Three Means Coffee

57

Makary and his brothers had a tradition of meeting each other to discuss recent events and strengthen bonds. Men's trips to the gym, swimming pool, or tennis. This time, however, they met at bowling. The older siblings had a plan for the youngest to get as much information as possible and overtake Kornelia in their unwritten games.

"So, brother, Valentine's Day is in two weeks, do you have any plans?" Mirek asked, pretending that he wasn't trying to gain anything from it.

"No," Makary replied sadly because he hadn't talked about it with Błażej yet.

"That's great, so I'm booking a table at the restaurant, and you pick up my children from school that day and look after them until the evening."

"Stop using him, Mirek," interjected the oldest Maciek.

"After all, he would have the evening free, and this is the last chance before Kornelia will give birth," the middle in term of age defended himself.

"Go, it's your turn," the older brother chased him and focused on Makary. "You know you don't have to agree, right?"

"No problem," the hazel-eyed shrugged. "Błażej has his exams anyway, he will probably want to study."

"How are you doing anyway? You don't sound too happy," Maciek was concerned about seeing his sad brother.

"Well, I wish he had a little more time for me, but I'm learning to appreciate every moment with him even more. You know, someone once hurt him a lot," said Makary. "It's bothering him all the time and everything that seems so natural and normal about a relationship... He suspects it's a lie, I know he's fighting it for me, but I have to be patient. If I remember how cute he smiled when he thanked me for reminding him that holding someone's hand can be nice," the hazel-eyed blushed and tried to hide it by hiding his face in his hands.

"How sweet and innocent, they are just holding hands," Mirek joked and patted his younger brother on the shoulder. "But beginnings are always like that if I remember how Kornelia hated me when we first met..."

"And no one was surprised," Maciek muttered and chased Makary to make his turn.

"He's completely gone," Mirek commented when the youngest of them couldn't hear him. "I wonder when we'll meet him."

"If he's got that much patience, so must we."

The rest of the evening it was passed peacefully, although the youngest was still under a barrage of questions. Makary had the impression that he had said a bit too much about Błażej, although he wanted to let it out because at times it overwhelmed him. He was consumed with guilt and tried to answer further questions evasively. At the same time, he was relieved that he had shared it with someone and that he had not been judged by his brothers. He was glad that no one had tried to advise him that he shouldn't go through with it, as he would have expected some people to do.

That same evening, Monika stayed with the head of her department to help him deal with the loss of documents. It was Friday and no one else wanted to stay overtime, and Przemek didn't want to force anyone to do so and took responsibility. The man tried not to show too much joy when it was Monika who came up with the offer of help because he had liked her for a long time and wanted to take the opportunity to invite her somewhere. Even though they were more than ten years apart, he always admired her for her hard work and sheer kindness to everyone, she was a single parent like him.

"Are you sure you can stay? Your son is still little, right?" he asked, after two hours when they decided to take a tea break.

"My cousin isn't at work today, so he can take care of him," she replied, smiling. "Besides, you probably wouldn't have finished it yourself, and you'd have had to sit out for the weekend. At least we will both spend time with our children."

"Mine is a teenage girl now and doesn't need me anymore," the man said sadly.

"She needs it, she just won't admit it," Monika laughed.

She remembered the cookies in the cupboard, in case she had a sweet tooth at work. She shared them with her boss and checked with Błażej if everything was okay.

"I'd like to thank you for your help. Will you come to dinner with me on Thursday in two weeks? A small restaurant recently opened near me."

"Well, I don't know," Monika replied a bit surprised by this proposal. "I'd have to talk to Błażej. Can I give you an answer when I can work things out with him?"