She had to talk to Ramón.
And she didn’t have the heart to tell Señora Flores that she had chosen to take the job at Taco King.
Señora Flores narrowed her gaze at Julieta. “Did he raise your rent?”
“No, not exactly.” Deep breath. “He wants to put a Taco King here.”
There it was—her painful secret was now out in the world for everyone to hear. Julieta hung her head in shame.
“¿Qué?”
“He offered me a job. He’s turning it into a Taco King and said that I could stay and be the chef.”
Señora Flores’s mouth dropped, and her skin became so pale. “And you accepted it?”
“No, not at first. I told him no. I said there was absolutely no way I would ever even consider it.”
She paused. She didn’t want to throw Mamá under the bus, but she also didn’t want to lie. “But I didn’t have a choice. I didn’t have another job.”
“And you knew he was going to do this all along?”
She shook her head. “No. He said he was working on a solution. Señora Flores, what options do we have? We have no control. We do not own this land. Señor Gomez was selling this block, and if he hadn’t sold it to the Montez Group, he would’ve sold it to somebody else. There were four other offers, and I doubt any of them would have left the rent as it was. No matter what, we would not have been able to stay here.”
“But that’s not right! This is our community. My father founded this café. We came here when there was nothing. You don’t know—you were too young to remember. Do you even know the history of the barrios? We were here because we had nowhere to go. They took our land. We were segregated. They didn’t want us in their schools. This is our home. And now that it’s cool, they want to take it over. It’s not right.”
Julieta agreed with everything that Señora Flores said, but she still had no solution. “You’re right. It’s not okay, but there’s nothing we can do about it. Changes keep coming, and we have a choice to be part of them or be left behind.” Julieta couldn’t believe her words. She was a traitor to her community.
“So, you expect me to be the manager of the Starbucks that will come in here?”
“I don’t know. I can’t speak for you or tell you what to do. But hope is not all lost.”
“You are mad. There is no hope—he’s raised the rent on the entire block. Las Pescas is about to be a Taco King. How can you possibly say that, Julieta?”
“Because I know Ramón, and he’s a good man. I still believe that he can fix this.” Julieta’s voice broke, and she began to tremble.
Señora Flores placed her arm around Julieta’s shoulders. “I have known you since you were a little girl. I used to watch you when your mom would work. You were the cutest niña, with the bright eyes and long braids. I love you, Julieta. But you will be dead to me if you work at Taco King.”
“I understand.”
Was this the last time that Julieta would ever hug Señora Flores? That Julieta would ever be a part of her community again? The minute the word got out to the rest of the owners, they would all agree with Señora Flores, but what was the solution? What did Julieta expect Ramón to do? Buy the land and not raise her rent? That was unrealistic. And as much as Julieta loved that fantasy, it would never be a reality.
There was a choice ahead—a fork in the road.
Ramón called her phone, but she turned it off, took a walk to Chicano Park, and prayed.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Ramón called Julieta, but she didn’t answer. That was weird. She couldn’t possibly know what his father had said to him, or what Papá’s plans were.
Ramón stopped by the bakery and picked up a few pastries.
The shopgirl smiled at him. “Hi, Ramón. I haven’t seen you in a while. Where have you been hiding out?”
Tamara was sweet. They had hooked up a few times. But that was way before he’d met Julieta. “Oh, I’ve been working on a deal in Barrio Logan. Spending a lot of time with my girlfriend down there.”
Hurt flickered in her eyes, and she gave a forced smile. Ramón hated disappointing women, but he didn’t want to screw up his relationship with Julieta.
“Oh right, I got it. Totally.” She handed him a bag with two pastries in it. “She must be a special woman for you to fall for her.”
