and move Aunt Aggie into a retirement home, but she might as well have been pleading with a tree stump. None of her relatives would listen to her, and she’d begun to feel like a second-class citizen, at least in her own family.
“Why?” Clay asked. “Is your aunt ill?”
Ella paused, wondering how much to share with a stranger, then decided a man she’d never see again was probably safe. Besides, it was nice when someone asked her opinion without accusing her of having ulterior motives.
So she told it like it was. “No one expected my aunt to live to be eighty-four, and the nest egg meant to last through her golden years has dwindled away. The house needs a new roof, as well as new wiring and plumbing. So her nephew has decided to sell it, rather than fix it up. And he’s planning to put her in an assisted-living facility.”
“How does your aunt feel about that?”
“She’s not happy. And neither am I. She’s really spunky, and I think that moving her out of the only home she’s had for more than sixty years is a bad idea. But she’s not my mother, and I have no say about any of it.”
“I can’t imagine anyone ignoring your opinion, especially since you’re the one who lives with your aunt. If I were the nephew, I’d welcome your thoughts.”
His understanding, his vote of confidence, settled over her like a balm. How nice to have someone in her corner for a change.
Ella reached for a chip, but as she pulled her hand back, the delicate antique bracelet Aggie had given her this morning snagged on the basket and caught.
“Oh, no.” She hated to pull it free. The chain was old and delicate.
“Here,” Clay said. “Let me.”
He placed one hand on her wrist, spiking her heart rate and sending a surge of heat zipping through her blood. Then he fingered the silver chain with the other.
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