“Mom, please.”
“Ramón. Stop embarrassing yourself and me. She’s the help, for Christ’s sake.”
“Dammit, Mom!”
Julieta’s lower lip trembled. “She’s right. Seriously. I need to get back to work.”
Julieta scampered off. Ramón went after her, but she slammed the service door in his face.
Ramón went back to the fountain to find his mom.
“Mom. You have no manners or class.”
“Me? Ramón, you’re making a fool of yourself. We are at a high-end wedding with people who know me, know your father.”
“Who cares about your reputation? You pretty much ruined that when you started cheating on Dad.”
Mamá grabbed him by the hand. “You know nothing about our marriage. Your father worked all the time. He left me alone in that big house. I had no friends.”
“You had us, Mom. But you ignored your children.”
Her face softened toward him. “And I adored you, but you were children with your own needs. Nothing is lonelier than being in a loveless marriage. Your father never really loved me. He was always hung up on this girl he met in Mexico.”
Her words hit Ramón like a brick.
“Why did you marry him?”
She placed her face in her hand and gave a tragic sigh. “He was so young and dashing and ambitious and had so much passion. I was instantly drawn to him. I wanted to be around him, but we were so different. He liked to work; I wanted to travel. I will never regret marrying him, because it gave me you and your brothers, but you need to be happy and have something in common to make a marriage work.”
“You’re right, Mom,” Ramón said. “And you deserved better than to be forgotten.”
His mom hugged him.
Nausea swirled in Ramón’s gut. “And so did Dad. You shouldn’t have cheated, and he shouldn’t have abandoned you.”
He stepped back and walked away, ignoring Mamá’s shocked gasp. He just wanted to find Julieta.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Julieta hadn’t returned Ramón’s calls since running into him at the wedding, which was a week ago.
She had cleared out Las Pescas without even telling him. All the artwork and personal details were gone. Ramón’s father had begun planning new construction immediately. The place would be fully renovated, and a team of chefs was about to be brought in to create a new menu. It would be nothing like Las Pescas, but it was more like Papá’s original restaurant. A plain, simple menu. Fish tacos and beer.
And today Ramón was going to do what he should’ve done all along—stand up to his father.
Ramón drove to the restaurant, but there was no place to park. Protesters swarmed the streets with big signs and even bigger voices. Banners that readWe Shall Not Be Moved. We Want Justice. No Chains. No Taco King.
Ramón recognized one of the protesters right away—Tiburón.
Ramón parked a block away. He walked down the sidewalk with his head held high as the residents shouted at him.
Julieta must’ve been waiting for him. She ran toward him from Las Pescas, a sad look on her face.
She looked beautiful, as always. But it didn’t matter.
“Ramón. I’m sorry.”
He ignored her and kept his gaze forward. He didn’t blame her for quitting, but he couldn’t forgive her for ghosting him. Not when he had told her he loved her. Even worse, he meant it.
