, you’ll understand.”

Since then, they’d discussed Alej’s undying devotion to Isa on more than one occasion in length. Alej knew Cido thought he was loco for refusing to even consider any type of relationship with anyone because he was waiting for Isa. But it was the truth, and he’d be sticking by it. Until he found someone who could make him feel what Isa had, he’d hold out. And he was pretty damn sure that’d be nunca.

Lucia was in the kitchen, dancing to cumbias as she cleaned up after dinner. Alej had been sitting at the dining room table, reading a book he’d checked out at the library. For weeks now, he’d been going to the library to research how to find long lost family or friends. Short of actually setting out on a quest to find them or hiring a private investigator, which he couldn’t afford, his chances were slim. He had paid for a weeklong ad in the El Paso Times newspaper, but even that he couldn’t afford to do often. It might all be for naught anyway if she was no longer in the El Paso area. Though he did plan to do it again as soon as he could save up a little extra cash again.

He heard a car pull up into the driveway and the engine shut off. “I got it!” his dad yelled from outside.

Alej jumped up from the dining room table. If it was what he was thinking, then this just might be the turnaround to his unproductive and disappointing day he needed. He rushed to the front door, along with his sister, and shoved it open. The huge smile he was already wearing nearly flattened until his eyes met his dad’s excited eyes.

“What do you think?”

Alejandro knew Lucia must be thinking the same thing he was because she didn’t say anything and sort of nudged him to say something first.

“I know it needs a little cosmetic work,” his dad said before Alejandro could respond to his first question. “But your cousin Nacho is coming up next week, and you know he’s artsy. I’m gonna have him paint our name on the side of the truck and have him add some other colorful designs.”

His dad was speaking in fast Spanish now and Alej knew that meant one thing. He was nervous.

Things between them, Octavio and Cido hadn’t worked out. About five months after they’d started working with Alej and his dad, they’d gone their own way. When Alej’s dad let them know he was ready to buy a truck, Cido’s dad said he wanted in fifty-fifty, but his dad let him know he wasn’t looking for a partner. Which meant they were officially doing this on their own now. Alej hadn’t heard from either Cido or his dad in months.

His dad had been shopping around for months now, but each time he had one excuse after another not to take the plunge and use all their savings on this. Now that he had, he didn’t seem so sure, and Alej couldn’t blame him.

“Is this even a food truck, dad?” Alej asked. “It looks more like a . . .”

He wasn’t even sure what it looked like, but a food truck wasn’t it.

“An ambulance,” Lucia said, finishing for Alej.

Unbelievably, their dad nodded as he walked around the back to open the back doors. “It was an emergency response vehicle once upon a time, but it was converted, and for the past eight years, it’s been a food truck. Look.”

He opened the door and started naming off the amenities. It did have everything they needed, albeit in a very cramped space: a refrigerator and freezer, a three-burner propane stove, a small grill, a work bench where they could prepare the food, lots of storage areas, and a