Sveta,” drawled her colleague and best friend Natalya, “are you by any chance pregnant?”
Sveta came back from the ladies’ room, pale as a sheet. During lunch at the café next to the office she had suddenly felt unwell and, apologizing, had hurried off, leaving half her meal untouched.
“Only if it’s by accident,” Svetlana smirked. “We weren’t exactly planning a pregnancy, we wanted another year just for ourselves. To be honest, Pavlik really wanted it, and I’m basically ready to be a mom too, but I didn’t want to pressure him.”
“But all the signs point to it,” her friend nodded meaningfully. “One thing I know for sure—right now you’re no good as an employee. Ask to leave early and go home. Tell Vasilievna I’ll cover for you.”
“Thanks, Natash,” Sveta smiled sadly. “I really have never felt this nauseous in my life.”
Their boss, Olga Vasilievna, was a strict but understanding woman, and just one look at Svetlana was enough. She spoke before Sveta could say a word:
“Wow, girl, you look awful. There’s no color in your face. Go home, we’ll manage somehow.”
“Thank you,” Svetlana said, and already at the door she added, “I’ll make it up later if anything.”
On her way home Sveta stopped by a pharmacy, bought a pregnancy test, and thought that if there were two lines, she would somehow have to gently break it to Pavel. What could she do if the unexpected had happened? Her husband had the day off today, and Sveta remembered that in the evening she had planned to invite Pasha for a walk along the embankment. Now, that probably wouldn’t happen. Although if she rested a bit and took a nap, maybe she’d feel better by evening and the walk would even do her good.
Svetlana opened the door quietly. She thought her husband might be asleep. For the past week he’d been working overtime, coming home closer to midnight and completely forgetting about weekends. Now he finally had a break, and she was sure he had decided to sleep his fill.
In the hallway Sveta noticed a pair of women’s shoes and immediately understood that their guest was Elena Igorevna, her husband’s mother. The woman preferred to keep her relationship with her daughter-in-law at arm’s length, so she only ever came to visit her son when Svetlana wasn’t home.
“And what is your wife to you, a wall or something?” Svetlana heard and froze at those words. “You’ll tell Svetka you went over to my place to help around the house, and I’ll cover for you. Really, look at you, fussing over her. I told you right away she wasn’t a match for you. You should have waited for Kira. You got all offended because she left without you. Well, now that she’s had an internship abroad, she’ll get herself a great job. And how stylish she’s become! And the main thing is, she’s still in love with you, just like before. So grab the moment. Have a really good time. Her mother says the celebration will be huge—after all, you only turn thirty once in your life. They rented a house out of town.”
“Mom, this is all unpleasant,” Pavel said. “I have a responsibility to Sveta, she’s my wife now. I already regret even meeting with Kira after she got back. Why did you set up that meeting? If I hadn’t seen her, it would’ve been easier. Now I can’t forgive myself for going over there. Like I lost my mind.”
“And what, you regret spending time with a woman like that? Any other man would be thrilled to know he’s remembered, loved and waited for. And you’re still complaining.”
“Mom, but Sveta loves me too, I can’t do this. If Kira had chosen me back then instead of that internship, things would have been different, but now so much has changed. It was hard enough to forget her, and you went and brought us together again. Why? I don’t even want to go to her birthday. I wanted to cut things off completely, and here you are deciding everything for me again.”
“And you’re doing the right thing! You’ll thank me later. With that Svetka you’ll never become anyone, you’ll just go on warming a chair in your little office, and your kids will never be as beautiful as they would’ve been with Kira. Honestly, do I have to teach you everything, Pavlush, you’re a grown man! Where are your eyes? You can’t even put them side by side—your Svetka looks like some market trader, and Kira is refined, feminine, cultured, a real beauty! The only reason I waved my hand and let you get married was because Svetka has an apartment—better that than if you’d brought some penniless nothing into the house. Now Kira’s father has given her a four-room apartment, and for her birthday, I was told in confidence, they bought her a brand-new car. So her husband won’t be wronged either. They’ll help him with a job and everything else. And if you keep twiddling your thumbs, you’ll be biting your elbows later, mark my words.”
Pavel let out a heavy sigh, and Sveta froze, waiting for his answer. She even forgot how bad she’d been feeling; it was as if everything around her vanished, even she herself—only the words coming from the room remained.
“I don’t even know,” Pavel finally got out with a note of doubt in his voice. “On the one hand, I feel sorry for Sveta, she’s not guilty of anything. On the other hand, when I see Kira, I forget about everything else.”
“There!” his mother exclaimed triumphantly. “That’s what I’ve been saying! Old love doesn’t rust! And Svetka won’t be lost without you—anyone will scoop her up with that apartment of hers. You look out for yourself, not for her.”
Svetlana stood there, neither alive nor dead. She didn’t know what the best thing to do would be. March demonstratively into the room and throw both her husband and mother-in-law out? Probably not. Better to think everything over first. She slipped out of the apartment as silently as she had entered and slipped unnoticed out of the building. She called a taxi and went to her parents’ place.
“Svetočka, you look awful. What happened?” her mother, Taisia Vitalievna, asked anxiously.
“I don’t know, Mom. I felt really sick at work. I bought a test—it doesn’t look like pregnancy. The nausea is horrible, I feel weak, I’ve never felt like this before.”
“What if it’s food poisoning?” her mother suggested. “Come on, I’ll give you some activated charcoal, maybe you’ll feel better.”
Sveta nodded and went into the kitchen. Taisia Vitalievna quickly followed her in, holding a strip of charcoal tablets. After swallowing the pills, Svetlana looked at her mother, who, without saying anything, was clearly asking why her daughter had come over, and at such a time besides. Without waiting for questions, Sveta told her everything she’d heard in her own apartment half an hour ago.
“What do you think about all this?” she asked when she finished, letting out a heavy sigh.
“What’s there to think about?” her mother shook her head. “You know your father and I thought that family was strange from the very beginning. Just remember how Elena was collecting leftovers at the café when we celebrated your engagement. And at the table she did nothing but ask about the apartment—how you got it, on what grounds, whether there were any other owners, whether there were any unpaid utilities. Then later she gave her son strict instructions when he walked you home. And Pasha himself never had his own opinion. He chose the suit for the wedding that his mother advised, not you. You can’t remember everything now, but those inner warnings usually don’t come for nothing.”
“It’s just a pity I didn’t listen to you and Dad. I can’t go on living with him. I just hope I’m not pregnant; that would only make everything worse.”
“Well, my dear, that’s up to God now. We can’t argue with His decisions. We shouldn’t complain—everything that comes to us is for the good. And that marriage of yours was for something too. Maybe for the experience. Or maybe everything will still work out. Perhaps you misunderstood something.”
“Mom, I’m not a fool, it was all perfectly clear. And I felt sorry for him, working so hard lately. I cooked his favorite food, tried to give him massages even when I was tired myself—how ridiculous that looks now. But you’re right, bad experience is still experience.”
“It’s all right, everything will be fine,” her mother said, hugging her daughter. She poured tea and pushed a plate of pie closer to her. “Have some tea and rest first, and then you’ll decide what’s best to do.”
In two hours Svetlana slept in her old room, the one she’d lived in before marriage, better than she had in a long time. When she woke up, she even thought she’d slept for a whole day. But only a little time had passed. Just then the phone rang. Taisia Vitalievna looked into her daughter’s room, and Sveta, giving her a meaningful nod, answered and turned on the speakerphone.
“Hi, Pavlush!” she said in a cheerful, slightly exaggerated voice.
“Hi, Svetik,” Pavel replied, hesitating. “How are you, are you coming home?”
“No, I had to stay late,” Sveta said, winking at her mother. “How’s your day off going? Shall we take that walk this evening?”
“I actually wanted to say I’m going over to Mom’s to help her out. And… I’ll stay the night there, there’s a lot of work around the house that’s piled up. You won’t be upset?” he asked in a strangled voice, and Sveta sighed.
“Go ahead, Pasha, I’m used to it,” she said with a smile, then added, “I mean—help your mom properly, don’t rush back, I won’t be offended.”
After ending the call, Sveta looked at her mother.
“Well, there you go. Now you see I understood everything just right, don’t you?”
Taisia Vitalievna nodded silently.
“Come on, let’s have dinner, your father will be back soon.”
After dinner Sveta started getting ready to go home.
“You could stay,” her father suggested. “We see you so rarely, why go out at night?”
“I’m going,” Svetlana said firmly. “I’ll pack his things, call a locksmith in the morning to change the locks, and that’s it—my married life is over! Then I’ll go with you to the dacha and we’ll celebrate there, spend the whole weekend together.”
“I’ll call you a taxi,” her father replied. “And remember, I’m holding you to that promise about the dacha!”
On the way home Svetlana was overwhelmed by mixed feelings. She understood that what he had done couldn’t be forgiven and that she needed to throw her husband out before he decided to leave himself, but she still loved Pavel, and it was going to hurt terribly to come back now and know that nothing would ever be the same again.
Stepping out of the elevator, Sveta froze in horror. A stranger was trying to open the door to her apartment.
“What do you think you’re doing?!” Svetlana shouted, her hand shaking as she pulled a pepper spray canister out of her purse. “I’ll call the neighbors right now, step away from my door!”
“Your door?” the man straightened up, turning to her. “On what grounds? I bought this apartment, and I have no idea who you are.”
“What do you mean, you bought it?” Sveta flared up, her face flushing with anger as she ran through all possible fraud scenarios in her head.
“I mean exactly that—I transferred the money to the seller and we signed the documents online. Today I came into town, picked up the keys from the realtor and I’m trying to get into my apartment, but the lock’s stuck.”
“The lock’s stuck?” Sveta raised her chin. “Maybe the key’s wrong? Or is that a picklock you’ve got there? Don’t take me for an idiot! Step away from the door right now and get away from my apartment, or I can’t vouch for myself. I’ve had enough stress for one day!”
“I’m not going anywhere,” the man protested. “My papers are in order.”
He pulled a folder out of his bag and, finding the right document, held it out to Svetlana. “Take a look yourself, and then you can leave. The deal was checked by top lawyers, by the way.”
Feeling a wave of panic wash over her, Svetlana ran her eyes over the document and then burst out in hysterical laughter.
“You’ve got the wrong address, young man! This is Polezhaeva Street—you need Polezhaev Lane. The buildings look alike there and here. You stopped just short of your actual destination. Now, if you’ll let me, I’d like to get inside. I’ve had a tough day.”
The man stepped away from the door and picked up his duffel bag from the floor.
“I’m terribly sorry,” he said contritely. “I didn’t even notice that little detail.”
…Despite her exhaustion, Sveta packed up all of Pavel’s things and, satisfied as she surveyed the now-empty closets, went to bed. In the morning the first thing she did was check the pregnancy test, which, to her great relief, showed only one line. Then she called a locksmith from a private company, and in just an hour the front door had brand-new locks.
After that Svetlana ordered a taxi and sent her husband’s belongings to his mother’s address, then called Elena Igorevna and asked her to meet the car.
“I’m divorcing your son,” Svetlana said calmly. “I sent his things to you, since I don’t know Kira’s address.”
She could almost feel her mother-in-law’s delight through the phone.
“So Pavlushka told you? Well, wonderful! I’m glad you’re splitting up without a scandal. You’ll find yourself a better man, what do you need my good-for-nothing for? I always said you deserve better…”
Sveta hung up, smirking at her mother-in-law’s slipperiness. Then she called work, warned them she’d be there in a couple of hours, and headed for the registry office to file for divorce.
“Well?” Natasha asked the second Sveta walked into the office. “Did you take the test? Two lines?”
“No,” Sveta shook her head. “One. Looks like it really was food poisoning. And I’m getting a divorce. Don’t ask anything else now, I’ll tell you later. I need to work.”
“As always,” her friend waved her hand. “Right at the most interesting moment!”
That evening someone rang Sveta’s doorbell. Looking through the peephole, she saw the man who had gotten the address wrong the day before standing in the hallway. She opened the door and stared in surprise. In his hands was a huge bouquet of white roses.
“These are for you,” the man said with a smile. “Please accept my sincere apologies. I’ve felt awkward about it all day.”
“Oh, it’s nothing,” Sveta smiled back. “That could happen to anyone. Thank you for the flowers, no one has ever given me such a bouquet before.”
“That’s a shame,” the man said, blushing. “Well, I’ll be going.”
“Yes,” Sveta nodded. “Goodbye.”
She went back into the apartment and thought how her husband had never given her flowers—again, on his mother’s insistence. Once he’d brought Svetlana a bouquet of three tulips and boasted over the phone to his mother that he’d given his wife flowers, and she scolded him for half an hour, so loudly that Sveta heard everything. She told him it was a waste of money, that the flowers would wilt in a couple of days and the money would be thrown away, that he should’ve bought himself an extra pair of socks instead.
It had been very unpleasant for Svetlana to hear that, and from then on her husband hadn’t given her so much as a single flower, not even for her birthday or on March 8th.
She put the roses in a vase when her mother called to remind her that Svetlana had promised to go with them to the dacha for the weekend.
“The Semenovs are going to be there too,” her mother said. “They suggested we do a barbecue together. You don’t mind, do you?”
“Of course not,” Svetlana replied. “I remember how we all used to get together there, Uncle Kolya played the guitar and sang so beautifully.”
“Yes, we’d sit around the fire and it was so peaceful,” her mother agreed. “Well, we’ll ask Uncle Kolya to sing this time too.”
When she arrived at the dacha, it was as if Sveta had gone back into the past—she had always felt so good there. And Uncle Kolya and Aunt Varya had a nephew, Filka, who used to spend his summers with them. Sveta and Filka would run down to the river, catch little crucian carp and bring them to the local cats wandering around the plots in search of food. Those were such good times. Then they grew older, Sveta lost interest in going to the dacha with her parents, and Filka rarely came to visit his aunt and uncle too.
“So, what’s new with you?” Svetlana’s father asked Uncle Kolya as they lit the coals in the grill, threading the meat onto skewers while the women made salads.
“Good news!” Uncle Kolya beamed. “Our Filka has moved here. He bought an apartment in the city. His parents died a year ago, things didn’t work out with his wife. And apart from us he has no one now, just like we have no one besides him. So he decided to move.”
An SUV pulled up by the gate, and Uncle Kolya waved toward the car.
“There he is! Look how he’s grown. You wouldn’t recognize him!”
Svetlana turned around and rose from the bench. Coming toward them was that very same stranger she’d met not long ago at the door of her apartment.
“It’s you? You?” Sveta stared at him, unable to believe that this was her childhood friend Filipp.
“Sveta?” The man was just as surprised. “What a meeting! I’d never have recognized you!”
They rushed to hug each other, and Sveta even burst into tears.
“Unbelievable, what a joke life plays on you. I’m literally speechless.”
“There’s no need for words,” Filipp said. “Everything in life works out the way it will be best.”
Sveta drew a deep breath of fresh air into her lungs and thought that Filipp was right. Everything was definitely going to be all right.
