Really?» Nikita perked up. He had been waiting for this day, saving up for his dream. He knew his mom was in a tough financial situation: there had been massive layoffs at work, and only Larisa was retained because she was raising her son alone. Nikita’s father had died a few years ago. The survivor’s pension was small, and the expenses for a schoolboy were high. So, Larisa was very worried that her salary would be cut.
Nevertheless, the woman did not despair. Her older brother helped, although Larisa never asked Victor; on the contrary, she reluctantly took money. She knew he had his own family. The situation was complicated by her daughter-in-law, Nina, who didn’t like that part of Victor’s money was bypassing her own pocket. The daughter-in-law found a «solution» to Larisa’s problems by introducing her to a man.
«Larisa, why are you hesitating, turning up your nose? I’ve already arranged it with the neighbor, she said her son, Grigory, really liked you. He’s ready to adopt Nikita!» said Nina. She and the neighbor had talked and decided to bring together two lonely people.
«Thanks, of course, for trying to set me up, but isn’t this all happening a bit too fast? I don’t like pushy men…»
«Strike while the iron is hot! It’s good that Grigory is so decisive. Move in with him and live, and who knows, he might really propose and solve your financial problems. And you’ll give him a chance to move out from his mother’s. You’ll live in your apartment, but on his salary.» Nina insisted, and Larisa gave in:
«Alright. I’ll call him.»
Grigory quickly moved his things in. Nikita did not object. He was a well-mannered and quiet boy. He knew that if his mother had decided, it must be right.
«Grisha, let’s just live like neighbors for a while? I need to get used to you, and you to me…» said Larisa when Grigory decided that besides housing, he would immediately be given everything else.
«Alright, if you want it that way, I’ll wait. But let’s be informal. Otherwise, people will laugh.»
Larisa shrugged. It was unusual for her to have a man in the house. She didn’t consider him hers, but Grigory seemed to try: he bought groceries, gave money for a winter jacket for her son, and bought Larisa a new phone. It was inexpensive, but at least it was modern; her old one was embarrassing to carry around.
Three months into their new life, Larisa began to get used to Grigory. Nikita seemed to adapt too. Only he didn’t like that Grigory would sit by the TV in the evenings and turn on the news or football at full volume, disturbing Nikita from doing his homework or practicing. The boy had an old acoustic guitar, passed down from his grandfather. He taught himself to play it by video lessons. He really wanted to learn to play like the rock musicians. Larisa knew about her son’s passion and supported him. But paying for expensive lessons was too costly, and an electric guitar was just a dream.
Nevertheless, Nikita did not give up hope and even slowly saved up: his grandmother gave him small financial gifts, and recently on his birthday, Victor handed his nephew an envelope.
«Here, take this. It’s for your dream.»
«Thank you…» Nikita was a bit taken aback, but very pleased. «I’ll put it in the piggy bank, there’s probably enough there soon for an electric guitar!»
«Keep learning, who knows, maybe something will come of it,» Victor smiled.
Larisa knew about her brother’s gift and also decided to help her son achieve his dream: from the next paycheck, she would «add» a few bills to his piggy bank and finally go to the music store.
Larisa hoped that Grigory would support their endeavor, but… It turned out differently.
«Well, son, get ready. Today we’re going to fulfill wishes!» Larisa said joyfully, pulling out her wallet. She had specifically withdrawn part of the money to invest in her son’s savings. The woman started taking extra jobs and gradually relieved the burden of not having enough money.
«Mommy, you’re the best! I’m so happy!» The child ran to the piggy bank, opened it, and shook out a few bills. «Strange,» his smile slipped from his face. The amount in the piggy bank was completely different.
«Did you take money from here, Nikita?»
«No…»
«Then where did uncle’s gift go?»
«I don’t know…» the son’s eyes filled with tears. Larisa knew that Nikita couldn’t lie, so she didn’t doubt that he wouldn’t take the savings and spend them on nonsense.
«Then I don’t understand anything…»
The only one who could know about the gift was Grigory.
«What’s all this fuss about?» Grigory just walked into the apartment and heard the woman and her son emotionally discussing something.
«Hello, Grisha. We’ve lost something and can’t find it,» Larisa replied confusedly. She noticed that Grigory was holding a large box.
He carefully placed it on the floor next to him and began taking off his shoes.
«If you lost it at home, then you’ll find it.»
«What’s that?» Larisa stopped running around the house and focused on the box.
«Bought a boat. To go fishing on the lake,» Grigory declared proudly.
Larisa was surprised, because just a couple of days ago Grigory said he wouldn’t give money for the guitar, that he had spent everything and had no extras.
«I don’t see the need, and besides, my salary isn’t endless: food, essentials, I have to help my mother… And you come up with your own nonsense.»
«It’s not nonsense. It’s important for Nikita. Anyway, I just asked. Maybe you would like to contribute to the child’s gift.»
«No. I already said. We will not buy any nonsense,» Grigory cut her off.
While the man was changing, Larisa thought about what was happening for a few seconds, then asked Nikita to wait for her in his room.
«How will we go for the guitar, mom? We don’t have the money.»
«I’ll think of something.»
Nikita believed his mother and left. And Grigory stared at Larisa, arms crossed over his chest.
«I said, no wasting money on nonsense.»
«Grisha, do you by chance know where the money that my son was saving went?» ignoring her cohabitant’s remark, she asked.
«Your son ‘was saving’,» the man mimicked. «What can a child save? All that money was given to him by adults, more precisely, it was given to our family budget, which means we, the adults, can manage it as we see fit. Not as some silly boy imagines.»
«Grisha, I repeat the question: do you know where my son’s savings went?» Larisa tried to remain calm, but it was difficult.
«Yes, I know.»
«You took that money?!»
«Well, yes. What of it?»
«How could you go into my son’s piggy bank without asking?!» Larisa could no longer hold back, raising her voice at her cohabitant.
«And you think it’s okay to only ‘dip into my piggy bank’? I fulfill your ‘wishes’ as a matter of course, but the brat, you understand, has savings! An ‘untouchable’ reserve!»
Larisa looked at Grigory and couldn’t understand how instead of a reliable male shoulder, she got a completely inadequate cohabitant.
«You’re right. Let’s consider that we’re even. Take your boat, your things, and scram back to your mother!» Larisa yelled.
«Hey, what’s wrong? It’s just a boat, think about it. If you want to know, I bought it to go fishing with your son. To teach him something, because who knows what’s growing up here!»
«Nikita is afraid of water, and he won’t go fishing,» Larisa retorted sharply.
«What kind of boy is he? You’re raising a girl, scared of everything!» Grigory sneered.
«That’s my business. Leave, Grisha. Enough. Nothing will work out between us.»
«Come on, making a fuss about nothing. Go spin yourself. We’ll talk later,» Grigory went to the kitchen to have dinner as if nothing had happened, while Larisa remained standing next to the box with the boat.
She wanted to throw out her cohabitant, but she was morally and physically weaker.
Nikita and Larisa agreed that they would save up a bit more, but not in the piggy bank, but on Larisa’s card.
«We’ll have to wait a bit more, or take it in installments. Okay?»
«Okay,» the son looked disappointed. Grigory, after dining alone, went to his favorite spot, by the TV. There he fell asleep.
And the next day he announced:
«To avoid any hard feelings, I’m taking you with me fishing. Get ready, we’re leaving tomorrow morning,» he said. «I’ll prove that the boat was the best purchase.»
«Mom, why do we need to go there, to the woods?»
«There are songs by the fire, with a guitar,» Grigory laughed, watching the child’s reaction. Nikita sighed.
«Baby, we don’t have to go anywhere. Grisha can manage just fine on his own,» Larisa looked at her son.
«I don’t mind, mom. It might be interesting. We’ve never been fishing,» Nikita said thoughtfully. Larisa was surprised, but decided not to refuse. She thought that this trip would put everything in its place. And so it happened.
Grigory brought the family to the lakeside. The place was picturesque, and the weather didn’t disappoint. However, Larisa didn’t like the company of her cohabitant’s friends, whom she knew only superficially. The group mainly consisted of men who drank a lot and used foul language. There were also two women: one was just like the men, and the other, Masha, was more modest. With her, Larisa communicated.
«I’m driving,» she said right away, refusing alcohol. Larisa didn’t drink either, and there were no other children besides Nikita at the lake.
At first, Larisa hoped that Nikita would be drawn into masculine activities: gathering firewood for the campfire, setting up tents. But as expected, her son was needed only by her. The others didn’t even notice him.
And Larisa saw that her son was completely uninterested. She herself was busy preparing «field» food from the supplies they had brought.
«Which one of them plays the guitar?» Nikita asked, watching the unfamiliar men knocking back «water.»
«I don’t know, son,» Larisa replied, realizing that no one had brought a stringed instrument, and Grigory had simply lied.
He lied about the boat too. During the «gathering» in nature, besides pouring alcohol into himself, Grigory did nothing else. His boat remained in the trunk of the car. As did the fishing gear. No one even mentioned fish.
«Larisa, enough with your ‘appendage’ sitting there, come and drink with us,» Grigory couldn’t stand it.
«No, thank you. We’ll probably go to sleep. It’s late,» she told Grigory. He began to berate her, insult her in front of his friends, making Larisa feel very bad.
She even wanted to call a taxi, but setting a point in a forest clearing was practically impossible, and the car simply wouldn’t have come for them.
«Larisa, go to the tent, and I’ll leave for the city early in the morning, I can take you with me,» said Masha. She was the only one in the group who remained sober.
«Thank you, that’s very timely,» Larisa smiled sadly.
Grigory didn’t come to the tent. He fell asleep right next to the campfire. In the morning, he couldn’t remember what had happened, but guessed that he simply overdid it. Not finding his cohabitant in the tent, he sobered up a bit and went home. But at the door, he was already greeted by a packed suitcase.
«Larisa! What do you think of yourself? A woman with a child on her neck! Neither hide nor hair…»
«But at least with an apartment,» she replied, cracking the door open. «And now you can live in your inflatable boat. And forget the way to us and our son,» Larisa said and slammed the door in his face.
Grigory stomped around and left. He had to return to his mother and share her living space. Later, he told everyone he knew that he lost several months supporting a single mother with a son. About the fact that he lived in her apartment, Grigory kept silent, just as about the fact that his boat was bought with money stolen from a schoolboy.
«Mom, will uncle Grisha come back?» the son asked, looking at his mother anxiously.
«No, Nikita, don’t worry. He won’t come back. By the way, I have a surprise for you…» she handed her son a certificate for several guitar lessons.
«That’s awesome! Mommy, you’re the best!» Nikita was thrilled.
After six months, they managed to save up for the guitar, and a few years later, Nikita entered a music college. He was predicted to have a great future. Larisa believed in her son and was proud of him. And she was also proud that she didn’t cling to false happiness and let Grigory go in all directions.
