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129. A bitter morning
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The Bet 130. A blow
Right after breakfast, Jack took Mike to the clinic. The atmosphere instantly relaxed inside the villa. They were still sitting at the kitchen table with tea and French pastries and discussing how to teach their dear friend a lesson.“You are a poor teacher, Matt.” Jo said, very disappointed with her friend. “These pancakes are awful.” She winced as she ate, wondering where Mike went wrong with that very simple task.“Am I really a poor teacher?” Matthew mocked in a slurping voice. “Or maybe our friend is a bad student? Did you consider that?”“Could we leave aside his cooking skills, guys?” Patrick exclaimed. “The main thing is that the guy can cook, so he will not die of hunger. That’s what matters!”“Really? Did you try that?” Jo pointed at the pancake.“No, and I'm not going to. I watched the anguish when Jack was consuming it. In general, he is not very picky about food so it must be eatable.”“Well, you have to try it.” Jo wanted to force him and put a piece of pancake on a fork
The Bet 131. Unexpected inconvenience
”Are you worrying about Mike?” Patrick asked, seeing consternation and some kind of sadness on Jo’s face.“No, I am not worried about that asshole. He deserved it.”“Nobody deserves anything like this, badass.”“That’s not what I meant.”Patrick looked at her expecting some more explanations.“He shouldn't have gone out with you the previous day. He knew it perfectly well, so it was one hundred percent his fault. So, in that sense, he deserves it.”“I agree, but still, he is a man. You don’t understand male pride, badass.”“I understand him more than you can imagine. It’s just his fucking character.”“All of us, we have ‘interesting’ personalities, badass. For most of the people around us, we are assholes.”“I am not questioning it, Pat.” She hesitated for a moment. “But this fucking macho is one of his kind...”Patrick was speechless. He couldn’t argue with that. While he had a lot of understanding of the people around him, Mike was still a special case to him. But still he tolerated
The Bet 132. Boring day
Jo was extremely happy to see the hammock outside in the beautiful surroundings. She immediately started walking towards it.Behind her were Patrick and Matthew. When they made sure that she was comfortable, they started to unpack and unfold the garden furniture.In the next half an hour, they had dealt with most of the setting up. The patio immediately changed its face to an elegant and, above all, a comfortable place to relax. A few wooden deck chairs with a low table and umbrellas were placed near the swimming pool.The guys also put a long wooden table with eight chairs under an electric marquise, parallel to the glass wall of the villa and of course near the kitchen and dining room doors.“The table looks so good!” Jo commented from the hammock.“I feel like I am on a boat.” Matthew joked.“The owner loves sailing, so you are right. Only the wooden steering wheel is missing.” Jo laughed. She also noticed so many things related to marine life.“A wooden steering wheel sounds good.
The Bet 133. Under control
“We already had dinner; Martin took care of our meals today.” Jack informed them.“Good guy! He also brought food for us.” Patrick realized that they had such a good time that he didn't even call and thank them for the catering. “I should call and at least say thank you.”“I already did that. We will have the catering all week.”“Sounds good, but I wish I could make use of the kitchen here too.” Patrick had some plans.“Why don't you spend your holidays far away from the kitchen? There are so many beautiful places to visit around. Besides, I'll take care of Mike.” Jack really wished that they would have a good time.“We cannot burden you with caring for him. We have to get a nurse tomorrow. And you should travel with us.”Jack was glad to hear that he wouldn't have to babysit Mike even though that one didn’t cause him any problems throughout the day. He had a great time with the bunch of big kids, and he wanted to spend some time traveling around too.Besides, his boss had clearly mar
The Bet Prologue
After many years of chasing her dreams she decided to stop being a perfectionist, to stop trying to be the very best in everything she does. Jo wanted to put her big dreams aside for a little while. She had realised that she needed to live life to the fullest and forget about perfection. After all, nobody is perfect. Jo needed to reset and she planned to do this far away from her normal, everyday life. She took a few days off and decided to visit friends, most of whom she hadn't seen for years. That's when the trouble began. She will remember that damn night for a very long time. She and her friends had met at one of their houses, just like they used to do when they were in college. Everyone had brought along some party food and alcohol as if they were back to being college students. There was a large selection of alcohol ranging from beer, white and red wine, whisky, to luxury drinks like Dom Perignon and Richard Hennessy cognac. She had ended up drinking all night
The Bet 2. A bet is a bet
Jo was drinking her black coffee as she sat down at the dining room table. She looked at the nine familiar faces of the people she had spent so much time with in the past. She had known a few of them since kindergarten. They all had drank way too much last night; surely she wasn’t the only one with a terrible hangover. She felt awful and had a nagging headache; she hadn’t felt this way since graduation. Looking at them, she could tell that they felt the same way she did. "Guys, this is so embarrassing!" Her voice was still hoarse from all the singing and laughing from last night. "We were in this exact same situation eleven years ago." Jo said quietly as she looked at their very tired faces. Everyone was silent as they waited to hear what Jo had to say. They expected that she would bluntly summarize their drunken activities from last night. "We all have bad hangovers and we don't really remember much of what happened last night. We did the same thing
The Bet 3. The invitation
It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon from a long weekend having Monday off. Jo flew back home the next day on the latest evening flight. She had plenty of time to relax. Matthew had invited her for dinner and to see his new place. Since it was a housewarming party of sorts, she bought a lovely white orchid in a pot and a bottle of Chardonnay. When she arrived at the modern apartment building, she knew that Matt had been cooking; the smell of roasted turkey and grilled seafood filled the air. 'Roast Turkey was her favorite meat. There was also a delicate smell of grilled seafood. ‘What could that be?’ She wasn't crazy about crabs and prawns. ‘Did he forget about it?’ She knocked once before Matthew opened the door and they both laughed looking at each other. They both were wearing the same outfit. A tight white linen shirt and khaki denim pants. Even their leather belts and shoes were almost the same shade of tan. "Hi, beautiful!" He beamed. "Hello, han
The Bet 4. The dinner
The living room felt welcoming with an open floor plan, allowing natural light to fill the room; very simple and elegant. The wall on the right only had white bookshelves and an enormous TV screen in the center while huge balcony windows covered the front wall. The living area, in all, consisted of only two big white sofas and two armchairs around a wooden coffee table.The dining area was very simple and was at the far left side of the living room. Large balcony windows covered the wall, allowing the room to fill with warm light. Along the windows stood a long wooden table with six wooden chairs and a modern wooden chest of drawers.As she moved closer, she saw that the table looked very elegant and was set for dinner. There were only two light grey table mats with white plates, silver cutlery and glasses prepared, so she knew that only the two of them would dine there tonight. A lovely glass vase with fresh white roses stood in the center of the table, providin
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