Moreno's (Moreno Brothers Series) - Elizabeth Reyes Page 0,47

as this made Alej, he wasn’t lying when he said he believed in his dad. So far, he’d accomplished everything he’d set out to accomplish. He’d got them to the US, legally, set them up in their new home, and now they were one step closer to making that ultimate goal of a restaurant happen.

Capítulo 13

San Ysidro or Bust

Two Years,

Nine Months,

Three Weeks, and

Four Days

Since she’d last heard from Alejandro

Isabella

It took them almost a year, but Isabella and her mom had finally saved enough to make the move to San Diego. Her mom had tried in vain to convince her sisters to make the move with them. Not only had her aunts adamantly refused, they’d actually tried to discourage them from making the move. They said it was too big a risk. If they couldn’t get jobs right away, they’d burn through their savings too fast, and San Diego was expensive.

Isabella had done her homework. National City was one of the more inexpensive places to live in the San Diego area, and it was only twenty minutes from San Ysidro. She’d been able to find a trailer park where they could rent a mobile home with all the amenities they needed in the price range she’d calculated they could afford—if they found jobs fast enough.

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.