She shot him an amused look. “It’s not that simple. It takes practice to perfect our method. It took me weeks to master just the basic form when my own abuela taught me.”

“Well, then I’ll just have to do better than that, right?”

Abuela Sonia reached over and patted his leg. “You’re a funny one, nieto. We gotta make one stop, and then we’ll get started.”

The carnicería felt familiar to Héctor, even though he’d never been to this one before. It smelled like the one he knew back in San Francisco! Even some of the decorations above the butcher station—streamers and a few oddly made piñatas—were the same. He ran his hands up and down his arms, trying to keep himself warm as Abuela waited for some pork.

Which was when he spotted Carmen at the end of one of the aisles.

He wasn’t quite sure it was her, until she made eye contact with him. Yep, it was Carmen. Héctor waved at her and was about to call out her name when she quickly walked off.

What? he thought. Where is she going?

Héctor peered down another aisle, but she wasn’t there. The bells over the front door rang, and he saw someone—was that Carmen?—quickly walking away from the carnicería.

“Héctor?”

He turned back to Abuela, and she must have seen the confusion on his face. “¿Qué te molesta, nieto?” she asked.

What bothered him? Well . . . was Carmen avoiding him? What could possibly explain that?

The realization was like a car crash, hitting him all at once. He’d forgotten because so many other things had happened since then.

She had witnessed his confrontation with Mike.

“Héctor?”

What if Carmen didn’t want to be seen around him anymore? Mike had turned on her in the past. What if she didn’t want to be associated with Héctor now that Mike was focusing on him? He didn’t know how to communicate that to his abuela. He also didn’t want her to worry too much, so he settled on something easier. “Abuela, what if I can’t make friends here?”

Her eyebrow rose. “Why do you ask that, Héctor?”

He had a million answers. Because I’m not like these people. Because I don’t fit in. Because I think I’m the only person like me here. Because Mike. Because—

“It’s just so different here,” he said, which wasn’t exactly a lie. That was why Mike had zeroed in on him. But it was also a tiny part of the whole truth.

She pulled him closer. “Ay, nieto, I don’t blame you feeling that way.”

“Really?”