— Everyone pays for their own vacation. But you’re taking Mom at your expense! — the husband declared. The wife bought one ticket and closed the app.
On Wednesday evening, Natalia received a photo of Tamara Pavlovna’s passport in a messenger app. At first, she assumed her mother-in-law needed help arranging some paperwork and that Sergey had simply forwarded the document to his wife out of habit without explaining why.
A minute later, another message from her husband appeared:
“Find her an aisle seat. And add checked baggage. Mom isn’t going away for ten days with just a carry-on.”
Natalia opened the passport photo again, then returned to the chat.
They had been discussing their vacation for almost a month. They had chosen the dates, found a small guesthouse they liked, and spent several evenings comparing flights. They hadn’t paid for anything yet because Sergey was waiting for his salary, but the entire time they had been talking about a trip for the two of them.
Not a single word had been said about Tamara Pavlovna.
It Turned Out Mom Had Already Been Invited
Sergey came home at around eight. He took off his shoes, carried a grocery bag into the kitchen, and while putting the groceries away, asked:
“Did you check the flight? I think the price went up again.”
Natalia was sitting at the table. Her phone lay in front of her, screen facing upward.
“I checked. But first explain why you sent me your mother’s passport.”
Sergey put a carton of milk in the refrigerator and replied in a perfectly calm voice:
“She’s coming with us. I told her yesterday we’d book the tickets tonight.”
Natalia actually had to ask again.
“Who exactly is ‘we’ booking tickets for?”
“The three of us. Natasha, why are you starting this? Mom hasn’t gone anywhere in years. She doesn’t want to travel alone, and we’re going anyway.”
Until that moment, Natalia had still hoped she had misunderstood his message. Now it became clear that her mother-in-law wasn’t merely considering joining them. She had already been invited, given the dates, and promised a ticket.
“Seryozha, when exactly were you planning to discuss this with me?”
He closed the refrigerator and finally looked at his wife.
“What is there to discuss? She’s my mother. She won’t get in our way. She can go for walks on her own, and nobody’s going to be leading anyone around by the hand at the beach either.”
“We haven’t even looked for accommodation for three people.”
“Then we’ll find somewhere else. What’s the problem?”
Natalia slowly pushed her phone toward the edge of the table.
The problem wasn’t even Tamara Pavlovna herself. If Sergey had said a week earlier, “Let’s take Mom with us. I’d like to take her to the seaside,” the conversation would have gone very differently.
But there had been no conversation.
Sergey had invited his mother on his own, and all he had left his wife were her passport details and instructions to add baggage.
Money Suddenly Stopped Being a Shared Matter
The couple had agreed on their financial arrangement back in the winter. They both received their salaries on separate bank cards, transferred equal amounts toward utilities, groceries, and major household purchases, and tried not to keep track of what the other did with the rest.
They had no prenuptial agreement and had never even considered one. It was simply a convenient household rule that allowed them not to discuss every online order or every clothing purchase.
They had decided to handle the vacation the same way: each person would buy their own plane ticket, while accommodation and other shared expenses would be split equally.
Sergey himself had been the one to say it would be easier that way, so no one would later start calculating who had spent more.
That was why Natalia asked:
“All right. How much should I send you for half of the accommodation for three people?”
“Wait, we haven’t chosen anything yet.”
“Then another question. Are you buying your mother’s ticket yourself?”
Sergey stopped taking groceries out of the bag.
“Why should I be the only one paying?”
“Because you invited her.”
He was silent for a moment, then sat down across from Natalia and began speaking in the tone he usually used when explaining something he considered completely obvious.
“I’m short on money right now. I had the car serviced, and I paid for the insurance too. And you’ve already received your vacation pay.”
“So?”
“Natasha, don’t pretend you don’t understand. You have more money on your card right now.”
“And that means I’m supposed to pay for the person you invited?”
Sergey frowned.
“Everyone pays for their own vacation. But you’re taking Mom at your expense!” her husband declared.
For several seconds, Natalia simply stared at him.
Then she picked up her phone and removed it from the table.
“All right. I heard you.”
Sergey seemed to think the matter was settled.
Tamara Pavlovna Was Already Choosing What to Pack
The following day, her mother-in-law messaged Natalia herself. She asked how many kilograms of luggage they should buy and whether she should bring a warm cardigan for the evenings.
Then she added:
“Seryozha said you’re booking everything today. Just tell me how much I should send you for small expenses so I don’t have to bother you while we’re there.”
That was when Natalia finally understood exactly how her husband had presented the situation to his mother.
Judging by the message, Tamara Pavlovna was convinced that her son was organizing the trip for her and that the only money she would need would be for cafés and souvenirs.
Natalia decided not to start an argument through her mother-in-law.
“You’d better ask Sergey about your ticket. He invited you and knows what he had planned.”
A few minutes later, her husband called.
“Why did you write that to Mom? She’s calling me now asking what happened.”
Natalia stepped out of her office into the hallway so she wouldn’t disturb her colleagues and answered quietly:
“Nothing happened. I simply can’t explain your plan to her because you never discussed it with me.”
“We discussed everything yesterday.”
“No. Yesterday you informed me that your mother was coming and that I was paying for her.”
Sergey let out a heavy sigh into the phone.
“How long are you going to keep picking apart every word? I genuinely don’t have any spare money right now.”
“And yesterday, when you invited your mother, did you have the money then?”
He didn’t answer that question.
He only said they would talk again at home that evening.
Only One Passenger Remained in the App
After dinner, Natalia opened the airline app. The flight they wanted was still available, and the price had only gone up slightly.
Sergey was sitting beside her on the sofa, occasionally looking over her shoulder.
“Get Mom an aisle seat,” he reminded her. “And make sure baggage is included.”
Natalia selected one ticket, entered her own details, and continued to the additional services.
At first, Sergey said nothing.
Only when the payment page appeared did he lean closer.
“Where’s the second passenger?”
“What second passenger?”
“Natasha, don’t start. Mom.”
“Seryozha, I’m buying my ticket.”
He reached toward her phone, but Natalia moved it slightly away from him and calmly completed the purchase.
The bank sent a confirmation, followed by a notification from the airline.
She showed Sergey the screen.
“One passenger. My ticket is paid for.”
“You’re doing this on purpose?”
“No. I’m doing exactly what we agreed on. Everyone pays for their own trip. You invited your mother, so you’re the one who deals with her ticket.”
“And my ticket?”
“You pay for that too.”
Natalia closed the app and put her phone on charge.
That evening, Sergey spent a long time sitting in the kitchen with the calculator open on his phone. Then he called his mother and spent almost forty minutes explaining why she still didn’t have a ticket.
The following day, he once again suggested that Natalia at least split the cost of Tamara Pavlovna’s ticket with him.
Natalia refused.
Six days later, Sergey bought his own ticket for the same flight. By then, it was more expensive.
Tamara Pavlovna did not go with them.
Later, she herself told Natalia that it was only after speaking with her son that she understood the truth: Sergey had invited her to the seaside before he had even figured out whose money he was going to use to buy her ticket.