“That’s all I’m asking,” I said.
## Adam’s Call
Adam called me two days after I’d made the offer to my parents.
“Mom called me,” he said. “She’s upset.”
“I know.”
“She thinks you’re being cold about it.”
I sat with that for a moment. “Adam,” I said. “I offered them six weeks in my house. I offered to help them find a place. I gave them a list of apartments that exist in their price range. What part of that is cold?”
“She thought it would be longer,” he said. “Like, indefinite.”
“I know she did,” I said. “That’s what I’m explaining isn’t possible.”
“Why not?” he asked. Not combatively — genuinely.
“Because I have a job I do from this house,” I said. “Because I’ve already redone my own plans to make space for this. Because there’s an apartment eight miles away that they can rent and there’s money to cover the deposit and there’s no reason it has to be my house except that nobody asked me until it was already decided.”
He was quiet.
“Adam,” I said. “You have a hundred and eighty thousand dollars in a business account. Is any of that available to help them with an apartment?”
“Some of it is operating costs,” he said. “I can’t touch those.”
“I know. I’m not asking you to fund the whole thing. I’m asking if there’s anything there.”
A long pause. “I could probably cover the deposit,” he said. “If I’m careful.”
“I think you should offer that,” I said. “Not because you owe it — you don’t. The loan was a loan, the money was a gift from their perspective. But because they gave you everything they had and now they need a little bit back, and you can probably give it.”