Seu Romário sits at his desk. His bloodshot eyes droop like he hasn’t been sleeping well lately. Dona Eulalia stands to his right, and Pedro flanks his grandfather on the left. There’s only one empty chair in front of the desk, so I motion to Mom to sit.

And an awkward silence falls upon us.

Seu Romário shifts in his chair as if trying to find a more comfortable position. And then he smiles.

My throat goes immediately dry, because I don’t think I’ve ever seen the man smile. At least not like this, and definitely not at us. The smile reaches his eyes and makes them all misty.

“Has anyone ever said you look a lot like your father, Larissa?” he says.

I see Mom’s hands tighten on the arms of her chair, knuckles going white.

Dad died before I was born, so I never got to see him in person. But I’ve seen photos.

“Sure...” I say to Seu Romário.

“Gabriel also had a similar, how can I put it, predisposition for clumsiness.”

I feel myself blush. I don’t know if he’s insulting Dad or me. Or maybe both of us.

When Dad was a little older than me, he used to work at Sugar, helping the Molinas with the bookkeeping, but that’s an aspect of my parents’ story that almost doesn’t feel real. Mom never talks about Dad. His passing is a hard subject for her.

I did hear Isabel asking Mom once what it had been like to fall in love with someone from Sugar. It was an innocent question from an overly nosy but still beloved family friend, but Mom showed no leniency. It was the first time I heard her snap at anyone who asked her about Dad.

“Gabriel wasn’t from Sugar,” Mom corrected her. “He worked at Sugar. There’s a big difference. It’s not like he was one of them.”

Hearing Seu Romário bring Dad up so out of the blue now makes me wonder what it must have meant to him back then, to see one of his employees fall in love with a Ramires...

He continues. “There was one time when Gabriel tried to carry a large bowl of buttercream and he—”

Mom bolts up from her seat.

“Is this why you asked to speak with me? So you could marvel at the similarities between my child and her father?”

“How dare you raise your voice?!” Dona Eulalia shouts.

Seu Romário nervously gestures for Mom to stay.

“Please, please, I meant no harm.”

She squints at him for a long second and sits down again, this time right on the edge of the seat.