— “You know I don’t need you hanging around here,” Maxim told his wife. “So I suggest you move to the village.”
— “What village, Maxim? What are you talking about?”
Tamara didn’t care anymore. Her closest person had betrayed her. They had started from scratch together. Tamara had sold her apartment, and Maxim had sold his room in a communal apartment to start their business. They wandered through rentals and pinched pennies. Largely thanks to Tamara’s smart thinking, they managed to get on their feet.
And then Maxim felt like a king. Tamara never expected such deceit from her husband, so she didn’t notice how he gradually transferred everything to his name. So cunningly, that if a divorce had occurred, Tamara would have ended up with nothing. And when everything was ready, he filed for divorce.
— “Maxim, do you think you’re being humane right now?” she asked.
Her husband grimaced:
— “Don’t start. You haven’t been involved for a long time, I handle everything, and you just sit around.”
— “You yourself said that you could manage without me, that I should rest and spend time on myself.”
— “Ah, I’m tired of these empty conversations. Basically, it’s some house or farm, my former boss left it to me in his will. Remember Ivanych? He remembered how I helped him. Well, he died, and left me this nonsense. It suits you just fine. But if you don’t like it, you’ll stay with nothing.”
Tamara smirked. Now she didn’t even doubt that her husband would do exactly that. It felt like she had lived 12 years next to someone she never really knew.
— “Okay, but I have one condition: you officially transfer that farm to me.”
— “Oh, no problem at all, less taxes to pay.”
Tamara said no more, packed her things, and left for a hotel. She decided to start over. It didn’t matter what was there—a ruin or an empty place. She would see, assess, and if nothing worthwhile, she would simply return to the city, to this one or another, and start from scratch.
Tamara satisfactorily surveyed her car. It was packed full. Everything else would stay with Maxim and his mistress…
Well, if he was betting on her intelligence and help, he would be disappointed. The girl clearly wasn’t bright. But she had plenty of self-esteem. Tamara had seen this girl a couple of times. If she wasn’t mistaken, she was her husband’s secretary.
Maxim handed over the papers, Toma calmly took them.
— “Good luck,” she said.
Her husband burst out laughing.
— “And to you. You can send a photo with the cows.”
Tamara got into the car, but didn’t respond, just closed the door and drove off. Only once she was out of town did she stop and let her tears flow. How long she cried, she didn’t know. She woke up to someone tapping softly on the window.
— “Darling, are you alright? We’ve been standing at the bus stop, and you’ve been crying and crying. You shouldn’t do this.”
Tamara looked at the elderly woman and couldn’t understand where she had come from. Then she saw the bus stop behind her in the mirror and smiled.
— “Everything’s fine, just something came over me.”
She got out of the car. The elderly woman spoke again:
— “We just visited a neighbor. She’s in the district hospital, all alone. Nobody to visit her. Now we’re going home. Maybe we’re headed the same way? We’re going to Mikhalki.”
Tamara raised an eyebrow:
— “Are those the Mikhalki where the farm is?”
— “Yes, exactly. Only now the farm is just a name. The previous owner died, and for some reason, there’s no new one, no one comes. But people work out of habit. And because they pity the animals.”
Tamara smiled:
— “You won’t believe it, but I’m actually going to that village. Let me move some bags around, and I’ll make room for you.”
The grandmother sat next to her, and the grandfather was arranged in the back seat. He chuckled:
— “Oh, I already feel like a box or a package.”
As they drove on, the grandmother turned to Tamara:
— “And what’s your name, dear?”
— “Tamara.”
— “Nice name, kind. I’m Valentina Egorovna, and my husband’s name is Mikhail Stepanovich.”
— “Very nice to meet you.”
— “And we’re pleased too. Others might not have offered, and we would be shaking on the bus. But are you here on business or what? I can’t remember if you’ve visited before.”
Tamara cheerfully looked at the grandmother:
— “I’m actually the new owner of the farm. It fell into my lap by accident, I know nothing about it. Maybe you can tell me what’s happening there while we drive? And generally, what do you know about it?”
By the time they arrived, Tamara had found out a lot: who was taking what from the farm, which had almost nothing left, and who genuinely cared.
Previously, many stores stocked up on milk from the farm, but now there was hardly anyone, only about twenty cows left.
— “How many?” Tamara’s eyes bulged. She thought there were only three or four.
— “There used to be more, they sold everything off. And before, Ivanovich used to plant fields, and the cows were well-fed. And people earned well. So, Tamara, what do you think of doing? Will you sell, or maybe try to revive it?”
— “Well, we’ll decide on-site. Tell me, there’s also a house mentioned in the papers. Can you show me where it is?”
— “Of course, but you’ll recognize it yourself. It’s the only modern one around here.”
Tamara breathed a sigh of relief. At least there would be somewhere to live, she had feared it might be some shanty.
A year passed. Tamara walked through the farm, her eighty cows looking at her gratefully.
Toma was pleased with herself. In the beginning, when she first arrived, she wanted to close her eyes and run from here: no feed, nothing on the fields. But Tamara wasn’t one to faint from difficulties.
Yes, she had to run around, she had to fight. All the money she had brought with her went on feed. She sold all her jewelry and also invested in the farm. And today she could proudly say that she had succeeded.
Sales were picking up, calls were coming in from neighboring regions, people wanted their products, even those they hadn’t started making yet. For example, a cheese factory was still only in the construction phase.
Toma thought about buying a couple of refrigerated trucks so they could deliver products all year round. New ones were still too expensive for her, but she could look at used ones.
— “Tamara Igorovna! Tamara Igorovna!” — Svetochka, a young girl she had taken as an assistant, was running towards her.
Sveta came from a large family, her parents liked to drink, and Svetochka dreamed of living on her own. But there were no jobs, and she had nothing to go to the city with, and the girl was just on the edge, barely not slipping to the bottom. Now she was unrecognizable: dressed well, her eyes shining, now and then even dropping off a bag of groceries to her parents.
— “What’s happened?” asked Tamara.
— “I found it!”
— “What did you find, Svet?”
The girl was good: well-mannered and quick-witted, but very emotional.
— “Look at this ad.” — Sveta handed over a newspaper in which an ad was circled about the sale of two refrigerated trucks. The price was attractive because it was an urgent sale.
Tamara carefully studied the text. Clearly, she would need to invite a specialist who understands trucks, but the price was indeed temptingly low.
Suddenly she froze, even the newspaper in her hands stopped moving. The phone number in the ad was the number of her ex-husband’s office. Tamara smirked: it seemed his affairs weren’t going too well. Or perhaps, on the contrary, he was expanding and buying bigger trucks.
— “Call, Svet, make an appointment. Say we’ll throw in an extra 5% if they don’t show it to anyone else before us. And I’ll find someone who can evaluate.”
Tamara had money in her account, she needed the trucks, and meeting her husband didn’t bother her at all—nothing personal, just business. Tamara checked herself in the mirror. Not bad at all: here, in the village, she had toned up, tanned, and generally looked healthier and stronger.
Half an hour later, the man they had recommended as the best auto mechanic arrived. Ivan looked at her so intently that Toma blushed.
— “Something wrong? You’re looking at me like that…”
— “Sorry, just didn’t expect it. You know, a farm usually brings to mind those… rural women in scarves and rubber boots.”
— “I have both a scarf and boots for work,” she said business-like. “But I’m going to the city, why would I need them there?”
On the way, Ivan shared that he owned two small auto repair shops. He had lost his wife five years ago, mentioned it in passing, and Tamara didn’t dwell on it. But overall, he was an excellent conversationalist. Toma even forgot why she was going to the city…
— “Ivan, slow down before that office there,” she requested.
— “Here we are. What’s with you?”
— “I used to work here. I’m about to buy a truck from my husband. From my ex-husband. I became unnecessary to him, just like the farm that accidentally fell into his lap. He got rid of both me and the farm all at once.”
— “No way, I can’t believe it. What normal person would willingly let go of someone like you, let alone get rid of? Let’s go in, I want to see this idiot.” — Ivan paused for a second, then smiled. — “Don’t worry, I’ll be with you. I won’t let him rob you again.”
Tamara was truly grateful to him. Time had passed, but she still felt uncomfortable.
— “Maxik, where are your buyers?” asked Alla.
Maxim sighed heavily. Lately, that’s all he had left to do. The four deals that Allachka prepared had spectacularly failed. She always had one answer: “Well, it’s not my fault they are idiots.”
Money was catastrophically running out, especially considering that Alla spent it with astonishing speed. The trucks were not the first thing Maxim had to sell. Now he didn’t even have the money to pay the staff, although there was almost none left.
— “Maxik, I stopped by a friend’s today, she works in a travel agency. So, she has some excellent last-minute deals. I asked her to hold them until tonight.”
— “Why?”
— “What do you mean why? We haven’t gone anywhere for three months, even before my friends it’s embarrassing.”
Max felt he was about to explode.
— “Alla, can’t you see the company’s situation, largely thanks to you.”
— “Oh, just don’t start. It’s just a coincidence. Are you going to say that your ex never made a mistake?”
— “If Tamara took on a deal, it was always 100% profitable.”
— “And why did you run away from her to me then?” asked Alla.
Maxim wanted to reply that he had regretted it a hundred times, but he didn’t have time—there was a knock on the door.
— “Maxim Nikolaevich, you have visitors.”
Max jumped up and froze. Toma, his ex-wife, walked into the office. Had he met her on the street—he probably wouldn’t have recognized her. She was accompanied by a big man, giving the impression he was her personal security.
— “Hello, we would like to see the cars.”
Maxim realized that Tamara was the buyer he had been waiting for.
— “Yes, of course. Let’s go down to the parking lot.”
Allachka sighed unhappily, but still went with them, although she hadn’t planned to. In the elevator, Maxim couldn’t hold back:
— “Tamara, why do you need such trucks?”
She smiled:
— “Needed for work, you know. The farm you threw me out on turned out to be a very interesting occupation. Moreover, quite profitable. We are expanding now, orders are coming from afar, and our products don’t tolerate heat well.”
Maxim’s jaw dropped. They exited the elevator, and only then was he able to close his mouth.
— “Well… here are the trucks.”
The man who was with Tamara rolled up his sleeves and opened some kind of case.
— “What’s this?”
— “Tools. We need to check what you’re selling us.”
Maxim got nervous. One of the trucks had a serious fault that was about to come out, but the mechanic assured him that it wouldn’t be detected just like that. So it should have been fine.
Half an hour later, Ivan packed up the tools:
— “This truck is fine to buy. Of course, some things need fixing, but nothing critical. But this one, I wouldn’t recommend it, Tamara Igorovna. The suspension is barely holding up, it’ll break down soon.”
Max blushed, and Allachka immediately intervened:
— “What nonsense are you talking about? The trucks are excellent, nothing will break down. If you don’t understand, then don’t slander.”
Ivan smirked:
— “Will you give a documentary guarantee that if the engine doesn’t make a thousand kilometers and breaks down, you’ll refund us the full cost?”
Alla was ready to agree, but Max shouted:
— “Please, be quiet.”
Alla flashed angry eyes, and Max nodded:
— “You’re probably right. Will you take it cheaper? How much will you give?”
The trucks were taken with a great discount. Tamara and Ivan had long left. Allachka, after yelling at Maxim, called him a loser and also ran away. Maxim sat in his office, drinking cognac.
What had he achieved? He had a young beautiful wife, who he was incredibly tired of. And he couldn’t get his ex back…
Judging by the looks that guy was giving her, even her personal life was in order. Maxim threw the glass of cognac against the wall, dropped his head into his hands, and fell asleep.
Ivan and Tamara never parted again, and a month later, a village wedding buzzed on the farm. And a year later, they celebrated the christening of little Sonya.