"Samantha""Oh, Mom, I'm so upset I can't go with you to Grandma Elenice's birthday party," I said to my mother while we were having lunch at the mall."I know, sweetheart. But she'll love your gift, and you have to work. Responsibilities always come first, Samantha," my mother said.My mother was a very strong woman. She raised me alone. My father never wanted to know about responsibility. Every now and then he'd show up saying he wanted to see me, but it was mostly to tease my mother. So after I turned eighteen, I kicked him out. I didn't need a father who only showed up when he saw fit to make trouble with my mother. It was very clear to me he had no interest in his daughter."How long will you be there?" I asked."A week. I took a few days off and I'm going to enjoy it. I like a mother's embrace too." She smiled, and I smiled back. "Are you going to be okay?""Yes, I will, Mom.""Now, tell me what's new? How are things at the store?" "My mom and I talked about everything. When I w

"Hector""Martinez, that's enough for today." It was after seven o'clock on Friday night when Melissa decided to let me go."What? You're letting me go early again today?" I asked, smiling at her."If you want, I'll leave you a task to do, but I'm leaving. It's been a tiring week; you're a lot of work.""No, no tasks, please. I'm tired too. But I'd like to thank you.""Oh, really?" Melissa leaned back in her chair with a cat-that-caught-a-mouse smile."Yeah. I might regret saying this, but I'll be honest, you brought me back to reality. I was neglecting my company, and you got me back on track. Thank you.""I told you you needed me!" Melissa's smile widened. "Just for that, I'm giving you the weekend off." But don't come here hungover on Monday, okay?"I promise not!" I raised my hand and assured her.Melissa gathered her things and left. I grabbed my cell phone and called Patrício. I left the office and went to meet my friend at the Social Club."Patrício, Alessandro is head over hee

"Heitor"I spent all Sunday thinking about my goddess. I thought about going to the store to see her, but maybe it wouldn't be a good idea to approach her at work, so I had an idea. Today I had lunch at my sister's house, and she was telling me about how my brother-in-law won her over. They met in high school, and my brother-in-law sent a friend to deliver notes with silly pick-up lines to her, even before they were introduced, and she thought it was so funny she gave him a chance.Why not? I'll do it like it used to be and use my brother-in-law's idea. I grabbed my cell phone and called my nephew, who answered with a sleepy voice."Hi, Uncle. Did something happen?""Sorry, Enzo, I forgot you go to bed early," I said, looking at the clock and seeing that it was after eleven."You have school tomorrow, Uncle!" "Yeah, I know, but I want to know if you can help me with something this week.""You know I'll help. What is it?""I'll send the driver to pick you up at school. I'll let your mo

"Samantha"I spent the entire week receiving notes from the clueless hottie in the early afternoon. And here I was, thinking I'd never see this man again. He'd made several indecent advances to me, but he hadn't shown up at the store yet. It was always his nephew who brought the notes, and on the very first day, I pressed him, and he told me his uncle had asked him to do it and showed me a photo. That's how I knew the notes were from the hottie.The hottie was hitting on me. I wanted to see how long it would take for him to show up at the store, but I was having fun with those notes, and Enzo was such a sweetheart that he ended up asking me for some tips on how to please his girlfriend. In exchange, he wouldn't tell his uncle that I knew who was sending me the notes. He'd come to the store, hand me all the day's notes, and I'd respond to each one. We were playing with the player, and while the hottie thought he was being clever, we were getting around him.I had just had a snack with

"Samantha"The week was going really well; I'd already made some great sales. Manu left the store where she worked. She told me she'd made a great sale to Heitor and that he'd hired her, and she was very happy. I was happy for her, but now I'd lost my partner.However, Heitor was spending a lot of time here at the mall. He'd show up every day during my break and take me out for coffee. He was begging for my phone number, and I was having fun with it, because even his nephew already had my number, except for him.On Wednesday, Enzo invited me to lunch. He wanted to introduce me to his girlfriend, a sweet and talkative girl. After lunch, when we stopped at the store door, he said to me:"Auntie, you're beautiful!" He was as flirtatious as his uncle. "I can't come to the mall next week; it's exam week, and my mom would kill me." "Okay, sweetie. But why are you telling me this?" "We were getting along really well.""Because I want to ask you something.""I'm listening.""Please give your