“—Alex!” Tammy finished anyway, as if the interruption had never happened.
The door to the room opened a crack, and Sophie’s face appeared in the gap.
“Lena, do you have an iPhone charger? Mine’s dead…”
Lena’s hand cut sharply through the air: quiet, I’m in a meeting. Sophie only lifted one shoulder and answered in an exaggerated whisper loud enough for everyone to hear:
“We’ll be quiet. We’ll sit in the kitchen.”
Five minutes later, the smell of frying chicken had spread through the entire apartment. After ten, Tammy was knocking on the door.
“Lena, honey, where do you keep the big skillet? I couldn’t find the little one.”
Lena muted her microphone, murmured something apologetic toward the camera, and stepped into the hallway.
“Tammy, I’m in a meeting. An important one.”
“Yes, yes, I see,” her mother-in-law said with a dismissive flutter of her hand. “I just need to turn the chicken over.”
And that was the moment everything snapped into place.
Lena stood in the doorway with the headset hanging around her neck. On the laptop screen behind her, a message from the project manager kept blinking.
Tammy, Sophie, and Gail all stared at her as if she had suddenly become a stranger in her own home.
“I’m asking you to leave,” Lena said again, and this time her voice did not shake. “Right now.”
Sophie gave a sharp little snort.
“Well, there it is. The daughter-in-law is having another episode. We’ll tell Alex all about it.”
“Go ahead,” Lena replied, completely calm. “And leave the keys on the entryway dresser. Every copy.”
Silence dropped over the kitchen, thick enough that the bubbling in the pot on the stove suddenly sounded loud.
Tammy was the first to recover.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Her voice climbed into a shrill, wounded pitch. “I am your husband’s mother!”
“You are my husband’s mother,” Lena said with a nod. “And I am the woman who lives in this apartment. I am done letting people come in without warning during my working hours, cook here, eat here, leave a mess, and go whenever they feel like it.”
Gail, who had said nothing until then, rose from her chair.
“Girls, let’s go. There’s no need for a scene.”
“Oh, there will be a scene,” Tammy snapped, slamming the ladle into the sink. “Alex is going to hear exactly how you treated his mother!”
“Alex already knows enough,” Lena said quietly. “And tonight we are going to talk about all of it for good. Now please leave my apartment.”
She stepped aside, making a clear path to the door.
Sophie grabbed her purse, muttering about “hysterics” and “ingratitude” under her breath. Gail sighed softly and followed her out.
Tammy remained last. Her eyes shone with tears, though it was impossible to tell whether they came from hurt pride or rage.
“You’ll regret this,” she hissed. “I promise you that.”
“Maybe,” Lena answered. “But I will not keep living the way I’ve been living.”
The door closed behind them. The lock clicked.
Lena leaned back against the wall, then slid slowly down until she was sitting on the floor.
It was over.
Or maybe it had only begun.
She stayed there for ten full minutes before Alex’s message appeared on her phone.
“Mom called. She’s crying. She says you threw them out. Lena, what happened?”
Lena typed a reply, erased it, and wrote again.
“Come home. We need to talk seriously. Tonight we decide everything, once and for all.”
She pushed herself up and went into the kitchen. The borscht had gone cold. On the table lay half-eaten chicken, three dirty plates, crumbs, and a greasy smear of oil.
Lena opened the window wide, letting the sharp outside air drive out the smell of fried food.
Then she picked up her phone and changed the building intercom settings, replacing the entry code. After that, she called a locksmith and scheduled a lock change for the next day.
Only then did she sit down at the laptop and write to the project manager: “I apologize for the technical difficulties. I’m ready to continue the meeting whenever it’s convenient for you.”
And only after sending it did she allow herself to cry. Quietly. Without sobbing. The tears simply spilled down her face.
Because she understood: the hardest part was still ahead.
Alex would be home soon. And he would have to choose.
Either they built new rules together.
Or… Lena did not yet know what came after “or.”
But there was no going back now.
And then Alex came.