Endless Love (Santa’s Secret Helpers #5) - Leeanna Morgan Page 0,59

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 from before the foundations were laid. If she managed to sell the rest of the 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.”

Shelley’s dad had been 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 the room, 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 the determination in her face that made her worried about what she was about to hear.

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 hours of solid 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, Wyatt had 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, looking through the window was like seeing one of his paintings. Flathead Lake was every bit as grand as he’d imagined. With its glistening water and towering mountains, it was the perfect location to begin a new life.

Wyatt’s cell phone rang, making him frown. It was after midnight. His parents would be asleep in Los Angeles, and the only person he knew in Sapphire Bay wouldn’t be up this late during the week.

When he read the caller display, he relaxed. It was Ethan. “Isn’t it a little late to be calling me?”

“I was driving past