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.
Laura Bennett writes about complicated family dynamics, difficult conversations, and the quiet moments that change everything. Her stories focus on real-life tensions — inheritance disputes, strained marriages, loyalty tests — and the strength people find when they finally speak up. She believes the smallest decisions often carry the biggest consequences.