What I told the escrow officer was to hold the authorization. Not cancel it. Hold it. I did not slam a door, because I am not built that way, and because Nolan is still my son. I converted the gift into a documented loan, drawn up properly by Walter that afternoon, at a fair rate, with a repayment schedule and both their names on it, and I told the officer the funds would be released only when that agreement was signed. Then I drove to Blowing Rock with Prudence and turned off my phone, and I let the two o’clock closing arrive without me.
It did not close. You cannot buy a house with a down payment that is still sitting in someone else’s account, and at two o’clock the escrow officer, on my instruction, told them there was a document waiting for their signatures before the money would move. Not mine. Theirs. The loan agreement.
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