Olya, what time do you need to be at work tomorrow?” Anton asked his wife during dinner.
“Early, we have a commission.”
“Won’t you be able to take your mother to the hospital?”
“No, there’s no way, you do it.”
“So I’ll have to ask for time off..”
“And me? After all, you have a sister—let her find the time for once to help out with mom’s errands, we shouldn’t be the only ones doing everything. It’s enough that for the past few years we’ve been fully supporting her, or rather, I have. There should be some justice.” Olga got up from the table, cleared the dishes. “I’m tired, don’t forget to clean up after yourself, I’m going to sleep.”
How tired Olga was over the past year! She hadn’t taken a vacation once, worked almost without days off, and was exhausted. It became especially hard after Anton was fired. Unpaid loans and household expenses fell on Olga’s shoulders. Her husband tried to help his mother: she needed to buy medicine, help pay for her apartment, she needed new boots.
All the money Olga had so painstakingly saved over the last seven years—the entire time she had been married to Anton—had nearly vanished. She only found out when she looked in the safe to take money for car repairs, then she saw that the savings were almost gone.
“Tos, why did you take the money from the safe?” Olga asked her husband when he returned from the gym. Although Anton wasn’t working, he hadn’t changed his habits: he preferred dining in cafes, visited the gym three times a week, and on weekends liked to sit in a sports bar, watch a match broadcast with friends.
Olga disliked all of this, but Anton assured her that he was actively job hunting, had written a resume, and was attending interviews, but so far nothing decent had come up: either the salary was miserable, the schedule unsuitable, or the place was unreachable.
Time flew by quickly, nearly nine months Olga had been carrying the family on her shoulders.
And now the savings were gone. She had dreamed of taking a little money and going not even to Turkey, but to a regular sanatorium—to catch up on sleep, just to see and hear no one. But now the car broke down, the money was gone, and all her dreams had turned to dust.
“Tos! Can’t you hear?”
“I hear, why yell. Well, where am I supposed to get money? My credit card has long been empty, it needs topping up. Mom called a week ago, asked to buy a freezer, remember, we discussed it with you? That we’d buy it for the season…”
“Anton, are you serious? What do you mean discussed? You were still working then, the circumstances were different! And if you started taking money from the piggy bank, from my piggy bank, maybe you should have let me know?”
“Hello there! And I thought we shared everything. When you were still in college, you took the money I was saving for a TV and bought a washing machine, I didn’t hold it against you!”
“Yes, I bought a washing machine because I was tired of washing by hand, your clothes too, and the bedding! Why did we need your TV under those circumstances?”
“Nevertheless, you didn’t tell me either.”
“Why are you comparing this? These are completely different situations. If you had taken that money for something we need, for our family, I wouldn’t have said a word, but you spent it on your whims and your mother! She couldn’t have survived this summer without a freezer?”
“Why are you speaking to me in that tone?”
“Tos, how should I talk to you? You spent my savings, and you’re not working, and all expenses are on me.”
“Understood, now you’ll reproach me every day?” Anton turned away to the window, offended.
At that moment his phone rang.
“Yes, mom! Yes, I remember, we’ll sort it out next week. Don’t worry!”
“What are you planning to sort out again, Mr. Fixer? You’ve sorted out enough!”
“I’ll figure it out without you,” the husband replied angrily and left the room.
Olga made herself some tea; she needed to think about what to do next, because as things stood now, she was completely dissatisfied.
Two weeks passed. “Olya, get up, can’t you hear the alarm?” Anton tried to wake his wife.
She opened her eyes.
“Oly, why are you sleeping? It’s already eight! And I need twenty thousand,
“And I don’t need to go anywhere and I don’t have any money,” Olga turned to the other side.
“Don’t understand, how is there no money? Olya!”
“Leave me alone, let me sleep. For the first time in a year, I can get some sleep?”
“Did you take a vacation? Well done! Very timely!”
“I didn’t take a vacation, I quit. Can I sleep now?”
“You did what? Quit? And you’re going to sleep?” Anton yelled.
“Yes, I quit and I want to sleep. Can I? We’ll talk about everything later!”
“No, Olya, questions—now! I need money today! I can’t even fuel up the car. And mom needs it!”
“You had plenty of time to earn money for your expenses and for mom’s. Apparently you won’t let me sleep…”
She sat up on the bed. She got up, threw on a robe, and went to the shower. When she came out to the kitchen, her husband was drinking coffee. Anton was very irritated. Olga, on the other hand, was relaxed and calm.
She brewed herself a cup of aromatic tea and approached the window. “The weather is so nice, lucky me, by the way, I’m leaving tomorrow, I won’t be here for almost two weeks.”
“One piece of news is more interesting than the other! Where to?”
“Anton, I realized that I can’t go on like this, I’m out of strength. I need to recover. I took a ticket to a sanatorium. I’ll drink some mineral water, get a massage, breathe some fresh air.”
“You decided that well! And exactly when we’re completely out of money?”
“I don’t understand what you’re blaming me for? I worked like a cursed for a year, no help or support from you, only demands! I’m not an iron Phoenix, I’m tired! And you haven’t been able to decide on a job for almost a year. Think about it, for almost twelve months you haven’t brought in a ruble! A ruble!!!”
“I’m looking, am I to blame that there’s no decent work?”
“Then you should have taken a temporary one, at least temporarily.”
“Give me twenty thousand and I’ll go.”
“Anton, I don’t have money to give you.”
“But you found it for the ticket?”
“Gave the last I had, no more left.”
Anton jumped from the table and headed for the door. Olga waited until he closed the front door, finished her tea, and started packing her suitcase.
“Olga, did Anton stop by? Is it true?” Svetlana Yurievna called Olya after lunch. Her mother-in-law was a domineering and brazen woman, as Olga had come to know her. But she didn’t show this side immediately. At first, she was demonstratively gentle and understanding.
If she needed help, she asked carefully, without pressure, and then thanked several times. But after a little over a year, the requests became more persistent, then turned into demands.
Learning that Olga got a promotion, Svetlana Yurievna shifted all her expenses onto the shoulders of her son and daughter-in-law, but in fact, the daughter-in-law paid for everything.
“Hello, Svetlana Yurievna, if you’re asking about my job, yes, I quit. If you’re asking about the sanatorium—that’s also true.”
“How did you quit your job, and what will we live on—did you think about that?” the mother-in-law shouted into the phone.
“I think that’s a question you should address to your son.”
“Olga, this is a reckless act on your part. You’re behaving extremely irresponsibly! Before you decided to resign, you should have thought about all of us, not just yourself! And your sanatorium now, oh, how untimely!” the mother-in-law began to scold her daughter-in-law.
“May I figure it out myself?”
“Anton is having a very hard time right now, he can’t find a job, and you behave like this!”
“How am I behaving, Svetlana Yurievna? I’ve been working for all your family for a year! Anton didn’t even get a part-time job! I’ve worked a year without a vacation. He spent all the savings to provide a comfortable life for himself and you! I’m tired and want to rest. I can’t keep working in this mode!”
“What am I supposed to do? I took out a loan for the house renovation at the cottage, Anton, by the way, promised to help with the payment!”
“Well, I’m not against it, let him help! I’m not spending his money!”
“Are you mocking me, Olga? He doesn’t have the money now, he couldn’t bring me fifteen thousand today, and I have a payment in two days!”
“I can’t help you! Didn’t you think when you took the loan? You need to rely on your own strength, not my money!”
“Olya, you’re wrong! To treat your own family this way—shameful! Think about it, so you don’t regret it later!” the mother-in-law hung up, and Olga continued packing.
Anton had hoped until the last that all this wasn’t serious, but when Olya got up at five in the morning and ordered a taxi to the airport, he was genuinely puzzled. “Olya, will you leave the car keys?” Anton knew that Olga always refueled the car before parking it.
“No, I don’t have them.”
“I don’t understand, where’s the car?”
“In the parking lot, I’m selling it, and I left the keys so they could show it without me.”
“Oly, please explain, what’s going on?”
“Anton, nothing is happening, I’m going to rest. You’ve lived the way you wanted for a year, I didn’t ask you a single question. And you even involved your mom in solving our issues! By the way, what’s this loan for the cottage renovation? Why was it needed? You’ve been there maybe three times!”
“Mom asked for help!”
“Ah… Then, of course, help… I won’t bother you!”
“I thought…”
“Don’t think for me! You decided to help—count on yourself! My taxi’s here, goodbye!”
“Write when you get there.”
“Alright,” Olga left the apartment, sat in the taxi, and suddenly felt so happy, so free!
“Olya, did you completely forget at your sanatorium that we had a rent payment yesterday?” Anton called Olga early in the morning.
“Lidia Fedorovna has been calling me since early morning, transfer her the money.”
“Anton, I don’t have money!”
“Are you kidding? How come? What were you thinking when you went to your sanatorium?”
“And you?”
“What about me?”
“What were you thinking when you found out I quit? Didn’t it occur to you to think about the rent payment?”
“Where am I supposed to get the money?”
“And me? Figure it out yourself!” Olga ended the call and went for a massage.
She had been living in the sanatorium for almost a week and liked everything! She kept her phone off most of the time. Olga walked, attended treatments, even went on a tour. All this time, she tried to find the answer to just one question: “What to do next?”
And this question was not about her work. With work, everything was fine. The story about the resignation was for her husband and his family. She simply took a full vacation after successfully completing another serious project. Management accommodated her.
Olga was troubled by something else—how to continue living with Anton and whether she should live with him at all. The first three years after the wedding, everything was fine. They dreamed together, aspired to something, but then Olya’s career suddenly took off, and along with it, her salary. Olya never reproached her husband; he also worked, tried, she was just a bit luckier.
But the better her work situation became, the worse Anton’s financial situation got. And the worse Anton’s financial situation got, the more unnecessary expenses arose—his mother needed money, then his sister, then his nephew, and so on. While it was about insignificant amounts—a thousand or two, Olga didn’t object, but when the amounts became tens of thousands, she began to express her dissatisfaction to Anton, and he always found reasons why she should help them.
After Anton lost his job, everything got really bad.
Her departure was an attempt to put her thoughts in order, to look at everything from the outside, to perhaps gather courage and make not the most pleasant, but the right decision.
“Shall I pick you up tomorrow?” Anton called Olga the day before her return from vacation. “No, I’ll get there myself, no point.”
“And I have news—I got a job.”
“Very happy for you!”
Anton was waiting for Olga and intended to reconcile with her. He cleaned up, prepared dinner, and even bought flowers, which now adorned the table in a vase.
Olya entered the apartment, the home smelled of fried potatoes and chicken with garlic. “He waited!” she thought to herself. Anton came out to meet his wife in the hallway.
“Welcome back!”
“Thanks!”
“How was your rest?”
“Wonderful, I would have gladly extended it…”
“I cooked dinner!”
“Great!”
Olya washed her hands, changed clothes, and came to the kitchen. Her favorite flowers were in the vase.
“This is for you!” Anton pointed to the bouquet.
“Thanks. Where did you get the money?”
“I told you, I got a job. The salary is small for now, but it should get better in the future.”
“Good.”
“Oly, everything will be alright with us?”
“Listen, Anton, I’ve thought a lot. I came to tell you that I’ll live with my parents for a while. I even moved my things there, as you can see, I came with one bag. I think you’d better move back with your mom, so you don’t have to pay for this apartment. Because I don’t know how things will go between us. Honestly. I don’t rule out that I might file for divorce.”
“Oly, did you find someone?”
“You could say that. I found myself. I’m tired of carrying your whole family. Tired of you and your attitude. You know, I couldn’t even afford a decent gift for my father’s anniversary, but your mom never lacked for anything. I want you to …
But Anton didn’t let her finish:
“You just stopped loving me! Mother is right, you’re a selfish person who doesn’t appreciate what she has. And at the first sign of difficulty and inconvenience instead of going through it together and supporting me, you just ran away!”
Olya looked at Anton and couldn’t believe that this was the grown man she once truly loved! Now he reminded her of a whiny boy who was forbidden to watch TV.
“You decided everything alone again! Did you ask me if I’m ready to move back with mother? Do I want to move there? What do I think about splitting up?”
“Anton, why should I ask about that? If it’s my decision and I’m just informing you of how I’ll live further. And I’m informing you, only because we’re still married. If we weren’t married, maybe there wouldn’t have been this conversation!”
“You can’t do this to me! To us!”
“I can. Alright, I need to pack my things.”
Olga pulled out a few large plaid bags. It took her a couple of hours to pack her things. All this time, Anton yelled at her, then confessed his love, then accused her, then begged for forgiveness.
Olga caught herself thinking more and more about how she could have lived with this person for so many years and not noticed what had become so obvious last year. There was only one explanation—she really loved him once.