We decided to stay in the room and order room service. She placed the call and told me "15 minutes" when she hung up.

I decided to grab a quick shower before breakfast arrived and was just finishing drying off when I heard the sound of the room service waiter in the room.

I put my robe on and exited the bathroom to sign the check. He had set things up on the little table near the small balcony and we sat down to some juice, coffee and a continental assortment of baked goods.

The silence was noticeable and I knew that whoever was the next one to speak would not be the one in the driver's seat in the negotiations.

Call it chivalry or whatever but I took the lead and told her that I kind of liked the idea of bringing her because I genuinely liked her and she was very good at making me happy. I continued that if we were going to go through with it that I couldn't afford to pay her much as I had already committed 2/3 of the money I had available for female companionship to her for the time in Rio. It was the first time I told her a bold faced lie.

She pondered that and said that she felt that her time was worth the $R2,000 per week she had told me when I first met her. She began to continue, stopped, then started again. She was willing to make me a deal for $R2,000 for the entire 2 week cruise if I would continue to pay all our expenses and buy her a ticket back to Rio from Chile.

I thought about that for probably 30 seconds or so and decided that I would counter with a significantly lower number, pleading insufficient funds to do any more. I told her the best I could do was $R1,000 for the whole time and maybe the plane ticket.

For the first time since I met her I saw her face in a frown. She looked out the open verandah door and seemed to be deeply in thought. She looked back at me and said she didn't think it would work out for that little.

I told her that I was sorry but that was all I could afford. I added that it would be enough for me to be able to have some fun in each of the places the ship was going and that maybe that was what I ought to plan to do.

I saw tears well up in her eyes and she ran into the bathroom and closed the door. She stayed in there a long time and from the sound of things I think she took two showers. When she came out her long blonde hair was still wet and she had not put on any makeup. She walked over to me and put her arms around me nestled her head on my shoulder.

"I wish it could be different", she said in English, "but if not let's not waste the day we have left".

I said that was fine and asked her what she would like to do. She suggested a trip to a park out by the museums where there was some outdoor music on Saturdays and that we get a basket lunch from the hotel and a bottle of wine to take with us.

She called room service and fired off a set of instructions in Portugese that I couldn't follow. When she hung up she said everything was arranged. About a half hour later a knock on the door signaled the arrival of our basket and bottle. She checked everything out and said all looked in order.

The doorman signaled a waiting cab to pull up to the door of the hotel and she told the driver where to take us.

It was a very pretty late morning spring day. The ride through town was a way I hadn't been before and I got to see some things I hadn't seen. Thalia had slid over next to me as we pulled away from the hotel and was quiet but seemed comfortable with everything including me.

For some reason I can't remember too much about what we did other than listen to the musicians, watch the kids play and eat our lunch sometime in the early afternoon. Some dark clouds began to move in and I thought it best if we headed back to Leblon ahead of what looked like a major rain storm.

The rain started just as we found a cab. We got just slightly wet as we hurried into the cab and settled in the back. Soon thunder, lightning and even some small hail started that made her cringe every time the thunder would boom.

We arrived back at the hotel and she went to return the basket to the hotel restaurant. I stopped by the front desk and withdrew enough traveller's checks to cover what I would be giving her in the morning. I had the hotel cash them and give me an envelope for the bills.

We met at the elevator and took the long ride up to the 20th floor in silence. Thalita asked if I would mind doing room service one more time tonight as she didn't feel like dressing up and going out. Sounding like her old self she promised me a dinner I would never forget and that she would be the best appetizer and dessert I ever had.

This is the one time I want to keep private what happened. Suffice it to say we could not have had a dinner like we did in a public place. It was a really great final night together.

I couldn't stay sound asleep that night and got up around 4:30 and went into the bathroom. I brought a couple of sheets of hotel stationary in with me and tried to compose a note that would tell her how much I had enjoyed myself on my first trip to Brazil. The note probably sounded stupid but I slipped the wad of $R2,000 in with it, wrote her name on it and left it on the vanity where she would see it when she got up and went in the bathroom.

I went back to bed and finally got to sleep. I woke up at the sound of the shower running and just laid there wondering how this was going to play out.

She came out of the bathroom fully dressed a few minutes later. She quietly went around to where her bags were and I saw her put her makeup case in one of the travel bags and slip the envelope I had left her in her purse. She pulled the bag on rollers over toward the door and left it and the other there as she came back to my side of the bed.

She sat down on the edge and reached up and ran her hand down my cheek. I feigned waking up and looked up at her. She bent down and kissed me softly on the lips and told me she had really enjoyed our time together and that I should enjoy the rest of my trip (but not too mucho).

She got up walked to the door, opened it, stepped out in the hall, turned around, smiled and closed the door and was gone.

...one more chapter to go