Excerpt from There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven by Ruben Reyes, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

Travelers emerged from a hallway below the waiting area. As they climbed up the ramp, pushing carts full of luggage, their loved ones tried desperately to spot them. By now Neto had cataloged the kinds of hugs exchanged at the airport, hinging on three factors: relationship between the embracers, time gone without having seen each other, and gender of the involved parties. A mother who was reuniting with her son after his two-month summer trip in El Salvador would give a tight embrace, but she wouldn't cry. She'd be smiling nonstop. A hug from a daughter who hadn't seen her father for more than a decade—because either the visa or money wasn't there—would be different. She'd embrace him tightly, like the mother reuniting with her son, but she'd loosen her grip much sooner, realizing that her papi was frailer, wrinklier. Both would cry. Change the daughter into a son, and only the father would let out a few well-controlled tears. Most reunions, though bittersweet, were joyous, brimming with the sort of elation Neto felt seeing Steven after a business trip.

Neto stood alone, waiting, quietly taking in the tears, embraces, laughter, and aroma of Pollo Campero that filled the terminal. When he caught sight of the flight attendant around the corner, pushing a wheelchair with a box of mangoes strapped in, he finally let his guard down. The sight softened his heart, opening it to the other airport-goers' fervor. Relief and joy rushed him. If he could perform this man-made miracle, again and again, nothing would get in his way.

He handed the flight attendant a ten-dollar tip, hugged the box close to his chest, and made the drive home. By the time he pulled out his cutting board, he'd forgotten about sending the extra money for his aunt.

Excerpted from There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven by Ruben Reyes. Copyright © 2024 by Ruben Reyes. Excerpted by permission of Mariner Books. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.