Leche Con Cafe

Mom picked me up from school late again. This time beat all the other times. A whopping 2 hours and 23 minutes late. I was one of the last kids there waiting outside of my middle school. She gave me the same old story about how work was so hectic and she was drowning in her workload. Of course, as a 12-year old kid, I had no idea what that meant nor did I want to know. I sat quietly with my elbow on the window, chin in hand, lazily staring outside as we drove through the poorly cared for neighborhoods. Two kids were passing around a soccer ball outside on the street. I knew one of them from my art class and somberly made eyecontact with him as he waived at me.

To get home my mom had to drive through the main street of our town. It’s so small you can hardly call it a downtown. And at the end of the street, on the left corner, was the town's 24/7 Diner. Mom told me it was named after the wife of the first Mayor of this town, Betsy. Anyway, I always begged my mom to take me to Betsy’s Diner but she always gave me the same answer: she couldnt afford it. With my dad out of the picture, she could barely make ends meet. This time I didn’t even bother asking since I was just done with the day.

As we reach the corner, I notice my mom making a left turn and we start pulling into the parking lot.

"Mom what are you doing?"

"It's suppose to be a surprise mi amor, but I've been working such long hours these last few days so that I could take you here."

I couldnt believe it. We moved here almost 4 years ago after my dad left and not once did she ever even bring up eating out like we used to as a family.

"Wow mom! Okay, I forgive you for picking me up so late now", I said with the biggest smile across my face, both hands pressed against the window now.

When my parents were still together my Dad use to always take us to this restaurant in our old hometown every Friday night and buy me the biggest banana split. Secretly, I thought this was why my mom never wanted to come here.

We walked in and sat at a booth that had the view of the valley across.

“What can i get for you two?”, Linda, our waitress, asked.

"Order whatever you want from the menu Dulce" my mom said with a funny look on her face. I’m not quite sure if she is excited or frightened. I ended up ordering a large cheeseburger with onion rings. It was my dad’s favorite. I used to sneak an onion ring from his plate as if he didn’t notice me.

“I’ll take a coffee with milk please.” My mom religously had a coffee every evening once she got home from work.

Once Linda left our booth my mom gave me that look again and in the softest voice, like if she was speaking to a kitten, says:

"I have some news for you hija."

My heart sunk. An eery feeling filled my stomach and the goosebumps on my arms lifted.

“Your dad reached out to me... he says he wants to come back for you.”

“Are you serious?”, the words struggling to leave my mouth. “How? Why? When?”

I had so many question, “why did he even leave in the first place?!” I yelled at her.

As soon as I said that all of the anger came rushing through and I couldn’t control myself. Tears rolled down my cheeks. I was sobbing uncontrollably. I told myself my dad didn’t love me anymore because why else would he leave me behind?

My mom stood up to sit beside me, put her arm around me lovingly, and cradled me like she always had. “Shhh, there Dulcita, it’s going to be okay.”

Our food came. My mom sipped her coffee, lost in thought, looking out at the vast valley through the window. My plate looked exactly like what my dad would’ve ordered. I couldn’t even eat one onion ring.

To be continued...