Chapter 1
”So, this is it, huh?”
Abel peered through the windshield at the restaurant, his nose wrinkled. He was sixteen when he walked through the prison doors ten years ago. He had been a junior in high school, and while he was not a Straight-A student, he was on the honor roll. Abel Delgado, in high school, was on his way to bigger and better things in his life.
Abel had aspirations and dreams, and going to prison was not a part of his foreseen destiny. His life was supposed to turn out differently. Abel was never supposed to be an ex-convict at twenty-six. And he certainly wasn”t supposed to be working for minimum wage. He caught sight of his reflection in the rearview mirror and grimaced. The years had not been as cruel to him as one might expect. He still had his same youthful puppy dog eyes, but his hair was longer, and his round jaw was square, giving him a more rigid, more brutal look. He was not a skinny little kid anymore. In prison, there was not much to do other than work out and read, and Abel did plenty of both. The result was a stronger mind and body. By any stretch, he was not a frail man, but he was, as they say, these days, stacked and buffed. Still, as he leaned against the open window, his muscular arms swam in his brother”s oversized shirt.
”Hey, fix your face,” said his brother, Rafael. He”d been the one to drive him there. In fact, according to Rafael, he had to call in a favor to make this happen in the first place. Nobody was looking to hire a felon, after all.
”Please do not feel bad about working at a restaurant; you have to start somewhere,” Rafael said. ”This could end up being a good opportunity if you give this job a chance. Some guys in your position do not even get a chance at freedom and normal life.”
”Whose fault is that?” he muttered bitterly and immediately regretted it. Rafael went silent, and Abel”s face flushed with embarrassment. He had not meant to fire a shot at Rafael. Especially not now. ”Sorry, I didn”t mean that.”
”It”s okay,” Rafael said a little too quickly. He paused, and the silence was thick.
”Listen,” he said, ”this job…it won”t be forever, okay? It”s just a part of your parole, right? Plus, with the experience you”ll get here, you can use it to get better jobs later.”
”I appreciate it,” said Abel, his voice thick with guilt.
Rafael nodded. He regarded his younger brother thoughtfully, his lined face making him look hard and stern, even though that wasn”t what he was trying to convey. Rafael was a big man. In both height and weight. He often looked more ferocious than he was. Abel knew his brother, though. As intimidating as Rafael appeared, he was no threat to Abel.
Rafael smiled a little, pulling Abel into a hug with one enormous arm around his neck. ”You be nice to Camilla,” he said. ”She”s a little stiff, but she”s fair and smart. She has been running that business for a long time and knows what she”s doing. So give her a chance and be patient with her. Okay, ”mano?”
Abel sighed. ”Okay. Wish me the best.”
Without another word, Abel got out of the car. He paused to straighten his dress shirt a little, tucking it in his slacks.
He walked into the store and saw a woman behind the counter talking to one of the employees. Abel was struck by how naturally beautiful she was. Curvy with shiny dark hair pulled back into a bun and away from her youthful face. She had a smattering of freckles across her nose and sparkling blue eyes that seemed to shine in the reflection of the sunlight.
As beautiful as she was, she dressed conservatively. She wore a simple pink blouse with simple black slacks and flats. Abel thought she looked sharp and professional. Too sharp to be working in a pizzeria.
”Excuse me—” he said.
”One second,” she responded without looking up, appearing overworked and a little stressed. She was leaning over one employee”s shoulder as they pressed buttons on the digital cash register. She was completely involved in whatever training was happening, and it was like he was not there at all. Abel stood there, feeling a little miffed at her rudeness. Finally, he cleared his throat to get her attention.
”I”m here for the interview,” he tried again.
”I said, one second.” She glanced up at him, her eyes boring holes into him. When she turned back to the cash register, Abel rolled his eyes, feeling defeated, and started to walk away.
”Yeah, never mind. Thanks for nothing,” Abel said.
She looked up as he turned around and said, ”Hey! Where are you going? Aren”t you here for an interview?”
Abel turned around to her, smirking. ”Oh, so, now you see me. I hope you do not treat your customers like this. A pretty crappy thing to do, ignoring people that walk into your establishment.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. ”Are you Abel? Rafael”s brother?”
”That”s right, but I can see this was a mistake.”
She scoffed at him. ”Ah, well, I didn”t know guys like you cared where they worked?” He clenched his jaw as she stared at him expectantly. ”Are you sure you want to walk out of here?”
They stared at each other for another moment, then Abel huffed and walked back to the counter. ”All right,” he said. ”Let”s talk.”
She nodded stiffly, then put her hand out to him. ”Camilla Nunez. I”m the owner.”
He shook her hand but said nothing in response. She glanced over her shoulder at the teenager at the counter, looking at Abel with tentative uncertainty in his eyes. Camilla smiled and put a comforting hand on the teenager”s shoulder. ”Go put those boxes together in the back.”
The teenager jumped to attention and hurried away, clearly more afraid of her than Abel.
”So,” she said, walking to one of the tables and sitting down. Abel followed suit, sitting across from her. ”Rafael tells me you just did fifteen years in Jackson.”
Abel sighed, his every instinct telling him that this entire thing was a bad idea. However, she was already judging him. ”It was ten, actually,” he said shortly.
She nodded slowly; her eyes narrowed. It was then that Abel noticed that her eyes were more than just blue. They were more of a color he had never seen on a person before. Maybe it was the light from the window next to them, but to Abel, they looked turquoise. They were distracting and made him a little uneasy.
”I need someone to work in the kitchen,” she said. ”You don”t have to worry about having experience. I will train you. I make the pizzas a particular way here, and I will need somebody who can follow instructions and is ready to learn. Can you do that?
He scoffed. ”Shouldn”t be a problem.”
She cocked her head at him, detecting his insolence. ”I sincerely hope not. However, I need you to understand that this restaurant was inherited to me by my father and means a lot to me. I am very particular about how things are done and expect nothing less than perfection.” she replied. ”I need to know that you can follow my instructions and the rules of the restaurant, or you”ll find somewhere else to work. As I understand, you don”t have a lot of options outside of working here.”
He huffed. ”As I understand it, neither do you.”
Her eyebrows raised, and her eyes widened; the strange blue tint in her eyes was chilling his bones. ”Oh, really, what do you mean by that?”
”Really,” he said, despite the flashes of danger in her eyes. ”According to Rafael, as of last night, you are short a cook, and you need somebody immediately. So, unfortunately, you need me about as much as I need you.”
She barked a short laugh and crossed her arms, an incredulous smile tickling the corners of her mouth. ”I don”t think so,” she said. ”There are a lot of people that need jobs in this town. I could have my pick of them before you reach that door.”
He rolled his eyes at her as if to tell her to find one of them. A silence fell between them, and finally, Camilla said, ”You know, every interview you go on, they”re going to ask you what you did, and when you tell them, they”re going to judge you, you know? The difference with me is that I”m not about to ask you what you did.”
”I don”t see the difference since you”re judging me anyway,” he said.
She shrugged. ”Well, it”s the truth; employers want to know who they are hiring.” I am not judging you, but I wonder if I want to hire you for this position, short-staffed or not.” Her smile was gone. She was looking him over carefully, almost mournfully. Abel could see something in her eyes trying to read him, connect with him. He knew the look all too well. He had seen it in the eyes of the judge who convicted him, some correctional officers, and even his parole officer.
They all felt the same way. ”Poor little Mexican statistic” he had such a bright future.
”Your brother is trying to help you,” she said, ”and your brother is a good man. I promised him to give you a chance and hire you, but I can”t make you work here if you don”t want the job.”
She got up from the table and smiled down at him. ”Good luck with your job search, Mr. Delgado. If you”ll excuse me, I”ve got work to do.”
She turned and walked away from him, back to the counter. In that short time, he looked out the window and saw his brother”s car still idling in the cool evening air. What was he going to say to him when he got back? Sorry, ”mano. She was a real shrew, you know? We just did not hit it off.
None of that would matter to Rafael. He was trying to make up for the last ten years by helping Abel land his first job since prison, and Abel was about to shove it back in his face. So, instead, he inhaled silently and turned around.
”Hey, uh, Ms. Nunez?” She stopped and turned around to him, looking at him expectantly. ”When do you want me to start?”