"Maybe," mused Sasha. "Though we're already a little shorthanded at the studio with so many teachers taking summer breaks. Serge and Morgana would freak out if I asked for two weeks off right now."
"Tough," declared Julia fiercely. "You work your butt off at that place, and hardly ever miss a class. I'm sure they could find a substitute for you if they try hard enough."
"I'll think about it. I need to find out if my mother is really serious about the idea first. And then decide if I can cope with spending that much time alone with her. Especially since she's incredibly angry about what happened with Matthew."
Sasha winced as she recalled breaking the news about the breakup to Katya. Her mother had been predictably incensed, calling Matthew a dozen different unflattering names - in Russian, English, and French - and telling Sasha that she was better off without him.
"It's not a good situation when a man has children from his first marriage, Aleksandra," her mother had clucked disapprovingly. "He will always choose them over the girlfriend."
"That's almost exactly what Linda told me once," admitted Sasha. "And both of you are right. I never minded when he had to cancel or re-schedule a date because something came up with one of the kids. And we always worked around the nights and weekends he saw them. But this - this was just more than I could deal with, Mama."
"Well, of course it is!" Katya had declared fiercely. "You have more pride than that, Aleksandra. You are worth more than that. And one day you will find a man who appreciates what a good woman you are."
Sasha had found herself defending Matthew in spite of herself. "Matthew appreciated me, Mama. And he treated me like a queen. It's just an impossible situation is all. Maybe I shouldn't have been so stubborn, and found a way to make it work."
"Don't you dare!" Katya had burst out. "You do not give in, ever! Make him come to you. Make him grovel. Just like I've always done with your father. Never once in thirty years have I apologized to that man. But then all of our arguments have always been his fault, so why should I make the first move?"
"It's not exactly the same thing as you and Papa," Sasha had reminded her mother.
"No, you're right. You're smarter than I am, Aleksandra. And stronger. After everything we've been through, I still love that stupid man, still take him back every single time. God knows why!"
Sasha had laughed in response. "Because the two of you were always meant to be together, Mama. Maybe one of these days you'll both stop fighting it and just get married."
"Married! To your father? Maybe you are not as smart as I think, Aleksandra," Katya had snarled. "No, your father and I are better off the way we are. It's probably the only reason one of us hasn't murdered the other after all these years."
"I miss him, Mama," Sasha had admitted tearfully. "And it hurts so much more than I could have ever imagined."
"You shouldn't cry over a man who has treated you this way, bebé. And he will pay for hurting my Sasha."
Katya had let loose with a string of angry Russian words. "There! I have placed a curse on him. An old family curse I learned from my grandmother. You know that your great-grandmother was half-gypsy, don't you? The people in her village would go to her and have their fortunes read, or sometimes ask her to curse someone. The curse I just spoke is meant for bringing someone bad luck. Oh, and it might also cause their teeth to fall out. I don't remember exactly."
Sasha hadn't taken her mother seriously, for she could often say outlandish things, but at least she'd appreciated Katya's motherly concern - something she hadn't always expressed properly over the years.
Sasha couldn't help chuckling a little now at the recollection. "My mother actually placed an old Russian curse on Matthew. Fortunately, none of the many curses she's cast on my father over the years have actually come true, so no harm done. But my mother by nature is a very vengeful person, and she can carry a grudge like no one else I've ever met."
Julia snorted. "I don't blame your mom for being pissed off. And I can't believe you're dealing with all of this so well. Doesn't anything make you angry, Sasha?"
Sasha exhaled deeply. "Of course it does," she admitted. "And I've definitely experienced my share of ups and downs since I broke things off with Matthew. Somedays I miss him more than I can bear, while other days I'm tempted to gather all of the gifts and things he gave me and burn them. Most of the time, though, I'm just sad. And of course it didn't help when he called me a couple of nights ago."