"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 afte