I went back inside.

“So?” I said brightly. “What do you think?”

“We’ll take it,” David said.

“Wonderful,” Carol said. “I’ll need first month’s rent, last month’s rent and the security deposit. That’s forty-five hundred total.”

I wrote her a check for $1,500.

“The first month is my gift,” I said. “The other three thousand is up to them.”

“Three thousand?” Jessica’s voice cracked. “We don’t have three thousand dollars!”

“Then you’d better figure out how to get it,” I said. “You have until noon tomorrow.”

On the drive home, they argued in the back seat about where to find $3,000.

When I pulled into the driveway, I turned off the engine and turned around in my seat.

“There’s something I need to tell you,” I said.

“What?”

“While we were at the apartment, Thomas called. The police want to interview me. About your former job, Jessica.”

Jessica’s face went white. Then she started to cry.

David just stared at me.

“How much trouble are we in?” he whispered.

“That depends,” I said, “on whether you’ve been honest with me.”

“We told you everything,” Jessica sobbed.

“Jessica,” I said quietly. “Fifty thousand dollars in fake invoices is not the same as taking office supplies.”

She covered her face with her hands.

“And David, certifying every week that you’re looking for work when you’re not is unemployment fraud.”

“Who told you that?” he demanded.

“Beaverton’s a small town, David. People talk.”

Thomas had good friends at both the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and the Employment Department. They didn’t need to know that.

“What happens now?” Jessica asked through her tears.

“Now you decide,” I said. “Whether you want to face these problems like grown adults. Or like children hiding in their mother’s house.”

I got out of the car and went inside.

I didn’t sleep much that night. Through my bedroom wall, I could hear them talking. Not screaming. Not fighting. Talking. Low voices. For hours.

The next morning, they were both already dressed and sitting at my kitchen table when I came downstairs at six-thirty.

“Good morning,” I said, pouring my coffee. “Did you figure out the apartment deposit?”

“We need to tell you something,” David said.

“I’m listening.”

Jessica took a deep breath.

“Last night, we applied for jobs at six different places,” she said. “Fast food. A warehouse. A cleaning company. The grocery store. Anywhere that might hire us right away.”

“And three of them called back already,” David said. “We have interviews today. But Mom, even if we both get hired, we won’t have three thousand dollars by noon.”

“So what are you asking me?”

“We’re not asking for anything,” Jessica said quietly. “We’re going to call Carol and tell her we can’t take the apartment.”

“And then what?”

“We’d like to stay here for the rest of the ninety days,” David said. “While we work and save for a place we can actually afford. And we’ll pay you rent out of our first paychecks. Whatever you think is fair.”

I sat down across from them. Something had changed overnight. The desperation was gone. In its place was something that looked like actual determination.

“What changed your minds?”

Jessica glanced at David.

“We stayed up all night talking,” she said. “Really talking. For the first time in a long time. Not complaining. Not planning how to spend your money.”

“And we realized everything you’ve been saying is true,” David said. “We’ve been acting like spoiled children.”

“The police scared you.”

“Yes,” Jessica said. Her chin was shaking. “But it also made me see that I can’t keep running. I did something terrible at that job. I have to face it.”

That was the most honest thing I’d ever heard her say.

“Jessica, what about the criminal case?”

“Thomas gave me the name of a criminal defense attorney in Hillsboro,” she said. “I’m meeting her this afternoon. I’m going to turn myself in. And I’m going to pay back every penny. However long it takes.”

I looked at her for a long time.

“And David?”

“I already called the Employment Department this morning,” he said. “I told them I didn’t look for work like I said I did. I’m going to pay back what I collected. Forty-two hundred dollars.”

I sipped my coffee.

“Then here’s my counteroffer,” I said. “You can stay for the rest of the ninety days. Once you’re working, you’ll pay me five hundred a month in rent. You’ll both take the financial literacy class at Portland Community College on Tuesday nights. You’ll put twenty percent of every paycheck into a savings account I’ll help you open.”

“Agreed,” they said at the same time.

“And when the ninety days are up,” I said, “you move into your own place. Whether you feel ready or not. No extensions.”

“Understood,” David said.

I stood up and walked to the kitchen window. Out in the backyard was the vegetable garden Richard and I planted the summer David was born. Tomatoes. Beans. A rhubarb plant that’s somehow still alive after thirty-four years.

“There’s one more thing,” I said. “I’m putting two million dollars from the building sale into safe investments for my retirement. The other five hundred thousand is going into a trust.”

“A trust for what?” David asked.

“For my grandchildren’s education. Whenever they come along.”