fun?”
Another customer stopped by and ordered an agua. “I got it, mija.”
Isabella turned to her abuela, who moved over, forcing Isabella to slide over to the side while she got the agua for the customer. Like with her mom and Señor Negrete, was her grandmother encouraging Isabella to chat it up with the Luis? Couldn’t be. Just the other day she made comments about Isabella still being too young to be courted.
Paying no further mind to her abuela’s behavior, Isabella turned back to Luis. Admittedly, he was handsome, and from what she heard and could tell so far, he and his three brothers were very charming and respectful. They were in a position where they could be snooty, and so far, he seemed far from it. But he wasn’t Alejandro, and Isabella’s heart belonged to him. No amount of money or charm from even the most handsome of other guys would change that ever. Only she didn’t see the harm in chatting with him for a bit.
She told him about some of the best fishing holes in the river where lots of the young adults liked to hang out fishing and having picnics. The big meadow where others hung at times making bonfires and such. “The river paranadas are usually Friday afternoons but are mostly for kids my age. The dances they have on Saturday nights here in the placita are for the older kids your age.”
Luis smiled, peering at her curiously. “How old are you, Isabella?”
Isabella cleared her throat, smiling a bit nervously. “I’ll be fifteen in a few weeks.”
“Le estamos preparando una quinceañera fabulosa,” her abuela said as she took a seat again under the umbrella, since they had a break from customers at the moment. Isa turned to her abuela, who sipped her drink and smiled at her. “Don’t be rude, Isa. You should invite your new friend to your quinceañera.”
Feeling her face warm, Isabella stared at her grandmother, unable to believe she’d put it out there like that. Her abuela stood up quickly when two customers approached the table, since Señor Negrete was still yapping it up with her mother. Again, her abuela motioned to Isabella that she had it covered.
She turned back to Luis, and he was smiling a bit sheepishly, like he knew her grandmother had not only put her on the spot but embarrassed her. Isabella shrugged, trying not to look as awkward as she suddenly felt. “We’re not done with the invitations. We’re making them ourselves,” she explained. “Not that you’d need one to come or anything. But uh . . . yeah. I’m not really having a full court or anything.”
She went on to explain about her quinceañera. How it was the biggest fiesta her mother and abuela had ever planned and that’s why her grandmother was so eager to share about it. But she made sure she emphasized about not having a full court instead of the no court at all as she’d originally planned. Because after today she’d be changing that.
A few minutes later, the long-winded Señor Negrete was finally done talking to her mother, and he and Luis made their way down the makeshift aisles of other merchants. As expected, not soon after they were gone, Isabella, her mother, and Abuela began the tedious task of taking down their little stand and getting everything back to their house in their rickety wagon.
Alejandro
The city was still the place to be on the weekends. It’s why Alej, his father, Cido, and his dad hadn’t jumped on board with all the other townspeople and stayed in town Sundays to sell after Mass. Sure, the pueblo was a little busier suddenly because of all the added traffic coming through since the Negrete project started. They were grateful for the extra business during the week, but no way were they staying in town on Sundays as Isa and her mom had decided to do the past two weekends.
They’d had a good day that day, and now that they were back in town, Alej was, as usual, anxious to go find Isa and hang out. No surprise she’d been easy enough to find hanging out with a few girls over by the big trees with the swinging tires. Isa had since managed to make a few girlfriends, which helped alleviate her worrying abuela about how much time she spent around two boys. It’s why Isa had preferred to have a court-less quinceañera. It was disappointing at first because Alej had been more than willing