Date: March, 1985.

- Oh, Erin, good afternoon. - said a young woman after opening the door.

- Good afternoon, is Mat th...? Oh, there you are.

- Hi, Erin.

This last was said by Mat, who was inside the house. He was helping with the chores. It was 5 o'clock in the afternoon.

Mat was currently visiting the home of Laura Rodriguez, a 24-year-old woman. She was a single mother with a 4-year-old son.

Mat met her when, one day, he was shopping with his mother at the minimarket in town. There he saw her 4-year-old son trying to carry some things, but with difficulty. So Mat helped him carry them, and that's when he met Laura.

She was a nurse who worked at the town hospital. She worked until 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Because of this, she was unable to care for her son after school, so her sister Chelsea, who attended the school Mat and Erin attended, helped her.

So, who opened the door was Chelsea. Laura was in the kitchen, preparing dinner, Chelsea was helping her nephew with his homework and Mat was sweeping and tidying the rooms. Oh yeah, Mat only helped them once in a while. About twice a week. Erin would sometimes go too, like now.

Everything was quiet these days, but... Laura's life was... Somewhat tragic. In short, she had a somewhat liberal life. Having "outings" from here to there and... Well, you get the picture. In one of those, she fell in love with a young man, and they became a couple. Things happened and Laura got pregnant. This was no problem at first, as her boyfriend was supportive, but it caused her to stop studying nursing for a while.

The thing is, a year after her son was born, she found out that her boyfriend was cheating on her, and of course she wasn't going to let that go. She loved him, but that was unforgivable, so she broke it off and made him pay child support.

And in spite of that, she... She still didn't want to date anyone. It was as if she was afraid, no... She really was. Any suitor (which she had several, since she was pretty) would be turned down by her without a second thought. It was as if she was afraid that she was going to be betrayed again.

All... “Fine” so far, I guess... But... Seven months later, she found out that her ex-boyfriend and his new partner had lost their lives in an accident. This affected her a bit since she still loved him... For some reason I don't quite understand. But that's how humans are, kind of weird.

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The thing is that, months later (when she had already met Mat) she remembered again. Remembering the good times she had spent with that young man who seemed to value her and.... She became quite depressed. And just that day her sister was not there, it was just her and Mat at home. Mat was helping his son with his homework.

At that, after dinner, she asked him to stay a moment longer. Mathias accepted. And so... That's when she told him about it all, in even more detail. She wanted to be heard by someone.

Mat listened to everything attentively. He tried to understand how she was feeling and why she was telling him, until...

- Miss Laura, I really don't understand. I don't understand why you told me all those things. - said Mat. - I am grateful that you told me, because you trust me. But... What I have to tell you is that you are in bad situation. You're really are...

- Mat, how can you say that? - Laura complained. - I've been through so many things, and I'm telling you about it? And you come to me with that?

- Ah, I'm sorry, I didn’t...

- Are you serious? - she continued to complain. - Who do you think you are to judge me? I only told you because... I don't even know why I did it... You're barely 15 years old, you don't understand anything about life. Seriously, I'm just stupid...

- And you are right. I know next to nothing about life. - he said. - But... Holding on to the past like that isn't right. I don't understand your pain, not at all... But... I know that holding on to your past like that will only hurt you more. You may have made mistakes, yes. But... What's done is done. All that's left is to move on. That young man you mentioned, he didn't appreciate you in the end... But... The moments you had with him, you can remember them fondly, that's good. Remembering the happy moments is good, really. But getting stuck on them is wrong.

He turned to look at the night sky through the room’s window.

- You know, I quite admired you ever since I met you. You're trying to move forward, in spite of everything. And now, with what you just told me, I admire you even more.

- I see... - she said, a little calmer now. - And you're right, Mat. I mustn't be like this. I have a son, and I have to do better for him.

- And not just because of him. - he said, and turned to look at her. - For you too. You deserve to be happy.

Laura laughed a little.

- Thank you, Mat. - she said. - I really needed to hear this, but... I don't know, I feel kind of bad being lectured by a teenager. Hahaha.

- Ah, well... Yeah, it's kind of weird. Haha.

After that, they never spoke about it again. And so the days passed. At first, that conversation just passed, as if it hadn't happened. But as time went by, something changed in Laura, little by little.

So, back to the present, Laura was still trying to improve her life and her son's life. Also, she was now dating a doctor at the town hospital, and they were quite fond of each other, even when he knew about Laura's past.

And, returning to the present, he had just arrived home. Once there, they all had dinner together. Dinner was delicious. After that, Mathias and Erin got to play with Laura's son until almost 8 o'clock.