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Anastasia Mashkova
Love by sundial
Any use of the material in this book, in whole or in part, without the permission of the copyright holder is prohibited.
© Mashkova A.V., 2015
© AST Publishing House LLC, 2015
* * *Nadya Bessonova could not catch the eye of this fussy woman - the secretary of the magistrate. She kept rearranging the papers on the table: the right pile to the left, the left pile to the right. Finally she grabbed the required piece of paper.
– So, if your intention is unchanged, sign and wait for the decision. Meeting – August 8th. I guess you are not going to attend it? Is this already a formality for you? You will learn about the verdict by phone.
The secretary handed the application to Bessonov and drummed her nails on the cardboard folder with ribbons. The successive applicants for divorce were clearly distracting her from more pressing matters.
“Well, it doesn’t matter... We can be present,” Yegor mumbled.
Nadya noted that he had a strange way of pursing his lower lip like an old man. This made his face shrink pitifully.
The secretary snorted, barely glancing at Bessonov:
- It’s all the same to me, dear! But the defendant may not care!
And again Nadya did not have time to see her eyes. She said to the slicked top of her head:
- Yes! We sign. We won't go to court.
“Well, okay,” the secretary sighed with relief, raising her head. She looked carefully at Nadya and... winked encouragingly. She turned out to have brown eyes with a haze. Tired and sad.
Egor, having written a squiggle under the document, muttered something and left the office. Nadya tried it on for a long time before signing the agreement. The lines danced before my eyes. The naughty hand had to be squeezed until my fingers hurt.
“Yes, I am responsible for everything. I’m responsible... I’m responsible,” flashed through my head, and Nadya was finally able to print out her last name. All! There is no longer any need to resist the onslaught of the plaintiff. What a nasty word. Worse than the phrase " ex-husband". However, did she really know this man with a wrinkled, tense face as her husband? Did you know for sixteen years? Darkness, darkness... Mom is probably right in giving mystical definitions to everything that happens. Everyone around Nadia is right, reasonable, condescending. If only it made it easier for her.
Everything will pass in the cold winter! You are so beautiful that you still have to thank your ... goblin for the divorce. Find a worthy one now,” the secretary said angrily and weightily.
Nadya smiled at her. How to understand who is worthwhile and who is not? That’s what Nadya’s husband was like—real, reliable. And this is how it turned out. And we still have to live until winter. Survive endless six months...
Yegor was smoking on the porch. “Lord, he’s started to stoop!” – Nadya was amazed at the new discovery. I probably need to say something finally, but this lump that appeared in my throat could not be pushed through, it was suffocating.
- Nadezhda, if you want, I’ll give you a ride! And Masha?! – Yegor shouted.
“Masha is not at home, she’s at a friend’s dacha,” Nadya said, clearing her throat hoarsely. And suddenly, raising her head, she resolutely approached... her husband.
“This is so cruel and wrong that I can’t even imagine how you will feel when you come to your senses,” she said quietly.
“Are you threatening me again?” – Yegor said defiantly, throwing the cigarette butt into the trash can.
- Not that, Egor! Everything is wrong...
She couldn’t hold back any longer and ran to the metro. Tears burned my eyes, cheeks, mouth.
Yegor Bessonov was once a romantic hero for her, a kind of knight without fear or reproach. Sincere, loyal, purposeful, educated, from an intelligent Moscow family, but most importantly – loving. Seemed to endlessly love his Hope.
They met, however, under circumstances that were not at all romantic - near the dentist’s office. Nadya’s childhood friend Valyushka trained as a dentist and worked in a private clinic. That day, Nadya picked up a friend at the end of her shift to go to the movies together. She was waiting for Valya in the hall, leafing through a magazine.
The door swung open and a strong young brown-haired man with a martyr's pale face came out of the office. Valyushka jumped out after him.
- Lie down on the sofa! Now let go ... What do you not know about your reaction to painkillers? - the friend, who herself seemed whiter than a Whatman paper, fussed around the patient.
– I don’t remember the last time I had my teeth treated. If not for this wisdom tooth, oh, the patient grimaced.
- Well, isn't it better? Antihistamine drug now, here now will help. How?! No suffocation? Valyushka panicked.
“Yes, it seems to have eased,” the guy nodded. - Don't worry, everything seems fine.
Valya went up to Nadezhda and whispered, splashing with saliva:
- Guard him, what if? And the administrator, as luck would have it, got sick! All I needed was allergies! Limonova will kill me if she finds out. All right, I went to get ready.
And she, smiling guiltily at the patient, darted into the office.
“Let me pour you some water,” Nadya suggested, looking with sympathy at the handsome sufferer.
“Thank you,” he nodded.
Nadya rushed into the kitchenette. The girl belonged at the clinic. Firstly, she often came to see her friend, and secondly, she helped the head physician Limonova in protecting property during a divorce. Or rather, it was not Nadya who helped, but her boss, in whose law office Nadya worked as an assistant lawyer. But the main thing is that everyone was happy: the boss with the money client, the head physician Limonov with the reclaimed apartment at the River Station.
- It's probably your hands doing something with the water. No? - Valyushkin's patient said with a smile, taking a few sips.
His cheeks turned pink. Brown eyes beamed with delight. He openly admired the girl he liked. Nadya was embarrassed.
“Thank God the medicine worked for you,” she said, looking away.
- Yeah. Dying after meeting the good fairy is not the best ending for a fairy tale. What is your name?
- Nadezhda.
- And I'm Yegor.
Since that day they have not parted.
Every day after work, Yegor called for Nadia at her office on the Arbat. And they walked, hand in hand, wherever their eyes looked: through confused dark courtyards, along streets lit with shop windows of lights, along bridges and embankments, freezing under the biting October wind.
And once they climbed into some thicket on the Lenin Hills. Egor, paving the way along a steep slope, dragged Nadya up and, laughing, offered to spend the night or simply stay here to live in a dugout or hut made of branches. They still can’t find the road in pitch darkness. And Nadya, laughing, took his words almost seriously, thinking about the hut and paradise from the stupid saying.
“How did I live without him? How?! And did she live?..”
They were completely chilled while getting to his house on Universitetsky Avenue.
And then Nadezhda ineptly responded to the kisses and impatient touches of a man who turned out to be unexpectedly... heavy, domineering and alien. She suddenly came to her senses, placed her hands on his shoulders, trying to take a deep breath and free herself from the hot grip.
- No, wait…
Yegor pulled away and looked with bewilderment and fear.
- Is there something wrong? Unpleasant?
- No no. Fine. I can't. I don’t know what’s best... - Nadya flushed, rushed about, groping for a life-saving blanket.
Yegor grabbed her hand and threw away the blanket. Now there was only tenderness in his eyes. And care.
- Don't be afraid. I will never hurt you. Never in my life.
And Nadya trusted him. A month later, Yegor moved in with her.
“This is not very decent and does not characterize your newly-made darling and her mother from the best side,” the stern mother admonished her son.
“U-ti-ti, how old-fashioned we are,” retorted Nadya’s mother, whom her daughter initiated into all the vicissitudes of relations with the Besson family. - Is it better to hide in the corners? Let Yegor delve into the farm and take responsibility. Apparently, he will be a good son-in-law,” the future mother-in-law gave her verdict.
- Why did you decide that we would get married? – Nadezhda couldn’t believe her luck.
– I haven’t decided anything. I see - that's all. This is love, Nadine. Love! – Mom sighed with a sad smile.
Having reached the metro, Nadya suddenly thought with horror how she would enter her empty huge apartment, which Yegor had so nobly donated ex-wife before the divorce. He himself decided to enjoy peace and solitude in a two-room apartment near Moscow, which he inherited from his grandmother.
“Masha will arrive only tomorrow... No, I can’t go home! Well, then, to mom. She’s waiting, of course.”
Nadya went down to the subway. At Kievskaya, as always, there was pandemonium. An icebreaker had to make its way to the Filevskaya branch. In front of the whirlpool of people at the escalator, Nadia found herself inside a bunch of gypsies. A skinny young woman with a child in her arms, a heavy mustachioed woman with a heavy look, two ageless dark-skinned women in shiny scarves. Nadia clutched the bag to her chest and lowered her eyes. Just don't answer them, just don't look. It was on this damn “Kievskaya” that gypsies with their fortune telling robbed her a long time ago. They intimidated me, forced me to take out my wallet in an unimaginable way, and stole my entire salary. As if they knew that Nadia was traveling with her first salary in her life!
Why does this always happen to her? They stole my salary, my position, my profession, and now my husband... Of course, it’s my own fault. How much fun it is to live and think that you yourself are to blame for all the troubles, that you are “unscrupulous, ugly, mumbled”! Nadya remembered the face of her late mother-in-law, who tried every day to “educate” her son about her daughter-in-law. But then Yegor loved his wife and defended ...
- Drive away sadness! Don't look for happiness in the crowd. Far from here, in the forest and by the river you will find him. Go away! - A mustachioed old gypsy woman mumbled into her ear.
Nadia shuddered and rushed, finally, up the escalator. Sweat poured down my neck. Breaking out of the subway, she tried to catch her breath. A sticky July haze hung over the square. The nearby shopping center beckoned with the cool air conditioning, but Nadya could not find herself in an indifferent crowd: laughing, chatting, chewing, idle. She wanted to be left alone with her grief. And with the closest person who could share this grief. The light turned green, and Nadya ran along the zebra crossing to her mother’s house.
The phone beeped in my bag.
- Egor?! - Nadia grabbed the pipe, as if drowning at a straw.
No, it was Valyushka.
- How are you that you don’t call?! How did everything go? ' said her best friend.
- Terrible and fast. But now I have a rough idea of how the guillotine works. Gristle - and life is over.
- Lord, Nagy... Where are you? You can’t be alone,” sensitive Valya sobbed.
- I'm going to see my mother.
- I’ll come to you immediately! Let's cry, let's talk...
- Thank you, Valush. I don't know... What about your job?
- Never mind! The shift is already over. I spent half a day in anguish - two fillings and one cleaning. An empty summer, you know, - the dentist Valentina Kurochkina sighed.
“No, today I’ll be alone with my mother,” Nadezhda decided. - And ... I love you, Valyusha.
- And I? And I'm like you...
Nadezhda didn’t listen to the end and slammed the phone so as not to cry out loud in the middle of the street.
"No no! Do not remember, do not torture yourself. This is true. It can’t be otherwise,” she repeated to herself like a spell. The worst thing happened, and, strangely, she even felt better. Empty, hopeless, but... easy. Now she will be in her parents' house nearby...
Anastasia Mashkova
Love by sundial
Any use of the material in this book, in whole or in part, without the permission of the copyright holder is prohibited.
© Mashkova A.V., 2015
© AST Publishing House LLC, 2015
* * *Nadya Bessonova could not catch the eye of this fussy woman - the secretary of the magistrate. She kept rearranging the papers on the table: the right pile to the left, the left pile to the right. Finally she grabbed the required piece of paper.
– So, if your intention is unchanged, sign and wait for the decision. Meeting – August 8th. I guess you are not going to attend it? Is this already a formality for you? You will learn about the verdict by phone.
The secretary handed the application to Bessonov and drummed her nails on the cardboard folder with ribbons. The successive applicants for divorce were clearly distracting her from more pressing matters.
“Well, it doesn’t matter... We can be present,” Yegor mumbled.
Nadya noted that he had a strange way of pursing his lower lip like an old man. This made his face shrink pitifully.
The secretary snorted, barely glancing at Bessonov:
- It’s all the same to me, dear! But the defendant may not care!
And again Nadya did not have time to see her eyes. She said to the slicked top of her head:
- Yes! We sign. We won't go to court.
“Well, okay,” the secretary sighed with relief, raising her head. She looked carefully at Nadya and... winked encouragingly. She turned out to have brown eyes with a haze. Tired and sad.
Egor, having written a squiggle under the document, muttered something and left the office. Nadya tried it on for a long time before signing the agreement. The lines danced before my eyes. The naughty hand had to be squeezed until my fingers hurt.
“Yes, I am responsible for everything. I’m responsible... I’m responsible,” flashed through my head, and Nadya was finally able to print out her last name. All! There is no longer any need to resist the onslaught of the plaintiff. What a nasty word. Worse than the phrase “ex-husband.” However, did she really know this man with a wrinkled, tense face as her husband? Knew for sixteen years? Darkness, darkness... Mom is probably right in giving mystical definitions to everything that happens. Everyone around Nadya is right, reasonable, and forgiving. If only it would make her feel better.
Everything will pass in the cold winter! You are so beautiful that you still have to thank your ... goblin for the divorce. Find a worthy one now,” the secretary said angrily and weightily.
Nadya smiled at her. How to understand who is worthwhile and who is not? That’s what Nadya’s husband was like—real, reliable. And this is how it turned out. And we still have to live until winter. Survive endless six months...
Yegor was smoking on the porch. “Lord, he’s started to stoop!” – Nadya was amazed at the new discovery. I probably need to say something finally, but this lump that appeared in my throat could not be pushed through, it was suffocating.
- Nadezhda, if you want, I’ll give you a ride! And Masha?! – Yegor shouted.
“Masha is not at home, she’s at a friend’s dacha,” Nadya said, clearing her throat hoarsely. And suddenly, raising her head, she resolutely approached... her husband.
“This is so cruel and wrong that I can’t even imagine how you will feel when you come to your senses,” she said quietly.
“Are you threatening me again?” – Yegor said defiantly, throwing the cigarette butt into the trash can.
- Not that, Egor! Everything is wrong...
She couldn’t hold back any longer and ran to the metro. Tears burned my eyes, cheeks, mouth.
Yegor Bessonov was once a romantic hero for her, a kind of knight without fear or reproach. Sincere, loyal, purposeful, educated, from an intelligent Moscow family, but most importantly – loving. Seemed to endlessly love his Hope.
They met, however, under circumstances that were not at all romantic - near the dentist’s office. Nadya’s childhood friend Valyushka trained as a dentist and worked in a private clinic. That day, Nadya picked up a friend at the end of her shift to go to the movies together. She was waiting for Valya in the hall, leafing through a magazine.
The door swung open and a strong young brown-haired man with a martyr's pale face came out of the office. Valyushka jumped out after him.
- Lie down on the sofa! Now let go ... What do you not know about your reaction to painkillers? - the friend, who herself seemed whiter than a Whatman paper, fussed around the patient.
– I don’t remember the last time I had my teeth treated. If not for this wisdom tooth, oh, the patient grimaced.
- Well, isn't it better? Antihistamine drug now, here now will help. How?! No suffocation? Valyushka panicked.
“Yes, it seems to have eased,” the guy nodded. - Don't worry, everything seems fine.
Valya went up to Nadezhda and whispered, splashing with saliva:
- Guard him, what if? And the administrator, as luck would have it, got sick! All I needed was allergies! Limonova will kill me if she finds out. All right, I went to get ready.
And she, smiling guiltily at the patient, darted into the office.
“Let me pour you some water,” Nadya suggested, looking with sympathy at the handsome sufferer.
“Thank you,” he nodded.
Nadya rushed into the kitchenette. The girl belonged at the clinic. Firstly, she often came to see her friend, and secondly, she helped the head physician Limonova in protecting property during a divorce. Or rather, it was not Nadya who helped, but her boss, in whose law office Nadya worked as an assistant lawyer. But the main thing is that everyone was happy: the boss with the money client, the head physician Limonov with the reclaimed apartment at the River Station.
- It's probably your hands doing something with the water. No? - Valyushkin's patient said with a smile, taking a few sips.
His cheeks turned pink. Brown eyes beamed with delight. He openly admired the girl he liked. Nadya was embarrassed.
“Thank God the medicine worked for you,” she said, looking away.
- Yeah. Dying after meeting the good fairy is not the best ending for a fairy tale. What is your name?
- Nadezhda.
- And I'm Yegor.
Since that day they have not parted.
Every day after work, Yegor called for Nadia at her office on the Arbat. And they walked, hand in hand, wherever their eyes looked: through confused dark courtyards, along streets lit with shop windows of lights, along bridges and embankments, freezing under the biting October wind.
And once they climbed into some thicket on the Lenin Hills. Egor, paving the way along a steep slope, dragged Nadya up and, laughing, offered to spend the night or simply stay here to live in a dugout or hut made of branches. They still can’t find the road in pitch darkness. And Nadya, laughing, took his words almost seriously, thinking about the hut and paradise from the stupid saying.
“How did I live without him? How?! And did she live?..”
They were completely chilled while getting to his house on Universitetsky Avenue.
And then Nadezhda ineptly responded to the kisses and impatient touches of a man who turned out to be unexpectedly... heavy, domineering and alien. She suddenly came to her senses, placed her hands on his shoulders, trying to take a deep breath and free herself from the hot grip.
- No, wait…
Yegor pulled away and looked with bewilderment and fear.
- Is there something wrong? Unpleasant?
- No no. Fine. I can't. I don’t know what’s best... - Nadya flushed, rushed about, groping for a life-saving blanket.
Yegor grabbed her hand and threw away the blanket. Now there was only tenderness in his eyes. And care.
- Don't be afraid. I will never hurt you. Never in my life.
And Nadya trusted him. A month later, Yegor moved in with her.
“This is not very decent and does not characterize your newly-made darling and her mother from the best side,” the stern mother admonished her son.
“U-ti-ti, how old-fashioned we are,” retorted Nadya’s mother, whom her daughter initiated into all the vicissitudes of relations with the Besson family. - Is it better to hide in the corners? Let Yegor delve into the farm and take responsibility. Apparently, he will be a good son-in-law,” the future mother-in-law gave her verdict.
- Why did you decide that we would get married? – Nadezhda couldn’t believe her luck.
– I haven’t decided anything. I see - that's all. This is love, Nadine. Love! – Mom sighed with a sad smile.
Having reached the metro, Nadya suddenly thought with horror how she would enter her empty huge apartment, which Yegor had so nobly granted to his ex-wife before the divorce. He himself decided to enjoy peace and solitude in a two-room apartment near Moscow, which he inherited from his grandmother.
“Masha will arrive only tomorrow... No, I can’t go home! Well, then, to mom. She’s waiting, of course.”
Nadya went down to the subway. At Kievskaya, as always, there was pandemonium. An icebreaker had to make its way to the Filevskaya branch. In front of the whirlpool of people at the escalator, Nadia found herself inside a bunch of gypsies. A skinny young woman with a child in her arms, a heavy mustachioed woman with a heavy look, two ageless dark-skinned women in shiny scarves. Nadia clutched the bag to her chest and lowered her eyes. Just don't answer them, just don't look. It was on this damn “Kievskaya” that gypsies with their fortune telling robbed her a long time ago. They intimidated me, forced me to take out my wallet in an unimaginable way, and stole my entire salary. As if they knew that Nadia was traveling with her first salary in her life!
Anastasia Mashkova
Love by sundial
Any use of the material in this book, in whole or in part, without the permission of the copyright holder is prohibited.
© Mashkova A.V., 2015
© AST Publishing House LLC, 2015
* * *Nadya Bessonova could not catch the eye of this fussy woman - the secretary of the magistrate. She kept rearranging the papers on the table: the right pile to the left, the left pile to the right. Finally she grabbed the required piece of paper.
– So, if your intention is unchanged, sign and wait for the decision. Meeting – August 8th. I guess you are not going to attend it? Is this already a formality for you? You will learn about the verdict by phone.
The secretary handed the application to Bessonov and drummed her nails on the cardboard folder with ribbons. The successive applicants for divorce were clearly distracting her from more pressing matters.
“Well, it doesn’t matter... We can be present,” Yegor mumbled.
Nadya noted that he had a strange way of pursing his lower lip like an old man. This made his face shrink pitifully.
The secretary snorted, barely glancing at Bessonov:
- It’s all the same to me, dear! But the defendant may not care!
And again Nadya did not have time to see her eyes. She said to the slicked top of her head:
- Yes! We sign. We won't go to court.
“Well, okay,” the secretary sighed with relief, raising her head. She looked carefully at Nadya and... winked encouragingly. She turned out to have brown eyes with a haze. Tired and sad.
Egor, having written a squiggle under the document, muttered something and left the office. Nadya tried it on for a long time before signing the agreement. The lines danced before my eyes. The naughty hand had to be squeezed until my fingers hurt.
“Yes, I am responsible for everything. I’m responsible... I’m responsible,” flashed through my head, and Nadya was finally able to print out her last name. All! There is no longer any need to resist the onslaught of the plaintiff. What a nasty word. Worse than the phrase “ex-husband.” However, did she really know this man with a wrinkled, tense face as her husband? Knew for sixteen years? Darkness, darkness... Mom is probably right in giving mystical definitions to everything that happens. Everyone around Nadya is right, reasonable, and forgiving. If only it would make her feel better.
Everything will pass in the cold winter! You are so beautiful that you still have to thank your ... goblin for the divorce. Find a worthy one now,” the secretary said angrily and weightily.
Nadya smiled at her. How to understand who is worthwhile and who is not? That’s what Nadya’s husband was like—real, reliable. And this is how it turned out. And we still have to live until winter. Survive endless six months...
Yegor was smoking on the porch. “Lord, he’s started to stoop!” – Nadya was amazed at the new discovery. I probably need to say something finally, but this lump that appeared in my throat could not be pushed through, it was suffocating.
- Nadezhda, if you want, I’ll give you a ride! And Masha?! – Yegor shouted.
“Masha is not at home, she’s at a friend’s dacha,” Nadya said, clearing her throat hoarsely. And suddenly, raising her head, she resolutely approached... her husband.
“This is so cruel and wrong that I can’t even imagine how you will feel when you come to your senses,” she said quietly.
“Are you threatening me again?” – Yegor said defiantly, throwing the cigarette butt into the trash can.
- Not that, Egor! Everything is wrong...
She couldn’t hold back any longer and ran to the metro. Tears burned my eyes, cheeks, mouth.
Yegor Bessonov was once a romantic hero for her, a kind of knight without fear or reproach. Sincere, loyal, purposeful, educated, from an intelligent Moscow family, but most importantly – loving. Seemed to endlessly love his Hope.
They met, however, under circumstances that were not at all romantic - near the dentist’s office. Nadya’s childhood friend Valyushka trained as a dentist and worked in a private clinic. That day, Nadya picked up a friend at the end of her shift to go to the movies together. She was waiting for Valya in the hall, leafing through a magazine.
The door swung open and a strong young brown-haired man with a martyr's pale face came out of the office. Valyushka jumped out after him.
- Lie down on the sofa! Now let go ... What do you not know about your reaction to painkillers? - the friend, who herself seemed whiter than a Whatman paper, fussed around the patient.
– I don’t remember the last time I had my teeth treated. If not for this wisdom tooth, oh, the patient grimaced.
- Well, isn't it better? Antihistamine drug now, here now will help. How?! No suffocation? Valyushka panicked.
“Yes, it seems to have eased,” the guy nodded. - Don't worry, everything seems fine.
Valya went up to Nadezhda and whispered, splashing with saliva:
- Guard him, what if? And the administrator, as luck would have it, got sick! All I needed was allergies! Limonova will kill me if she finds out. All right, I went to get ready.
And she, smiling guiltily at the patient, darted into the office.
“Let me pour you some water,” Nadya suggested, looking with sympathy at the handsome sufferer.
“Thank you,” he nodded.
Nadya rushed into the kitchenette. The girl belonged at the clinic. Firstly, she often came to see her friend, and secondly, she helped the head physician Limonova in protecting property during a divorce. Or rather, it was not Nadya who helped, but her boss, in whose law office Nadya worked as an assistant lawyer. But the main thing is that everyone was happy: the boss with the money client, the head physician Limonov with the reclaimed apartment at the River Station.
- It's probably your hands doing something with the water. No? - Valyushkin's patient said with a smile, taking a few sips.
His cheeks turned pink. Brown eyes beamed with delight. He openly admired the girl he liked. Nadya was embarrassed.
“Thank God the medicine worked for you,” she said, looking away.
- Yeah. Dying after meeting the good fairy is not the best ending for a fairy tale. What is your name?
- Nadezhda.
- And I'm Yegor.
Since that day they have not parted.
Every day after work, Yegor called for Nadia at her office on the Arbat. And they walked, hand in hand, wherever their eyes looked: through confused dark courtyards, along streets lit with shop windows of lights, along bridges and embankments, freezing under the biting October wind.
And once they climbed into some thicket on the Lenin Hills. Egor, paving the way along a steep slope, dragged Nadya up and, laughing, offered to spend the night or simply stay here to live in a dugout or hut made of branches. They still can’t find the road in pitch darkness. And Nadya, laughing, took his words almost seriously, thinking about the hut and paradise from the stupid saying.
“How did I live without him? How?! And did she live?..”
They were completely chilled while getting to his house on Universitetsky Avenue.
And then Nadezhda ineptly responded to the kisses and impatient touches of a man who turned out to be unexpectedly... heavy, domineering and alien. She suddenly came to her senses, placed her hands on his shoulders, trying to take a deep breath and free herself from the hot grip.
|
Series: "I love, I wait, I believe. Novels by Anastasia Mashkova" Nadezhda Bessonova, the heroine of the novel, lived, as it seemed to her, a very prosperous, stable family life. Until she found out that her beloved husband, for whom she had sacrificed so much, was cheating on her with best friend. In an instant, she lost her husband, girlfriend and job. But to start new story, she needs to get rid of the old one, and the heroine decides to leave the city for Mikhailovskoye, to be with her relatives. And there unexpected adventures and new encounters await her that will change her life... Publisher: "AST" (2015)
ISBN: 978-5-17-090914-8 In My-shop |
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Anastasia Mashkova
Love by sundial
Any use of the material in this book, in whole or in part, without the permission of the copyright holder is prohibited.
© Mashkova A.V., 2015
© AST Publishing House LLC, 2015
* * *
Nadya Bessonova could not catch the eye of this fussy woman - the secretary of the magistrate. She kept rearranging the papers on the table: the right pile to the left, the left pile to the right. Finally she grabbed the required piece of paper.
– So, if your intention is unchanged, sign and wait for the decision. Meeting – August 8th. I guess you are not going to attend it? Is this already a formality for you? You will learn about the verdict by phone.
The secretary handed the application to Bessonov and drummed her nails on the cardboard folder with ribbons. The successive applicants for divorce were clearly distracting her from more pressing matters.
“Well, it doesn’t matter... We can be present,” Yegor mumbled.
Nadya noted that he had a strange way of pursing his lower lip like an old man. This made his face shrink pitifully.
The secretary snorted, barely glancing at Bessonov:
- It’s all the same to me, dear! But the defendant may not care!
And again Nadya did not have time to see her eyes. She said to the slicked top of her head:
- Yes! We sign. We won't go to court.
“Well, okay,” the secretary sighed with relief, raising her head. She looked carefully at Nadya and... winked encouragingly. She turned out to have brown eyes with a haze. Tired and sad.
Egor, having written a squiggle under the document, muttered something and left the office. Nadya tried it on for a long time before signing the agreement. The lines danced before my eyes. The naughty hand had to be squeezed until my fingers hurt.
“Yes, I am responsible for everything. I’m responsible... I’m responsible,” flashed through my head, and Nadya was finally able to print out her last name. All! There is no longer any need to resist the onslaught of the plaintiff. What a nasty word. Worse than the phrase “ex-husband.” However, did she really know this man with a wrinkled, tense face as her husband? Knew for sixteen years? Darkness, darkness... Mom is probably right in giving mystical definitions to everything that happens. Everyone around Nadya is right, reasonable, and forgiving. If only it would make her feel better.
Everything will pass in the cold winter! You are so beautiful that you still have to thank your ... goblin for the divorce. Find a worthy one now,” the secretary said angrily and weightily.
Nadya smiled at her. How to understand who is worthwhile and who is not? That’s what Nadya’s husband was like—real, reliable. And this is how it turned out. And we still have to live until winter. Survive endless six months...
Yegor was smoking on the porch. “Lord, he’s started to stoop!” – Nadya was amazed at the new discovery. I probably need to say something finally, but this lump that appeared in my throat could not be pushed through, it was suffocating.
- Nadezhda, if you want, I’ll give you a ride! And Masha?! – Yegor shouted.
“Masha is not at home, she’s at a friend’s dacha,” Nadya said, clearing her throat hoarsely. And suddenly, raising her head, she resolutely approached... her husband.
“This is so cruel and wrong that I can’t even imagine how you will feel when you come to your senses,” she said quietly.
“Are you threatening me again?” – Yegor said defiantly, throwing the cigarette butt into the trash can.
- Not that, Egor! Everything is wrong...
She couldn’t hold back any longer and ran to the metro. Tears burned my eyes, cheeks, mouth.
Yegor Bessonov was once a romantic hero for her, a kind of knight without fear or reproach. Sincere, loyal, purposeful, educated, from an intelligent Moscow family, but most importantly – loving. Seemed to endlessly love his Hope.
They met, however, under circumstances that were not at all romantic - near the dentist’s office. Nadya’s childhood friend Valyushka trained as a dentist and worked in a private clinic. That day, Nadya picked up a friend at the end of her shift to go to the movies together. She was waiting for Valya in the hall, leafing through a magazine.
The door swung open and a strong young brown-haired man with a martyr's pale face came out of the office. Valyushka jumped out after him.
- Lie down on the sofa! Now let go ... What do you not know about your reaction to painkillers? - the friend, who herself seemed whiter than a Whatman paper, fussed around the patient.
– I don’t remember the last time I had my teeth treated. If not for this wisdom tooth, oh, the patient grimaced.
- Well, isn't it better? Antihistamine drug now, here now will help. How?! No suffocation? Valyushka panicked.
“Yes, it seems to have eased,” the guy nodded. - Don't worry, everything seems fine.
Valya went up to Nadezhda and whispered, splashing with saliva:
- Guard him, what if? And the administrator, as luck would have it, got sick! All I needed was allergies! Limonova will kill me if she finds out. All right, I went to get ready.
And she, smiling guiltily at the patient, darted into the office.
“Let me pour you some water,” Nadya suggested, looking with sympathy at the handsome sufferer.
“Thank you,” he nodded.
Nadya rushed into the kitchenette. The girl belonged at the clinic. Firstly, she often came to see her friend, and secondly, she helped the head physician Limonova in protecting property during a divorce. Or rather, it was not Nadya who helped, but her boss, in whose law office Nadya worked as an assistant lawyer. But the main thing is that everyone was happy: the boss with the money client, the head physician Limonov with the reclaimed apartment at the River Station.
- It's probably your hands doing something with the water. No? - Valyushkin's patient said with a smile, taking a few sips.
His cheeks turned pink. Brown eyes beamed with delight. He openly admired the girl he liked. Nadya was embarrassed.
“Thank God the medicine worked for you,” she said, looking away.
- Yeah. Dying after meeting the good fairy is not the best ending for a fairy tale. What is your name?
- Nadezhda.
- And I'm Yegor.
Since that day they have not parted.
Every day after work, Yegor called for Nadia at her office on the Arbat. And they walked, hand in hand, wherever their eyes looked: through confused dark courtyards, along streets lit with shop windows of lights, along bridges and embankments, freezing under the biting October wind.
And once they climbed into some thicket on the Lenin Hills. Egor, paving the way along a steep slope, dragged Nadya up and, laughing, offered to spend the night or simply stay here to live in a dugout or hut made of branches. They still can’t find the road in pitch darkness. And Nadya, laughing, took his words almost seriously, thinking about the hut and paradise from the stupid saying.
“How did I live without him? How?! And did she live?..”
They were completely chilled while getting to his house on Universitetsky Avenue.
And then Nadezhda ineptly responded to the kisses and impatient touches of a man who turned out to be unexpectedly... heavy, domineering and alien. She suddenly came to her senses, placed her hands on his shoulders, trying to take a deep breath and free herself from the hot grip.
- No, wait…
Yegor pulled away and looked with bewilderment and fear.
- Is there something wrong? Unpleasant?
- No no. Fine. I can't. I don’t know what’s best... - Nadya flushed, rushed about, groping for a life-saving blanket.
Yegor grabbed her hand and threw away the blanket. Now there was only tenderness in his eyes. And care.
- Don't be afraid. I will never hurt you. Never in my life.
And Nadya trusted him. A month later, Yegor moved in with her.
“This is not very decent and does not characterize your newly-made darling and her mother from the best side,” the stern mother admonished her son.
“U-ti-ti, how old-fashioned we are,” retorted Nadya’s mother, whom her daughter initiated into all the vicissitudes of relations with the Besson family. - Is it better to hide in the corners? Let Yegor delve into the farm and take responsibility. Apparently, he will be a good son-in-law,” the future mother-in-law gave her verdict.
- Why did you decide that we would get married? – Nadezhda couldn’t believe her luck.
– I haven’t decided anything. I see - that's all. This is love, Nadine. Love! – Mom sighed with a sad smile.
Having reached the metro, Nadya suddenly thought with horror how she would enter her empty huge apartment, which Yegor had so nobly granted to his ex-wife before the divorce. He himself decided to enjoy peace and solitude in a two-room apartment near Moscow, which he inherited from his grandmother.
“Masha will arrive only tomorrow... No, I can’t go home! Well, then, to mom. She’s waiting, of course.”
Nadya went down to the subway. At Kievskaya, as always, there was pandemonium. An icebreaker had to make its way to the Filevskaya branch. In front of the whirlpool of people at the escalator, Nadia found herself inside a bunch of gypsies. A skinny young woman with a child in her arms, a heavy mustachioed woman with a heavy look, two ageless dark-skinned women in shiny scarves. Nadia clutched the bag to her chest and lowered her eyes. Just don't answer them, just don't look. It was on this damn “Kievskaya” that gypsies with their fortune telling robbed her a long time ago. They intimidated me, forced me to take out my wallet in an unimaginable way, and stole my entire salary. As if they knew that Nadia was traveling with her first salary in her life!
Why does this always happen to her? They stole my salary, my position, my profession, and now my husband... Of course, it’s my own fault. How much fun it is to live and think that you yourself are to blame for all the troubles, that you are “unscrupulous, ugly, mumbled”! Nadya remembered the face of her late mother-in-law, who tried every day to “educate” her son about her daughter-in-law. But then Yegor loved his wife and defended ...
- Drive away sadness! Don't look for happiness in the crowd. Far from here, in the forest and by the river you will find him. Go away! - A mustachioed old gypsy woman mumbled into her ear.
Nadia shuddered and rushed, finally, up the escalator. Sweat poured down my neck. Breaking out of the subway, she tried to catch her breath. A sticky July haze hung over the square. The nearby shopping center beckoned with the cool air conditioning, but Nadya could not find herself in an indifferent crowd: laughing, chatting, chewing, idle. She wanted to be left alone with her grief. And with the closest person who could share this grief. The light turned green, and Nadya ran along the zebra crossing to her mother’s house.
The phone beeped in my bag.
- Egor?! - Nadia grabbed the pipe, as if drowning at a straw.
No, it was Valyushka.
- How are you that you don’t call?! How did everything go? ' said her best friend.
- Terrible and fast. But now I have a rough idea of how the guillotine works. Gristle - and life is over.
- Lord, Nagy... Where are you? You can’t be alone,” sensitive Valya sobbed.
- I'm going to see my mother.
- I’ll come to you immediately! Let's cry, let's talk...
- Thank you, Valush. I don't know... What about your job?
- Never mind! The shift is already over. I spent half a day in anguish - two fillings and one cleaning. An empty summer, you know, - the dentist Valentina Kurochkina sighed.
“No, today I’ll be alone with my mother,” Nadezhda decided. - And ... I love you, Valyusha.
- And I? And I'm like you...
Nadezhda didn’t listen to the end and slammed the phone so as not to cry out loud in the middle of the street.
"No no! Don't remember, don't torture yourself. This is true. It can’t be otherwise,” she repeated to herself like a mantra. The worst thing happened, and, strangely, she even felt better. Empty, hopeless, but... easy. Now she will be in her parents' house next to her mother, and the pain and confusion will go away.
Everyone called Nadya’s mother Galina Viktorovna Koltsova, a top-class cook, Galka the Holiday. Noisy, smiling, hospitable, she woke up, purring a bravura tune, easily organized household chores and flew off to work in the Moscow “belly shop”. Galina Viktorovna did not call her food processing plant at a large enterprise anything else. Having stood at the “food open-hearth” for the allotted hours, she ran home, loaded with containers, shoved the canteen food into the household and sat down in front of the telephone. She didn’t focus too much on raising her beloved daughter – she grew up quiet and obedient. The flexible, silent husband was also content with a minimum of attention from his missus. Newspapers and television were enough for him. The family, led by the intrepid and dexterous hand of the mistress, seemed prosperous and strong. Everything collapsed overnight.
That night Nadya woke up from her mother’s sobs and a strange howl. Barefoot, in a nightgown, the girl ran out into the corridor. The lights were on in the parents' room and in the kitchen. There was a pungent smell of heart drops. The father, holding his mother by the hair, shook her and let out wild screams.
- Have pity on your daughter, Kolya! – Galina Viktorovna shouted when she saw the savior Nadya.
- Ooh, another one! The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. All the women in your family are like that!
- Daddy, don't! Let mommy, daddy! – Nadya shouted, rushing to her father, who again began to pull her mother by the hair.
The father pushed Nadya away, but released his wife.
Falling onto the pillow, Nikolai Andreevich began to sob. Galina Viktorovna, scared half to death, also cried.
Nadya sat with her mother in the kitchen until the morning. The suspicions of the fourteen-year-old daughter were confirmed. Mother had hobbies on the side.
“Daughter, this is all such nonsense,” Galina Viktorovna justified herself, swallowing another portion of Corvalol. - I love Kolya, your dad, you know!
- Why are you walking? – the daughter asked gloomily.
- So I don’t go for walks! So, let's giggle and stroll to the cinema. – The mother’s wide eyes sparkled with the tears of an innocent baby.
“Yeah, I found a fool, so I believed you,” the uncompromising Nadya nodded her head.
- Oh, useless conversation, daughter. It's hard for you to understand all this. Life... it is so wingless and difficult. - Mom sobbed. – Do you know what I was like when I got married?! A Hollywood star, not a girl. You are such a beauty to me. What about the breed? This is how we become a breed! Look at your ankles, profile, shoulders. And the eyes?! How about becoming a prince?!
- Mom, why are you talking nonsense? – Nadya was embarrassed.
- No, daughter. A different fate was prepared for us, not the cook’s.
- Mommy, you are not a cook. You are a chef. She would be the richest and most respected person in Europe.
“So we are not in Europe, in the Soviet Union,” Galina Viktorovna sighed.
Nadyusha clung to her. How she loved her resilient, beautiful mother! Why was she so unhappy?
- Melancholy, Nagy. Longing,” my mother sobbed one last time, wiped her eyes and, as if nothing had happened, smiled her victorious smile. - And we, the longing dog, along the ridge! And everything will go on as before, calmly and quietly. You will become our lawyer. Yes, only a lawyer. Documents in folders, stylish haircut, heels, smart conversations. And money. And my husband is a prosecutor. Just like that!
Galina Viktorovna paced around the kitchen in pajamas, sticking out her chest and drawing in her stomach. Her honey eyes glowed with their usual courage. Nadya had the same light brown eyes with yellow specks.
- Mom, you are the best in the world! – the daughter looked at her mother in admiration.
“I’ll bring my child out into the world and I’ll be the happiest.” We just need to appease dad. You, Nadya, tell him that I love him as much as... like all Turgenev’s girls en masse! Well, say something like that, romantic.
“It’s not pedagogical to drag children into arguments between their parents,” Nadya balked.
– Who are our children here? Those who won't get up for school? That's it, Nadine, go to bed.
Mom kissed Nadya on the top of her head and nose.
But no matter how hard Nadya tried, no matter how flattering and pleasing Galina Viktorovna was to her husband, real reconciliation never happened between them. It was as if something in dad had broken, died. He became more and more isolated in himself, came home late, complained of weakness. Soon he was diagnosed with cancer, the last stage. Galina Viktorovna did not leave her husband. She slept next to him on an ottoman, so that at any moment she could touch his hand, his face. Injected painkillers. I sold my grandmother’s antique piano, an untouchable relic: I needed money for doctors and a rare medicine. Everything turned out to be in vain.
After the death of Nikolai Andreevich, Galka-holiday changed a lot. The puffy laugher turned into a lean woman with a mysterious look. Wild curls in the style of “I fell from a dump truck...” gave way to a strict bob, and colorful robes gave way to elegant suits. The change of image began to attract men to her even more. Quite different, high-flying. Nadya was waiting for her young and beautiful mother to find happiness - she was about to get married. But no, it didn’t work out...
“My daughter Nadya is going to a red diploma. Law Faculty of Moscow State University. Not a pound of raisins, you understand. My whole life is in my daughter,” Galina Viktorovna told her next platonic admirer. The suitors made pompous expressions appropriate to the moment and quietly disappeared from her life, which, however, did not sadden the princess-cook at all.
She started a flower business, which at first went well, but collapsed overnight. And Galina Viktorovna, without regretting the losses for a minute, immediately got a job as a culinary arts teacher at a college. This gave ridiculous money, but peace reigned in the family. Students adored Koltsova. After all, she retained her love of life, resilient character and sincere love for people.
- You, most importantly, do not make my mistakes. “Keep what you have,” my mother admonished her daughter when she got married.
“Mistakes! It seems that my life consists of only mistakes... How to escape from myself? From shame, resentment, helplessness? Where to get strength, where to look for support?” “Once again these questions, like stinging, persistent horseflies, attacked Nadya. And there seemed to be no escape from them.
She ran across the yard to her mother’s saving entrance. Well, finally, a heavy front door, two flights of stairs... that's it!
She's safe!
In the hallway, the Yorkshire terrier Mickey was already waiting for her - a smart guy with a perky and fearless character. The dog understood perfectly everything that his owner told him. If Galina Viktorovna informed before leaving that it would be late and ordered to keep an eye on the apartment, Mickey did not sit idle near the door, but walked around the rooms on patrol and barked - scaring off possible enemies. If they assured him that they would be there soon, he would sit down with his favorite toy in the corridor and listen to the sound of the elevator. Mickey was categorically not pleased with the news about the arrival of unfamiliar guests. He retired to lie in his favorite chair. And he could even “carelessly” make a puddle near the carpet. But having been warned about the arrival of the adored Nadya and Masha, he rushed, raising his mother-of-pearl tail, to the rug at the entrance and sat down on it in tension. He poked his nose into the door, noisily inhaled air, analyzed the sounds in the entrance and sighed impatiently, his cherry eyes sparkling. In addition, Mickey was privy to all the troubles of Nadya, who kissed and mercilessly spoiled the handsome man. He turned out to be the only creature who literally wiped away the tears of the “abandoned woman” - he licked them with his warm tiny tongue.
- Michka, dear, are you waiting?
Nadya took the terrier jumping in happy ecstasy in her arms.
Mom appeared from the kitchen. She, as always, behaved well and carefully hid her excitement.
- Nadyush, how did it all go?
Galina Viktorovna impulsively hugged her daughter.
- Fine. Quickly and without hysterics. That's it, mom. All! I don’t want to discuss anything yet,” Nadia said, pulling away.
Mickey jumped to the floor and trudged dejectedly into a chair.
“Our sensitive gentleman is going through,” Galina Viktorovna stated.
– He is not only sensitive with us. Now he is the only one we have. I mean, cavalier.
– And thank God! The need for a gentleman is determined by his quality mark. Our Mickey is impeccable,” the mother waved her hand. And she added weightily: “And he won’t give us nasty surprises.” In any case, he won’t get depressed and won’t bite his loved ones. Nadya, remember your “family happiness”! And accept what happened as deliverance.
The first year of marriage turned out to be cloudless for Nadya. Mashenka was born, over whom all the relatives were shaking, completely spoiling the girl. Egor made good money as a leading technologist at a large enterprise. Bessonov seemed to be appreciated, but one unfortunate day he was fired without explanation.
- All around are corrupt creatures! Only a rogue scoundrel can survive here,” Yegor began his accusatory and sad song for the first time. His mother also fueled his son’s decadent mood. She sincerely did not understand how one could not appreciate such an outstanding specialist, a lover of truth, and a clever woman.
The mother-in-law had a different opinion about her son-in-law, whose true character began to reveal itself after the wedding.
– Who wants to deal with something like that? Arrogant, with eternal claims and at the same time giving in to the slightest obstacle. Anything he doesn’t like is already hysterical! How are you, my poor thing, under this dictator? And these edifications and hackneyed quotes of his? Maybe he's a fool after all, Nagy? That’s the trouble,” the mother lamented, having tea with her daughter, who occasionally ran away from her husband, handed Masha to her mother-in-law and laid her soul to rest “in freedom.”
How calm and easy she felt here! Everything in my parents’ apartment reminded me of the love and joy of my childhood years. Weightless blue curtains, a shelf with fairy tales read and re-read, a hilarious portrait of Carlson on the wall, Luke’s teddy bear, with whom Nadya slept in an embrace since infancy. And also the creaking of the parquet flooring in the living room, on which Nadya once spent hours dancing to Abba’s songs, and her mother’s purring from the kitchen, and the cozy smells of her home...
Married life, which at first seemed like an existence on a soft cloud, far from problems and troubles, increasingly reminded Nadya of a heavy duty. However, she agreed with her husband, who taught that family life requires sacrifice, patience, care and honesty. But it seemed to Nadya that Yegor understood this postulate somewhat one-sidedly, placing most of the strict demands on his wife. Although Nadya could not blame Bessonov for dishonesty and lack of love, and therefore sincerely appreciated her husband. What can I say! Nadya loved her Yegor. Loved it!
- Mom, he is a whole person. If you decide something - once and for life. “He’s not capable of compromise,” Nadya objected passionately to her mother’s tricks addressed to her son-in-law.
“Only an uncompromising eccentric of the seventh category like our chief accountant Uncle Misha can decide for life.”
- Well, mom, you’re comparing! Where is crazy Misha and where is my husband?
- Even so, the comparison is not very good, but you need to get along with people, negotiate, show condescension and wisdom. Moreover, he decided to get into the automobile business.
- Mom, all these “let’s solve” and “settle” are in the past. The crazy nineties are behind us!
“Well, well, the flag is in your hands,” Galina Viktorovna squinted skeptically.
– And in general, you cannot live without having faith and support in anyone or anything! I am happy that Egor is a reliable back. You’ve never experienced anything like this, even though you were married. But it turned out that she was leading her by the hand, not behind her husband, but in front of him.
- Well, this is a controversial statement. And I wouldn’t delude myself about Yegor’s back. Better push your career. How long can you work as a lawyer's assistant? More confidence and drive, daughter! Remember the sacred word - self-sufficiency.
Nadya couldn’t stand this mother’s “word”; she couldn’t understand what it was like to rely only on yourself when you have a strong family and a reliable husband?
Meanwhile, the Bessonovs' material well-being was shaken. Egor was having trouble selling cars. He changed four car dealerships. He left everywhere with scandals due to the fact that he was not promoted through the ranks. The role of a boy-manager did not suit the ambitious Yegor Ivanovich: he was convinced that he was worthy of handling millions. From the romantic head of the family, ready to do anything for the sake of his wife and daughter, Yegor turned into a grouch and whiner, making claims not only to the unfair world, but also to his relatives. In addition, he began to kiss the bottle.
Nadya tried to be a reliable support for her husband, fulfilled his whims, listened to drunken groans while beating the table with her fist, and completely abandoned her own career. A couple of delays, confusion in documents, uncertainty and babble in communication with clients...
In a word, in place of Bessonova’s assistant, the boss took a quick-witted girl named Pruss. At the office they called her King Kong. The lady turned out to be not only aggressive and brutally efficient, but also huge. Clients trembled in the presence of a busty, big-lipped, loud-mouthed lump and were imbued with due reverence for the legal community.
For a whole year, Nadya wandered around without work, trying to find a job in her specialty. She went through interview after interview and was rejected everywhere.
– Why did I listen to you with this university?! – she reproached her mother after another failure. – Which kind of lawyer am I? I can't defend myself. And in general, lawyers are a dime a dozen.
– Nadyush, why are you so unsure of yourself? You know the law very well, you can work with documents. Value yourself and those around you will value you.
- Why should I value myself?! Clumsy, timid, awkward.
– Is it your husband who instills such nonsense in you?
– What is there to suggest?! Even Mashka doesn’t take me seriously - she twists ropes out of her mother and giggles.
Galina Viktorovna nodded sadly. She could do nothing to help her wonderful but spineless daughter.
A fundamental decision had to be made when Masha began to be sent to first grade. Yegor chose a pretentious special school. Nadina’s doubts were answered harshly:
– If you finally went to work, we would be able to scroll!
And Nadya reluctantly agreed to Valyushka’s offer to become an administrator at her clinic. The girl at the reception.
– The money is not God knows what, but stability and a normal schedule are two after two. You’ll stay with us temporarily until something goes wrong in your profession,” reasoned a faithful friend.
Almost eight years have passed since then and “temporarily” seems to have turned into “forever.” And a year ago something bad happened...
The mother shook her daughter by the shoulders:
- Nadya, come out of the coma! Enough. Let's go feast! I made your favorite satsivi.
She hugged her daughter again and pressed her head tightly against hers.
“Everything will go fine for us now.” Not the same as before, but no worse. Trust your wise mother. We'll show them all!
- Ma, I don’t want to show anything to anyone. I want to be happy.
Nadya was finally able to cry.
- And here you will be. Everything you really desire comes true. Someone smart said that a person always moves towards his aspirations. The main thing is to have them, aspirations.
– Mommy, what aspirations could a thirty-seven-year-old administrator have? These are all beautiful and stupid words.
– And words, and deeds, and new people. Give it time, daughter. Give it time! – Galina Viktorovna pulled Nadya into the kitchen, where the festive table had already been set.
- Oh, well, champagne is too much, ma!
- Nothing like this! Just right,” said Galina Viktorovna, deftly handling the foggy bottle.
The cork popped and the brut flowed down the crystal glasses.
- For you and me and to hell with them! - Galina Viktorovna proclaimed.
“It’s true,” Nadya wiped her eyes and raised her glass.
A “gentleman with a quality mark” appeared on the threshold of the kitchen. He rushed over, hearing cheerful voices, sat down by Nadya’s chair and faithfully tapped his tail on the floor.
The chicken turned out to be incomparable, the salad was delicious, the canapes with cheese, mushrooms and herbs melted on the tongue. And champagne! How long has it been since Nadya drank champagne? Light, relieving fears, tension, pain. For the first time this week she ate to her fill and felt, if not happy, then quite calm.
Seeing that her daughter was putting pieces of Mickey’s ham under the table with a smile, Galina Viktorovna decided to start a serious conversation that she could not dare to have before.
– Too many coincidences! I still believe that someone’s evil will intervened and destroyed everything. However, she destroyed what was not firmly held. It was just a matter of snot, to be honest. So, everything worked out well for you, daughter.
Mom got a little tipsy from two glasses of champagne, got flushed and, lying down on the sofa, lit a cigarette.
– Your manner of speaking in figurative and vague phrases irritates me. What are you talking about, ma? – Nadya grimaced, who right now did not want to talk “about this”.
– I mean that Yegor is a shithead and a traitor. And it seems that he is not the only one close to us.
Galina Viktorovna suddenly turned pale and began to inhale frequently.
Nadya stared at her mother in bewilderment.
Mickey, who was asking to sit on Nadya's lap, barked, but, receiving no answer, he trudged under the table for a rubber duck.
– I didn’t understand something about betrayal. It seems that in our family the ladies suffer from this vice. I myself changed... well, I was ready to change Egor. With a vile little man. Yegor did not forgive. He would never cheat on me, because he is faithful, monogamous... You have to pay for everything. It seems that you yourself have told me about this more than once.
Nadya jumped up and began collecting dishes from the table.
The glass slipped out of her hands, crashed onto the tiled floor, and scattered glass splashes.
- Fortunately! - Galina Viktorovna barked and put out her cigarette. She had to finally open her daughter's eyes.
Dental surgeon Arseny Milikyan came to Nadya’s clinic a year and a half ago. He was a big, charming guy with a buttery smile and the demeanor of a typical ladies' man. Even the man-hater Limonova, who survived two difficult divorces, was thrilled in the presence of a courteous subordinate. Milikyan, according to the laws of his diaspora, was married to an Armenian woman. The marriage turned out to be unhappy and childless. Barren Natella humbly endured her husband’s trips to the left. Some of Milikyan's passions made titanic efforts to breed an alpha male. Arseny gave advances to everyone, but, of course, he never thought of leaving his wife.
Nadya hotly tried to dissuade Valyushka, who had fallen in love with Milikyan and whose personal life was not going well, to give up the idea of marrying the married Armenian. Valentina persisted.
– Nadya, I’m better than many if you look at things objectively. I’m thirty-eight, and my waist is sixty-three centimeters! And I stand firmly on my feet! Even Limonova is jealous of my “beha,” Valya, whose income really turned out to be incomparable with Nadina’s, threw up her thin palms.
In addition, Valyushka was really elegant and pretty: white curls, high cheekbones, a neat nose, a constant smile. And what were these men missing?
Nadya loved her friend and did not share her mother’s harsh words about “Valka’s small-mindedness.” Galina Viktorovna also called Valka “pug”. At the clinic, doctor Kurochkina was nicknamed “the little mouse.” And they didn’t like it very much either.
One day Valentina rushed to work as black as a cloud.
Without saying hello to her friend, she grabbed the patient log and, nervously leafing through it, said under her breath:
– Why is it all for some and nothing for others?!
– What are you talking about, Val? What's happened? – asked the alarmed Nadya.
- Yes, about you and your boyfriend. Arsen Davydovich.
- Lost her mind!
- Yes, of course! I saw him hanging around you last night, offering to give you a lift to the metro. Did you give me a lift?!
Valya slammed the magazine shut and stared at her friend, pursing her narrow lips.
- So what? He also gave Lenka a lift... We don’t have cars, and getting him to the metro is not such a feat. Val, don't go crazy.
- Yeah! She remembers the mind. Better think about your conscience.
Nadya got angry.
- Don't talk nonsense! There was nothing between us and nothing can happen!