Another week passes quietly. The peace of life here catches me off guard. It's easy to sink into, easy to want this to be permanent to the point it hurts me to think otherwise.
I'm exhausted by the time I get home. Todd's winter break started today, the twenty second, and he swore he wouldn't leave the apartment. When I stagger in around seven, my feet are killing me. The shortage of sleep this month from Anton's projects is starting to make me snappy with customers. Thank god they're so full of holiday spirit, they don't seem to mind.
The scent of chili hits me as I walk into my apartment, and I pause after closing the door. "Todd? Did you cook?" I ask.
"Yeah," he responds from the living room.
"Is it for … us or just you?"
"Us."
"How do you know how to make chili?"
"I found the recipe in the kitchen," he says impatiently.
Weird. In the past two weeks, he's gone from demanding his second dinner at eight to making his own and now, to cooking.
"Thanks, kid," I say and ruffle his hair as I cross to the living room.
The television is blaring and Todd has dumped a box of something that looks like scrapbooking supplies on the table. I didn't know we had anything of the sort.
"What're you doing?" I ask.
"Omigod, Claudia! Stop bothering me. I'm making Petr a Christmas card."
I push off my shoes and roll my eyes. I'd get up and change, but my feet need a breather first. "I can give you three bucks to buy one."
"No. I have to do this myself."
I snort, amused. "What made you want to cook?"
He sighs noisily. "Petr is teaching me to be a better man. He says since I'm off school, I should help out around the house. So I cooked. But if you don't stop asking me questions, I'll never do it again!"
I laugh, delighted and surprised by the honest response. "Sorry. I'll go change." The mention of Petr's name makes my heart dance.
In the three weeks Petr has been working with Todd, I've seen my baby brother bloom. He seems less moody, more confident, and genuinely excited about being involved in life instead of always scared or withdrawn. Petr's progress reports are generally short, that Todd is doing good.
It's an understatement. Todd is doing incredible. I think helping others is too much of who Petr is for him to realize how huge of an impact he's been on Todd.
To be honest, I thought for sure he'd stop visiting the diner and being Todd's big brother by now. I'm pleasant to him but I turn him down every day for dinner. I thought he'd be tired of it, get the hint or worst-case scenario, lose interest in me.