Traveller {Complete}

Chapter 2

I woke up the next morning to a song that always puts me in a good mood, 'Amanecer' and with it I started to pack up my apartment and head off to all the necessary offices that I needed to go to for all the arrangements that I needed to have before heading to Santo Padre. Went to a U-haul company to get a trailer big enough to hold my bike and my stuff in the same place. Once I got that done and had someone from the company to help me hook it to my 1964 Scout 80 Ford Bronco. My favorite car that my mom had left me before she had passed away a few years back.

After packing up everything up into the trailer and getting the fragile boxes in the back seat I was off towards Santo Padre with my 'Road Trip' playlist and shooting a text to my dad saying that I was on my way, he sends one back saying that the house was ready for me and to just unpack everything once I got there, he even sends me the address of the house so I wouldn't get lost. I could not believe that I got everything done just in time before heading down there. I can not wait to see my dad and my uncles, oh how I have missed them so much. Singing along with the music 'Black Velvet' and 'California Soul,' enjoying the road wishing it was on my bike instead of the cage. It's okay though, I still love my car, just not as much as my bike, hahaha.

I see the exit of the highway that leads towards Sant Padre and immediately set off to the house but not before sending a text to my dad saying I'm here and heading to the house. When I get there, my dad is there with my uncles and few of the guys from the club, but there is one face I do not see and it makes me sad, cause I miss him dearly. Dad had told me what had happened to Riz, I wanted to cry all over again, but I guess that would have to wait until later. I get out of my bronco and run to my dad's arms, "DADDY!" "MIJA!" we hugged and laughed and then I went to hug my uncles "Tios TAZA, BISHOP!" They hug me and laugh at my enthusiasm in seeing the family again. "Princessa, welcome home. You remember the guys right?!" "Yes, COCO, ANGEL, GILLY, CREEPER, and EZ! Hey guys!" They all say their 'hellos' and my dad tells them to help get the stuff out of the car and trailer.

"Oh please be careful with the boxes marked fragile and my bike, guys!" They all turned around and looked at me weird when I said I had a bike in the trailer. "What?!" They all shook their heads and some smiled and some smirked. A young girl was helping me out with the fragile boxes, she was the only person I have not met before who was telling me that she is Coco's daughter and her name is Leticia, but everyone calls her LETTI.

So Letti and I are setting the boxes into the kitchen when we hear "Holy Shit!" I run out the house and Angel comes out of the trailer pulling out my bike with him "Be Careful!" I run to him and grab my bike from him to head in the garage, I hear my dad ask me "you still have that old thing?" That 'old thing' is my baby which is a 1943 Indian Scout 741 Vintage Motorcycle. "Yeah, of course, it's my baby, just like the bronco was mom's." I park it to the side and then go out to the front yard, when Angel asks me "Where the fuck did you find that thing?" to which I reply "Well first of all, it was a gift from Dad, for my 18th birthday, it is my pride and joy, I am the only one to work on my baby, no one else touches it but me. Got it?!" He just raises his hands and backs off and says "Yeah sure Jessa, no problem hermanita hermosa" He only calls me that when he knows he has stepped over his boundaries with me.

After packing everything in and ordering food we all sit in the backyard and around the fire pit that my dad had the guys do for me. All the lights were off and I look at the sky and see the stars, I close my eyes and breathe in the fresh air and enjoy the ambiance of everything surrounding me. "Hey, you okay?" Coco asks me, I say to him "Yeah just reeling in the feeling of being back home after being away for so long." That is when Letti asks me about who I am and how everyone knows me and would drop everything to come help me out. We all laugh and I tell her most of my story. "Well, my name is Jessa Loza, I am Hank's daughter, I have been with these guys for a long time. The ones that hardly know me are Gilly, Creeper, and EZ and now you. My mom was a Gypsy, literally, She was part Romanian and Irish, hence my red hair," at this everyone laughs "But I didn't stay long periods here in Santo Padre 'cause my mom would always travel around and take me with her, I did not know my dad that well, while growing up. A fews ago, My mom stopped traveling and got really sick. She was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer and she didn't survive the treatments and chemos. So I took care of her and been in Los Angeles this whole time."

Since Taza was next to me he gave me a side hug and squeezed my shoulder. I didn't cry because I was all dried up of tears for her, granted it still hurts to talk about it but I just think I rather celebrate her death instead of mourn for it. So I got up and went into the kitchen and asked Bishop for help, which he came in and helped me take out the tray of shot glasses and the tequila bottle, a special one that was my mom's favorite that she loved from one of her trips. I gave each one a shot except for Letti, she was still too young and I don't know if she would like the taste of the drink or could handle the potency of the alcohol. Everyone looks at the bottle confusedly and I tell them "Mom's favorite drink from Colombia when she went down to Bogota for a project it's called 'Aguardiente'. Whenever I think of mom or talk about her I take out her drink and pour it out in a shot glass and drink it to her memory and celebrate it instead of mourning for her." My dad says, "Mija, that is the best idea I have ever heard of, I'll drink to that." We all laugh and raise our glasses to the sky and I say "Mama, wherever you are, you are surely missed and loved, we drink this in honor of you, watch over us and protect us" everyone says "salud" and we all drink it. My dad, me and my uncles, we savored the drink, the guys were coughing up a storm and we all laughed. I say to my uncles and my dad "no se aguantan nada, huh?" they laughed and said at the same time "NO!" we laughed at them. In the back of my mind I was thinking 'oh how I missed my family and how it is so good to be home.'