CHAPTER 3

–– Mom, when will we arrive? Anyuta jumps impatiently in her seat, not taking her eyes off the window.

- Soon a flower, just a little bit left - Stirring tea, I look at the passing trees strewn with snow and I can't help smiling. We rarely go anywhere with our daughter, but at such moments, warmth jumps in our hearts from the anticipation of something new. I hope our next trip will be on the sea. Anya really dreams of swimming (as she says) in salty water, and I am ready to move mountains if only my child smiles. In recent days, she is too capricious. Maybe it's a crisis, or maybe from a lack of attention. I always reproach myself for not spending time with her properly: either work, or household chores, or something else. Plus, the absence of a dad greatly affects her psychological state, in particular, this is noticeable when one of the fathers brings their children to kindergarten. Then millions of questions begin

An hour later we are standing on the platform of the railway station. I get a little lost from so many people and I don’t even immediately notice Inga approaching us. She is gorgeous as always. In a white fur coat, she looks like a Snow Maiden, and even the slight fullness, with which her friend has been struggling for many years, does not spoil her at all, but only gives a certain zest. My mouth stretches into a wide smile of overflowing joy. We haven't seen each other for two years, but the feeling is like an eternity.

—Aaaaaaa, Dasha—Screeching all over the platform, we hug tightly, kissing each other on the cheeks—I didn’t recognize you. She pulls back and looks at me, shaking her head from side to side in admiration—Wai, just a model.

“Oh, okay,” I giggle, tucking a light strand behind my ear, “You will say too. Here you are beauty!

“Yeah,” she sighs, she gained two kilograms, she’s a good beauty! Oh, coming to her senses, Inga looks at her daughter, who does not waste time in vain, and having found some kind of stick, draws figures on the pavement. -Who is this big guy here? Hey Nyutik, would you like a hug?

“Hi,” the daughter runs into Ina’s open arms, and after a couple of seconds she frees herself, starting to look at her with her huge, blue eyes. He is shy.

- Well, why are you a flower, have you forgotten Aunt Inga? - She squats down and takes her daughter's hands in hers - We talked yesterday on video, remember?

She nods and the corners of her lips twitch slightly.

-That is great. Are you going to visit me? I bought you something there.

-What did you buy me? Anya asked with interest, and a gleam of anticipation lit up in her eyes.

- Well ... - Ina pretends to think - there are a lot of things.

“A lot??” Nyutka gasps, almost jumping with impatience.

“A lot,” nods her friend, straightening up, “So, let’s go to visit me?”

-Want Want! Mom, - my daughter looks at me full of hope - let's go?

-Of course, let's go.

********

- So, here is the living room, there is a kitchen and a toilet, and this - Inga opens one of the doors, letting you into a small but very comfortable room - your bedroom.

- Gorgeous, of course. — I admiringly examine the interior in dark colors, reminiscent of the Loft, but this is not accurate. I'm a complete layman in this, to be honest. — And how much do you shoot such beauty?

Inga names the price from which my jaw is ready to fall a couple of floors down. No, I certainly assumed that not for 20 thousand. Especially in the city center and in an elite area, but I could not even think that there were so many. It’s even uncomfortable for me to move around here and touch something. Is it a little...

Whistling, I close the door.

- Yes, it's not expensive. He waves it off, fascinated by the manicure for a few seconds, and then turns his feline gaze back to me. “Here’s my friend at work, she pays twice as much, but there, of course, the district is more decent and there is even a swimming pool in the house. For their natural.

— Fuck off. Are you working in a hospital for oligarchs?

-Yeah, sort of. Okay, let's go to the kitchen or something, at least we'll chat, otherwise I'm terribly bored.

Following Inga, on the way I look into the living room with one eye, where, sitting on a cream-colored leather sofa, Nyuta is sitting in a T-shirt and pink tights, carried away by a donated doll and a cartoon about fairies. I hope she doesn't decide to kick something, as she sometimes does.

So, it seems that I have felt-tip pens, so it would not cross her mind to decorate the sofa.

What would you like, tea or coffee? - Asks a friend, starting to fussily jingle dishes and at that moment the doorbell trills through the house. — Oh, they probably brought pizza. Will you open?

Without a thought, I trudge into the hallway and push the latch, certain that there will be a courier standing there with a box of pizza and rolls that we ordered in a taxi on the way home. But the one I see doesn't look like the guy from the restaurant at all, and he also knocks all the air out of my lungs and makes my heart beat frantically.