On Christmas, my sister got a new Mercedes. I got a car air freshener. My mom laughed and said, “Be more modest, Sienna. Everyone gets what they deserve.”
I’m Sienna and I’m 31 years old. Three years ago, I landed my dream job as director of development at a fintech company. The salary was incredible, more money than I’d ever made before. I was so excited that I called my parents right away to tell them.
My parents, Richard and Carol, were thrilled. They insisted on having a celebratory dinner at their house. My younger sister, Madison, was there too. She’s seven years younger than me, 24 now.
We had a nice meal. My mom made her famous roast chicken and we opened a bottle of wine. Everyone was happy for me, or so I thought.
Then, right after dessert, my mom’s expression changed. She got this serious look on her face.
“Sienna, we need to talk to you about something,” she said.
“Okay,” I said, wondering what was wrong.
My dad cleared his throat. “The pandemic hit our bakery really hard. We’re behind on our mortgage payments.”
My parents owned a small bakery in town. They’d run it for over 15 years. I knew business had been rough during the pandemic, but I didn’t realize how bad it was.
“We’re struggling to keep up with the monthly payments,” my mom added. “They’re $1,800 a month.”
“We were wondering,” my dad said carefully, “if you could help us out temporarily, just until we get back on our feet. Six months at most.”
I looked at their faces. They looked genuinely worried. These were my parents. They’d raised me, paid for my education, supported me my whole life. How could I say no?
“Of course, I’ll help,” I said. “Six months, right?”
“Six months,” my dad confirmed. “We’ll take over the payments again as soon as the bakery recovers.”
“Thank you, sweetheart,” my mom said, reaching over to squeeze my hand. “You’re saving us.”
The next week, I set up an automatic transfer from my checking account to theirs. $1,800 on the first of every month.
Six months passed. Then a year. Then two years. Now it’s been three years, and they’ve never resumed the payments.
Meanwhile, the bakery apparently recovered just fine. My dad bought new commercial ovens that cost thousands of dollars. My mom completely renovated the sales area with new flooring, fresh paint, and fancy display cases. They posted pictures of it all on Facebook, talking about how business was booming, but they never mentioned taking back the mortgage payments.
The story doesn’t end here –
it continues on the next page.
TAP → NEXT PAGE → 👇
