Aunt Betty nodded.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t know.”
Erin raised her brows. That seemed hard to believe. Sugar-coating this now wouldn’t make it any less painful.
“I didn’t.” Aunt Betty held her hands out in front of her. “You have to understand I’ve been asking that boy to come help with repairs for years. This is the first time he said yes, and he gave me a week’s notice. I wasn’t sure how to tell you and then he was here, and it was too late to warn you.”
Silence hung between them before Erin was able to build up the courage to ask, “How long do we have?”
“I’m not sure.” Aunt Betty said. “I wish I could let you stay here forever. I do. But I’m getting older. I eventually need to think about what my future looks like. I asked Logan to help me sell the house, and I’m not sure how long that’ll take.”
“And then what? After he sells, what will you do?”
“I’ll probably move with him to Florida.”
“Florida?” Her voice was a high-pitched shrill. That was states away.
“He accepted a new job near the beach. He’s willing to buy a place that has a mother-in-law suite so he can take care of me. Plus, there are plenty of snowbirds for me to make friends with.”
Erin wanted to argue that Logan didn’t need to get involved. She could take care of the house. She could take care of Aunt Betty. There was no reason for the older woman to leave behind everything and everyone she knew because Logan wanted to move halfwayacross the country. But when she stopped to think about how Aunt Betty had worded everything, it didn’t sound like Logan was the one making all these plans. It sounded like it was Aunt Betty. Erin had learned a long time ago that there was no arguing with Aunt Betty when she’d made up her mind. She could only try to pivot.
“Would you consider letting me buy the house?”
Aunt Betty’s face lit up. “Of course, sweetie. I would love nothing more than for you to buy the house.” She paused. “I wish I could just give it to you, but it wouldn’t be fair to put that financial burden on Logan.”
“I know.” Erin didn’t think that was fair either, and didn’t expect Aunt Betty to do something like that. She just wasn’t sure if she’d be able to come up with enough for a down payment before Logan was ready to put it on the market. She just needed more time. Her mind raced as she thought about how she could come up with more money.
In the silence, Aunt Betty looked down at her watch. “I need my beauty rest, but I wanted to talk to you before going to bed. I didn’t want you to be caught off guard again.” She pushed herself up from the table and started down the hallway. “Good night.”
“Good night,” Erin said, still recovering from the emotional toll the night had taken.
“Oh, and one more thing.” Aunt Betty stopped inthe doorway. “I wasn’t the one who cleaned up the kitchen tonight.”
There was only one other adult who lived here. “You don’t meanLogandid it, do you?”
“It wasn’t the maid,” Aunt Betty said, humor in her voice.
That meant Logan had cleaned the kitchen. She wanted to ask why, but Aunt Betty had already walked away, leaving Erin’s mind racing with what she was going to do. She wasn’t sure exactly what the plan would be, only that it couldn’t end with the house being sold to a complete stranger. She’d need to either convince Aunt Betty to stay in the house and let Erin take care of her, or somehow come up with enough money to buy the house herself before Logan finished fixing it up—all while trying to avoid Logan.
Erin wasn’t sure how she was going to do it, only that she had to.
