The Lakeside Inn, Leeanna Morgan [rosie project TXT] 📗

saw how much the hospital had tried to soften the clinical function of the ward. Carpet tiles replaced the usual vinyl flooring. They walked past small seating areas and colorful meeting rooms. There was also a small kitchen where people could make a cup of coffee and reheat food in a microwave. But nothing could disguise the antiseptic smell of the hospital; the reason everyone was here.

She glanced at two people walking toward them. The look they shared with her bonded them in grief. They understood. They were going through the same thing themselves.

“Here’s Grandma’s room.”

Penny’s heart pounded. The plain, gray door seemed so normal compared to what was going on behind it. “Were Diana, Katie, and Barbara able to catch earlier flights?” Her sisters were scattered like leaves across the country, each pursuing careers that were as different as their personalities. They’d all booked flights for this weekend but, with Grandma’s health deteriorating, their parents had asked them to come home earlier.

Her dad looked at his watch. “I can’t believe it’s after midnight. Diana’s flight arrives in seven hours, and Katie and Barbara will be here in the afternoon. Are you ready to see your grandma?”

Penny nodded and, with a trembling hand, she opened the door.

Sitting upright in bed, her grandma’s frail, sunken body almost disappeared against the pale linen. But when she turned her head toward Penny, the light of her gentle, loving nature still shone from her eyes.

Penny had promised herself she wouldn’t cry in front of her grandma. So, instead of showing her how upset she was, she smiled and stepped toward the woman who made her life complete. “Hi, Grandma.”

“It’s so good to see you, Penny. I’m sorry about all this fuss.”

A genuine smile pulled at the corner of Penny’s mouth. It was so like her grandma to put everyone else’s needs above her own. “I’m glad I’m here. How are you feeling?”

“A little tired.”

She gently hugged her grandma. Even though Penny knew her grandma had lost weight, she was still shocked by how little there was of her. “I should have brought a triple chocolate fudge brownie for you.”

“My favorite,” Betty whispered in Penny’s ear.

Her grandma’s raspy voice brought back memories of sitting around her kitchen table licking the spoon clean at the end of a marathon brownie baking session. “Where did Mom go?”

“For a walk. She’s spent every waking hour in here since I arrived.” Betty licked her dry lips.

Reaching for the glass of water beside the bed, Penny held the end of the straw toward her grandma. “Water?”

“That would be lovely.” After taking a small sip, Betty sighed. “Thank you. Tell me about the apartment building you’re working on. Is it finished?”

Six months ago, Penny had shown her grandma the plans for a large, multi-story building. “It should be finished in five months. We’ve already sold half the apartments.”

“Your boss will be happy.”

“I hope so.” For the last three years, Penny had been working alongside the senior property development manager at Barclays, one of the largest construction companies in Seattle. With her colleague’s upcoming retirement, she’d applied for his job.

Marketing and selling the apartments had been her primary focus even before the foundations were laid. If she sold the remaining apartments in the next few months, she’d have a much better chance of securing the promotion.

“Sit beside me,” Betty said slowly. “I have some things I need to tell you.”

Penny’s dad was sitting in a chair on the far side of the room. He stood and smiled at them. “I’ll grab a cup of coffee while you’re talking. Would either of you like one?”

“Not for me, Dad. I had something to drink on the way to the hospital.”

Betty shook her head. “Not for me, either.”

Allan turned his worried eyes toward Penny. “Call me if you need anything.”

“I will.” After her dad left, she pulled a chair close to the bed. She didn’t know what her grandma wanted to say, but there was an urgency in her voice that hadn’t been there before. “What did you want to tell me, Grandma?”

“I’m going to die soon, Penny, and there are some things you need to know.”

She didn’t know whether it was her grandma’s matter-of-fact voice or her determined expression that worried her the most.

Holding her grandma’s hand, she told herself not to be too dramatic. Their family didn’t have any secrets that were worth repeating. They were a normal family with a very normal life.

Or so she’d always thought.

Wyatt lifted his arms above his head and stretched. After six solid hours of painting, he needed to get rid of the kinks in his back or he wouldn’t be able to move.

He hadn’t painted for this long in months and it felt great.

With a critical eye, he studied the canvas that had kept him so focused. Most of his paintings were of landscapes: fields of corn, glowing golden brown in the late afternoon sun; seaside cottages on the shores of endless, sky-blue lakes; or towering mountain ranges stretching into forever.

This one was different.

His friend Ethan had challenged him to explore what it meant to be human. Three years ago, he’d given up trying to understand anything about being human. After losing his wife in a car accident, all he wanted was to be left alone.

Ethan, in his wisdom as a counselor, made it clear that he needed to rejoin the world of the living and not hide in an overcrowded city.

So, with almost everything he owned packed into his truck and trailer, he’d driven from Chicago to Montana, and made his home in a small town called Sapphire Bay.

Walking across the room, he stared through a large window at the night sky. The stars were so bright that he felt as though he could reach up and touch them, hold them close, and make more wishes than were good for him.

In the daylight, the view from the window was like looking at one of his paintings. Flathead Lake was every bit as grand