“Anna, have you completely lost your nerve? The guests came for the anniversary, and the table is empty!” her husband shouted through the whole house.

“Anya, I’ll put together the menu, and you’ll cook,” Valentina Petrovna said, holding out a three-page list. “I’d do it myself, but my hands hurt. This arthritis has been tormenting me.” Anna took the list. Cold appetizers, hot dishes, salads, three kinds of desserts. For her and Dmitry’s anniversary, her mother-in-law had invited eight people. […]

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“You’ll never get your hands on my apartment!” the daughter-in-law snapped. “All your mortgage schemes have fallen apart. This is mine!”

“You’re twisting everything again!” Ilya’s voice rang so sharply that Masha flinched, even though she was trying to remain calm. “I don’t understand why you’re making a mountain out of a molehill when we’re talking about a perfectly normal solution.” “Normal?” She set her cup down on the table so abruptly that tea splashed over […]

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My mother-in-law blurted out, “Ridiculous,” then decided to finish me off with, “You would’ve been better off giving nothing at all.”

“Mom, now repeat that to my face,” Andrey said in an even, almost icy tone, pushing away his plate of aspic. “Only slowly and clearly.” A heavy, sticky stupor thickened over the festive table. The guests froze with their forks halfway to their mouths. Uncle Vitya remained sitting there with a bottle of homemade liqueur […]

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