Read Online Bella by Lisa Samson - Free Book Online Page A

dead? Yeah, that would make a kid feel really special. All the nice clothes, good schools, and positive messages on PBS kids’ shows couldn’t counteract all that. Well, her kid, when she had one someday, wouldn’t have to worry about never seeing her. She wouldn’t be that kind of mom.
    You’re already a mom.
    Oh, shut up , she thought.
    José stood up and slipped a hand in the front pocket of his jeans. He dug out . . . nothing. He began patting all of his pockets. “I have to call my brother.”
    â€œYou don’t have your cell phone?”
    â€œI must have left it in the kitchen.”
    She reached into her backpack and pulled out her own. She jerked a thumb toward a nearby bodega. “Here. I’m going to get a soda.”
    Manny’s head snapped up as the red phone on the kitchen wall started to ring. He laid down his knife, blade resting on a pile of mangled red onions. His eyes protested and he blinked away the tears. “Pepito! Chop these onions.”
    â€œSure, boss.” He didn’t look too happy about it.
    He brushed his hands on his apron, picked up the receiver, and cleared his throat, trying his best to sound calm and professional. “El Callejon, how may I help you?”
    â€œManny?”
    â€œJosé? Where are you?”
    â€œI’m with Nina.”
    Just as he’d figured. “Who the heck is Nina? I’m your brother. I fire people all the time, José, and you don’t go running around after them.”
    â€œI know, man, I know.”
    Servers bustled around him. Runners grabbed plates and still they did not get them from the window fast enough. Some returned with meals that had gone cold. It was a good thing he didn’t have his ego tied up in his cooking. But still, his restaurant was suffering. And that meant more to him than anything.
    Pretty sad. And he thought José had no life?
    The thought angered him. “When are you coming back?”
    â€œI need to help Nina right now.”
    â€œYou need to do what? You need to be here. In this kitchen. Cooking. Doing your job . Come back right now.”
    â€œI can’t. I can’t.”
    â€œWhat do you—what do you mean you can’t?”
    â€œSome things are more important than cooking, Manny.”
    Manny gripped the phone, storming away from the wall to grab a twist tie off one of the plates on the tray Margarita was hefting out to the dining room. “Listen to me, idiota! If you’re not here in the next ten minutes, you’d better be at the unemployment office.”
    He looked down in his hand and grated out his frustration. He’d pulled the phone cord out of the wall. Beautiful. Just beautiful.
    Margarita hurried off as Manny slam-dunked the receiver into the trash can.
    José sat in front of the store, waiting for Nina to emerge. This was the first time he’d gone out on a limb in years, and now this? For Nina? A woman he barely knew?
    The thing was, Manny would fire him. And all in the name of what was best for José. He could picture the conversation.
    â€œJosé, I hate to do this, but I’m your brother and I want what’s best for you. Sacrificing my business wouldn’t do either of us any good.”
    A man slammed out of the door of the bodega, cursing, a few bills crumpled in a meaty fi st set below a forearm covered in a dragon tattoo. José shrugged. Angry people. New York. Nothing new.
    He looked around him at the same weary streets and crumbling curves and realized he was ready for a change in life. That was for sure. Every day the same. Keeping anything with a pulse at arm’s length.
    He unwound the bandages on his hand, wincing as the gauze stuck in the crevices of his wounded palm. The flesh was flaring in an angry red, blistered and seeping.
    This isn’t penance.
    He widened his eyes, his own thoughts surprising him.
    That was right. It wasn’t penance at all. It created a way he