“Mommy, we love you so much!” Alina leaned across the table and squeezed my hand. Her palm was cool, and her perfectly manicured nails dug into my skin a little harder than daughterly tenderness required. “We love you very much,” echoed Stas, her brother, lazily poking at his salad with a fork. “We worry about […]
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“Be patient, Mom, until Sveta pays off the whole mortgage,” Vladimir replied calmly. “Then I’ll divorce her and we’ll split the apartment evenly. She won’t be able to prove anything anyway. Everything’s set up the way it should be. Half will be mine.” Svetlana met Vladimir five years ago. They both had jobs, but no […]
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— Tomorrow I’m going to my mom’s dacha. For a week, maybe longer. And who’ll wash and iron your shirts—that’s not my problem. — What do you mean you’re leaving? I thought you’d be at home. You’d finally do a proper cleaning. — No, I’ve decided I’d rather rest at my mother’s. Sasha was sitting […]
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“Anechka. Why are you still in your pajamas? You should always look neat and elegant for your husband. Go wash up, and Vitya and I need to discuss something.” “Oh really! Stop telling me how to live—better hand over the keys to my apartment,” the daughter-in-law said, holding out her hand. Anya had never dreamed […]
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— “What do you mean, they’ll ‘stay here for a while’?” — “Well, since I’m not paying child support right now, my wife told me that for this month I have to take care of the kids myself.” — “Actually, I’m your wife.” — “Well, ex-wife—slip of the tongue. Why do you always nitpick?” — […]
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Lida, startled, dropped the glass jar she was washing. The jar shattered on the floor, scattering shards everywhere, and Zoya squealed, crouching down in fright. “Quiet, girls! No scandals in my house! You both carry my children, so carry them!” Grandma Manya had come in from the yard, catching the scene in full swing. “The […]
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“Misha, look!” I stopped at the gate, stunned. My husband stumbled over the threshold, shoulders bent beneath a sloshing bucket of fish. July’s morning chill gnawed at me, but the sight on the bench burned away the cold. “What is it?” Mikhail set the bucket down and came closer. On the rickety bench by the […]
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Inna stood at the window, watching raindrops creep down the glass in whimsical trails. Seventeen years—is that a lot or a little? She remembered every day they’d lived together, every anniversary, every glance. And now everything was collapsing like a house of cards. “We need to talk,” Alexey said, his voice oddly flat. She turned […]
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Marina was coming home, exhausted. It was an ordinary autumn evening—weekday, damp. In her bags: bread, milk, a pack of buckwheat, apples. In the stairwell, as always, it smelled of mildew and boiled cabbage, and the bulb above the second floor flickered in its nervous rhythm, like an alarm signal. Climbing to the third floor, […]
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An August evening wrapped the veranda in a warm haze. Nadya gave the table one last glance: the candles in their holders were still unlit, a bottle of Denis’s favorite wine sat beaded with condensation in an ice bucket, and on the platter lay his favorite snacks. A vase held fresh peonies, cut that morning […]
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