Abuela Sonia honked the horn a couple more times as Héctor raced down the front steps at school. “I’m coming, I’m coming!” he shouted back. He hadn’t expected her to pick him up from school that day, but she was always a welcome sight.

He hopped in the passenger side of her sedan and saw her cane stuck between the seats. She had on another one of her colorful tops that she’d made at home. This one was covered in patterns of suns and flowers. She was como un jardín, all by herself.

“We got somewhere to be, nieto,” she said. “Una sorpresa.”

A surprise? Héctor’s day had already been so very full of them. “Where are you taking me?”

She rolled her eyes dramatically. “What kind of surprise would it be if I told you?”

“Okay, fair,” he said. “Take me forth, Abuela!”

Abuela Sonia was uncharacteristically quiet on the drive, so Héctor gazed out the window, watching Orangevale pass him. The tall palms, the homes and businesses set so far back from the street, the group of kids on their BMX bikes . . . all of it made him look at the city in a new light. It wasn’t the same as the Mission. It never would be. But after the day he’d had, he began to feel hope that he could carve out his own life here.

“Are we going to that thrift store you mentioned?” he asked, breaking the silence.

Abuela tried to hide a smile. “Wow. You didn’t ask me to spoil the surprise for five whole minutes.”

He laughed at her. “Okay, okay. I’m giving myself over to you. And trusting you.”

This time, Abuela’s smile was infectious and she fidgeted in her seat. Oh, what was this secret? She looked like she was going to explode!

So even Héctor couldn’t hide his shock as Abuela Sonia turned into a tiny strip mall, and there, at the very end of the building, was a bright and colorful sign: PANADERÍA HERNANDEZ.

“Abuela,” he said, his voice cautious. “Is that a panadería? Here? In Orangevale?!”

She smiled ear to ear. “I found it last week online,” she said. “I know you said you missed home, so I thought I’d find a tiny piece of home here.”

“I can’t believe it,” he said.

“I don’t know if it’s any good, but . . . would you like to try it with me, papito?”

He could not imagine anything better.