My son is 22, and his girlfriend just moved in with us. I tried to be fair. But bills were rising, and I felt like a hotel manager. I told him, “If she’s going to live here, she has to pay.” He looked at me strangely, and I froze when he quietly said, “Mom, didn’t she tell you that she has nowhere else to go?”
I stood there, dish towel in hand, water dripping from a pan I was drying. My heart dropped.
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“No, she didn’t,” I replied, a little embarrassed now by how I’d just snapped.
He nodded slowly and walked away. No drama, no yelling. Just quiet.
I sat down on the edge of the couch, my mind racing. I had noticed she always looked grateful for the smallest things—like leftovers, or a warm blanket on the couch. She never complained. But I hadn’t really thought much of it. I just assumed she was being polite.
That night, I knocked on their door. She opened it, eyes wide like she was expecting bad news. I asked if we could talk. She nodded.
We sat at the kitchen table, and I asked her gently, “Is it true what my son said? That you don’t have a place to go?”
She looked down, hands curled into her sleeves. “Yeah. I haven’t really had one for a while. I was crashing with friends before this. I didn’t want to be a burden.”
Her voice cracked on that last word. I could feel it—she meant it.
I asked her where her family was. Her eyes welled up. She told me her mom had passed three years ago, and her dad wasn’t in the picture. She had been on her own since 19, doing her best to keep jobs and save money, but it was never enough. She had stayed on couches, in her car, even in a church basement once.
I felt ashamed. Here I was, counting grocery receipts and muttering about electricity bills while a young woman was just trying to find a place to feel safe.
I put my hand over hers and said, “You’re not a burden. Not in my house.”
She blinked, clearly surprised. “Thank you,” she whispered.
From that day on, things shifted. I started noticing more about her. How she cleaned the kitchen without being asked. How she folded the laundry if I left it in the dryer. How she played with our dog like he was the only thing keeping her grounded.