Melissa
Whenever Dad sat like that and took my hand, it meant something serious.
"Go ahead, Daddy. I know a lecture's coming."
"Not a lecture — advice." He held my hand a little tighter. "I am not happy about this relationship, not one bit. That boy is not a good person. I've never pretended otherwise. And now that you've 'bumped into a tree branch' — I'm completely certain. I raised you with a lot of sacrifice and a lot of love. You and your cousin Valentina are the lights of my life. I can rest easy knowing she found someone who loves her and takes care of her — Juliano is a good, careful man. I want the same for you, my girl. I want someone who gives you real love, who takes care of you when I'm not here. I raised you to be loved. I won't accept anything less than a real man in your life."
Tears ran down my face. Dad slid a throw pillow onto his lap and patted it, and I stretched out and laid my head down. He stroked my hair. I cried quietly, and somewhere in the stillness I began to hear what he'd actually said — to really hear it — when my phone rang.
The screen said: love.
I hesitated. He kept calling. I finally lifted myself from Dad's lap and answered.
"What do you want, Eliezer."
"Is that any way to talk to the one person who puts up with you, Miss Melissa?"
"Just say what you want."
"How dare you leave me stranded out here. You should have paid the bill before you ran off. If you want to go out with me, you pay. I'm leaving the tab open and you'll figure it out. I already gave them your number."
I shook my head in disbelief and hung up.
"What did he want, sweetheart?"
"Nothing, Dad. Just nonsense."
Two minutes later a message came through from the resort with the total charges. My name was on the account, so I paid all of it.
How stupid am I, letting him treat me like this.
I was a strong woman. I knew my own mind. But Eliezer had this way of dismantling me from the inside — applying pressure until I bent. After Valentina got married I'd been so alone, and I'd latched onto him, and he'd been using that ever since. My whole life had become this chaos. Other men had chased me; I'd always been too rough-edged to let them in. Maybe that was why I'd never had the night I'd always dreamed of.
The relationship was a failure, but he always found a way to make me stay.
Everything we did, I paid for. When he wanted to go out I sent him money. He'd text me saying he loved me, and I melted.
My life ran fast and full, but I always carved out time for us. Sometimes I wondered if he was seeing other women — he was older than me, more experienced — but he swore he wasn't.
I barely knew his family. He said they lived in another city, which was why he'd never introduced me.
After that call, I didn't speak to him again.
A week went by with no word.
I threw myself back into the farm. Several cows were calving, and I was preparing the beef cattle for slaughter. Thanks to Juliano, we'd landed a solid contract with a cattle-ranching friend of his who owned a large meat company. I still couldn't believe the man had wanted to see our fazenda. We were small — but our cattle were healthy and well-cared-for, the meat quality was there.
He was coming tomorrow to see our operation up close. I was nervous. I was the one who'd be showing him everything.
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