When she opened the door, her grin made Brett’s heart skip a beat.
“You’ve got perfect timing,” she said. “The coffee is hot and I’ve finished packing the rest of my clothes.”
Brett’s eyebrows rose. “More clothes? I thought you’d run out of closet space.”
“I can do a little reorganization.” She looked at the bags they were holding. “What have you got there?”
Pat handed her two of the bags. “Lunch. These are the best grilled cheese sandwiches in Montana.”
“Yum.” She stepped away from the door and pointed down the hallway. “We can have lunch in the kitchen.”
Brett followed Pat and Hannah into the kitchen. Sunshine poured through the large windows, bathing the room in a bright, warm glow. He wasn’t surprised to see paintings of all shapes and sizes lining the walls. “You’ve got as many paintings as Pat.”
“Not quite,” Hannah said with a nervous smile. “We change the canvases each month. It gives us something different to look at when we have breakfast.”
Brett moved to the painting closest to him. The abstract landscape was huge. Brown, orange, and gold swirls of color rose from the bottom of the canvas. They wove through dense patches of gray and black, creating ribbons of color across the painting.
On the bottom right-hand side were the initials HW. He glanced at Hannah, then moved to the next painting. This one was smaller but was just as beautiful as the larger canvas. “These are incredible.”
Hannah bit her bottom lip. “Thanks. They’re different than the painting I was working on at the ranch.”
Pat stood in front of another painting. “They’re stunning. You should be a full-time artist.”
Claire came into the kitchen and took the last two sandwich bags out of Brett’s hands. “I’ll put these on a plate. Keep telling Hannah she needs to paint full time. I’ve been trying for the last ten years, but she won’t listen.”
“What about the residency in Vancouver?” Pat asked Hannah. “From what you told me, it sounds perfect.”
“It’s complicated.”
Claire made a choking sound. “There’s nothing complicated about it. If you don’t go, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.”
Hannah sent her sister an irritated glare. “I’ve got a couple of weeks before I need to let the university know what I’m doing.”
Brett’s stomach twisted into knots. He walked toward the coffeepot, ignoring Claire’s pointed stare. If she expected him to tell Hannah she should leave, she was out of luck.
“Isn’t Mary-Beth moving to Vancouver?” Pat asked.
Brett poured everyone a cup of coffee. “She leaves in four weeks,” he muttered. He was having a hard enough time getting used to his sister’s decision to leave, let alone think about Hannah’s plans. Mary-beth was in love. It was doing crazy things to her brain and making her even more impulsive than usual.
“That’s great,” Claire said a little too enthusiastically. “You wouldn’t be alone, Hannah. You could meet Mary-Beth for coffee while you’re both settling in.”
Brett handed Pat a mug of coffee. “We’ll need to leave soon if we want to be home before it gets dark.”
Claire slid the plates of grilled cheese sandwiches across the counter. “Here you go. I’ll organize dessert.”
“How is Ida?” Hannah asked.
Pat glanced at Brett before answering. “She had a setback this morning.”
“Is she okay?”
“Not really. She was admitted to the hospital with pneumonia.”
“Will she be all right?”
Pat looked down at his coffee. “I hope so. She got pneumonia six months ago and nearly died. With the right antibiotics, she should get better a lot faster than last time.”
Hannah’s eyes filled with tears. “I’m sorry, Pat. I didn’t know she’d been unwell.”
