“And she says that good people deserve to have a nice birthday with a cake and friends.
Gustavo opened his mouth, closed it, looked at the cake, the balloons and the handmade paper hats again.
Everything was done with minimal resources, but with something that money can never buy: pure affection.
And there, Gustavo Cardoso, the man who had made contracts of several million without blinking, felt something break in him.
It was not pain, but immense relief. The tears came to his eyes without him being able to hold them.
Beatriz took a step forward, alarmed by the reaction of the owner of the places she respected so much.
“Mr. Gustavo, are you okay?” Did I do anything wrong? If you don’t mind, we’ll put away right away.
“No,” he said in a broken voice. It’s not that… It’s just that no one, all day, had thought of me.
He couldn’t finish his sentence, but there was no need. Beatriz understood with the intuition of those who know suffering.
The second child, six-year-old Kayo, approached and took Gustavo’s hand with disconcerting ease.
“Don’t cry,” she said, in a serious little voice. Today is your day. There’s cake for everyone.
And Gustavo, through his tears, burst out laughing. A sincere laugh that seemed to chase the shadows of the room.
That night, they dined together in the kitchen, eating brigadeiros and coxinhas that Beatriz had prepared with care.
Teo, the eight-year-old, told jokes that made no sense, but everyone laughed at everything.
Enzo fell asleep on his chair around twenty-one hours with glazing on his cheek, exhausted by the excitement of the party.
Gustavo blew the candle from his cake and made a wish. For the first time in years, he had a real hope.
The next few days were strange for Gustavo. He went home and found only the usual silence.
He found Beatriz finishing his work, and sometimes his children who accompanied him because she had no one to keep them.
Kayo was exploring the garden with the seriousness of a professional explorer, while Enzo was hunting fish from the pond with a twig.
Gustavo started to arrive earlier, first with excuses for work, and then simply because he wanted to.
