Memories

Next day

Mac's apartment

True to his word the next morning Harm showed up, with fresh bagels and two hazelnut-caramel coffees from her favourite shop.
Mac had had a good night's sleep and felt much better. But with that her doubts about being entitled to his help had returned full force and it took Harm quite some time to persuade her of his wish to help her. Finally they agreed he would help her that day and she would accompany him on doing some fun things of his choice the next day.
That settled they mapped out the chores. These would include changing the bedding, two loads of laundry, dishes, cleaning the fridge, dusting and vacuuming, cleaning the bathroom and mop the kitchen floor. Last thing to do would be a trip to the supermarket.
While Mac started to work on her bedroom and the bathroom, Harm did dishes and cleaned the fridge as well as the kitchen cabinet she had mentioned the day before. He scrubbed the floor while she took the laundry downstairs to the laundry room in the basement. They found each other in the living room again. Harm had made coffee and they took a moment to rest. Afterwards they started on the living. Mac collected clutter and tidied up and Harm dusted and then grabbed the vacuum cleaner.
By noon they were ready and Mac's house was nice and clean again. While the second load of laundry tumbled in the machine and the first load in the dryer she produced the ingredients for sandwiches out of the fridge and they ate in amiable silence. Then Harm grabbed a piece of paper to write down what they would need from the supermarket.

In the supermarket each wheeled a cart and worked trough his or her list. Since Mac never had been a keen cook Harm was surprised to see the items she collected.
"What are you planning to make?" he asked curiously.

Mac blushed. "I want to cook you a special meal tomorrow. Some dishes my grandmother taught me to make when I was a kid. To thank you," she explained.

"Mac, you don't need to thank me. I like spending time with you," Harm protested.
He hesitated for a moment. Then he continued "Once I read a story on the Internet about a woman witnessing a father and a daughter saying goodbye. They wished each other enough and the woman wondered what that meant. So when the daughter had left, she asked the father and he told her he and his daughter were saying goodbye, knowing it would be the last time they saw each other in this live. In their family 'wishing enough' was an old wish, past on from generation to generation. And he quoted:
I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how grey the day may appear.
I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.
I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.
I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.
I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.
I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye."
Harm took a breath. "I want you to have good memories too. I want to help you make that kind of memories, to help you through a bleak day. Or when, God forbid, something happens … we both have a hazardous job."
Mac was speechless. She just could hug him. When she found her voice back she whispered "I want you to have those, too."
Since the supermarket wasn't a place to be carried away, he reluctantly released her. "Okay," he said a bit hoarsely. "You cook tomorrow." For a moment there was a look in his eyes Mac couldn't explain but that took her breath away. Then he turned and started to push his cart again.

Mac drew a fortifying breath. For the first time she really allowed herself to believe that they could become more than friends, that one day he would declare his love and that they would live happily ever after.

And that would be a true blessing.

The end.