Here to Stay - Adriana Herrera Page 0,136
so happy you’re here, papí.”
“It’s good to be here. How’s Pri doing? I haven’t seen her in a minute.” At the mention of my cousin, my aunt’s face shone with pride.
“She’s great. She may be here tomorrow. Hopefully you can see her.”
“Definitely.” I nodded and looked over at the guys who were lounging on my mom’s furniture. Juanpa’s stank face told me he probably heard us talking about Priscilla.
He was ridiculous.
Those two had a love/hate thing going on since we were kids, and apparently they were back to hating each other.
“Yo, are you bums just going to lounge over here all afternoon? We got shit to do!”
Juanpa squinted up at me while he sipped some kind of Frappuccino looking thing.
“I’m taking a break, son. I just drove five hours hauling all your shit out here. Let me enjoy my independent coffee shop beverage, pa.” He lifted his cup. “They got a drive-thru barista situation in town. This shit is fire. They need to open one of these places in the city.”
He looked so happy sucking down on that straw.
“Okay, man, drink your sugar bomb first, but we need to unload your truck before you leave tonight.” Juanpa went back to focus on his drink and doing something on his phone and just nodded, already distracted. I looked over at Milo who was hunched over, looking at something on Patrice’s laptop.
“What did I tell you about calling people while driving my car, man?”
Patrice shook his head and grinned as he typed, but knew better than to try and make a joke about Camilo’s driving. Milo flipped me off, looking like he was about to curse me out, when I saw my sister Minerva coming up the path to the house.
She was so tall, and was looking more like Mamí every day. She was just a few inches shorter than my six feet two by now. We didn’t have the same dad, but everyone said we were identical as babies, same light brown skin with a tint of red. Whenever we ran or laughed too hard our whole faces flushed. Her hair was straighter than mine, and my eyes were a lighter brown, but we both had our mom’s face. Full mouth, broad nose and thick eyelashes. Minerva’s were so long they looked fake.
She was gorgeous, just like Mamí.
I went to meet her by the door and as soon as she walked in, I picked her up and twirled her around a couple of times.
“You’re getting too pretty, baby sister. It’s a good thing I’m here, Mamí!” I yelled over my shoulder. “We can start working on the protective fence around the house this weekend. Got to keep the boys away!”
“Stop it! You’re so extra, Nesto.” She hit me on the shoulder, laughing. “What’s wrong with you? Put me down.”
“What, you’re too big for your manín to pick you up?” I asked, squeezing her tight. “So, are you dating? What’s his name?”
I crossed my eyes, making her laugh again.
“Stop it. Loco.”
“She had this gringito following her around like a puppy all winter,” my mom said, walking out of the kitchen.
“He was here all the time, hanging around with a mopey face, and Justin Bieber hair, trying to read poems in Spanish.”
She clicked her tongue and gave my sister her patented “pobrecita” face, which was half “I feel bad for you” and half “but really I should be mocking you.”
“I didn’t have the heart to tell him to stop coming over,” she teased Minerva, who was giving her a death glare with the intensity only a sixteen year old could produce. My mom kept going though. “He sabotaged himself enough with that haircut and bad Spanish.”
We all cracked up while my baby sister silently gave me and the guys the finger as she sat on the couch. Before my mom and Minerva got into something I decided to get people back on track, because the clock was ticking.
“Okay, mi gente,” I said clapping my hands together. “What’s the plan? We have a lot to get ready if I have the truck scheduled for a lunch service in town tomorrow.” I flashed a smile at my mom who was standing at attention.
“Mamí, I stopped by the gas station and that spot is going to be lit.” She beamed with pride at my comment. “You said you had all the food at the kitchen, right?”
“That’s right. Everything’s there ready to go.”
The “I told you so” face Camilo was flashing my way did not go unnoticed.
I looked at my watch and saw it was only 2:30 p.m. “Excellent. We have plenty of time to get all the night before food preparation done. Milo and Juanpa, since you guys are driving back tonight we should go to the kitchen and get all the stuff in J’s truck unloaded now.”
Everyone nodded and people started getting up and ready to get going as I talked.
“I can get my clothes and stuff moved into the studio with Patrice tonight since he’s here until tomorrow. The woman I’m subletting from texted today and said I can go into the apartment anytime. She left the keys with you, right, Mamí?”
She patted her bag, which was already slung on her shoulder.
“Yes, I have them here, I can’t believe you aren’t staying here even one night.”
I had to nip the guilt tripping in the bud.
“Mamí, you know it’ll be easier for me. The studio is in Trumansburg, right by where I’ll be parking the truck overnight. It’s closer to the commercial kitchen space we’re renting. It just makes sense for me to be up there.”
She sighed and came over to pinch my cheek.
“Yo se, yo se. I just wanted to spoil you a little bit. Anyways, I took the week off so I can help you with the truck, m’ijo. Tía Maritza will also help until you hire some people.”
Mamí was already headed for the door but called over to my sister who’d gone back to her room for something. “Minerva, vamonos, are you playing with that thing on your phone that gives you rabbit ears again?” She turned around to look at me. “She spends all day making faces at that thing!” She rolled her eyes, while the rest of us lost it, then went back to yelling in the direction of Minerva’s room. “Vamos, muchachita! We need to help out your brother, and you have school tomorrow.”
Minerva hustled out, looking flustered. “Ay, Mamí, why are you yelling? I’m ready.” My sister hiked her thumb at me, as she walked to the door. “Vamonos, Ernesto.”
That was it, my people were ready and so was I. The Ithaca chapter of OuNYe was finally off and running.
Copyright © 2019 by Adriana Herrera
Don’t miss the Dreamers series by Adriana Herrera!
AMERICAN DREAMER (book one)
AMERICAN FAIRYTALE (book two)
AMERICAN LOVE STORY (book three)
AMERICAN SWEETHEARTS (book four)
AMERICAN CHRISTMAS (book five)
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ISBN-13: 9780369700926
Here to Stay
Copyright © 2020 by Adriana Herrera
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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