The Lakeside Inn by Leeanna Morgan (ebooks children's books free .txt) 📗

and we can reuse the furniture we already have, that leaves us five hundred dollars for the curtains. I might know how we can make that happen.”

“I measured the height and width of each window yesterday,” Barbara said. “We’ll be lucky to afford the fabric, let alone pay someone to make the curtains.”

“This might be a long shot, but when I was speaking to Pastor John at the old steamboat museum, he gave me a tour of the building. He has a team of volunteers who make curtains for each of the tiny homes using donated fabric. What if we asked the volunteers to make the curtains for the attic? Once we have paying guests, we could give them a donation that will more than cover the cost of sewing them.”

“We’d have to find the fabric quickly.”

“That won’t be a problem. I’ve already seen what I want in Polson. I’m sure the store would send it to us. If you’re happy for me to go ahead, I’ll call Pastor John and see who I should ask about making the curtains.”

Katie added another spoon of sugar to her coffee. “That sounds great. If the volunteers can’t make them, we’ll have to borrow Mom’s sewing machine and dust off our sewing skills.”

Diana grimaced. “I’ll leave that to someone else. The last time I tried sewing anything, it was a disaster.”

Barbara looked at their agenda. “The only other thing we need to discuss is the reporters who keep knocking on our door. If it’s still happening when our guests are here, it could interfere with their vacation.”

Penny had thought the same thing. Last night, a reporter had banged on their front door at ten o’clock. If her sisters weren’t living with her, she would have been more annoyed than she was. “I don’t mind them asking questions, but they need to leave us alone when we say we don’t know what’s happening. Some reporters have been here three or four times.”

Diana nibbled on the edge of her cookie. “Have we heard anything from the Smithsonian?”

“Not yet. But their initial findings shouldn’t be too far away.” Barbara wrote something on her spreadsheet. “At this stage, we can’t afford to be distracted by the letter. If Mom is happy to speak to the reporters, should we send them to her?”

Diana, Penny, and Katie nodded.

“Just warn her not to say too much. You know how excited she can get,” Penny said to her sister.

Diana sighed. “That’s like telling a river to stop flowing. As long as she doesn’t go into our family history, I don’t think there will be a problem. Besides, she learned a lesson after the Facebook post she wrote. She won’t make the same mistake again.”

“I hope not,” Penny said. “But on the more positive side, there has been a lot of good publicity for Sapphire Bay. I haven’t seen Main Street this busy since last year’s Christmas parade. The business owners will be thrilled that the letter was found here.”

“And talking about finding things,” Barbara said. “Have you heard from Wyatt?”

Penny shook her head. He’d only been gone a week, but it felt like a lifetime. “He called Dad from Berlin to say he’d arrived safely and to thank him for the fishing flies. By now, he’ll be busy with all the pre-exhibition publicity he needs to do.”

She didn’t tell her sisters that each day she checked Wyatt’s Facebook page for news of what he was doing. He’d uploaded photos of the art gallery where his exhibition was being held and showed his followers what each painting looked like after it was hung.

It was hard for her to reconcile the paint-splattered man who’d lived next door with the professional man who was about to showcase his work in a prestigious gallery.

“Earth to Penny?” Katie said with a smile. “Diana said we have something to show you.”

Penny pulled her mind away from Wyatt and frowned. “What is it?”

Diana rubbed her arm. “You’ll have to come with us to find out. Grab your jacket and we’ll meet you at the front door in a couple of minutes.”

She looked at each of her sisters. Their expressions ranged from worried to excited. If they’d found another rat’s nest, she wouldn’t be excited. Especially if they’d gnawed their way through more wires. “What’s going on?”

Barbara took her coffee cup to the sink. “Get your jacket. You won’t find out any quicker by asking questions.”

Penny had no idea what was going on. But if they’d found something on the property that needed repairing, she’d better take her measuring tape and a notebook. At the rate they were going, the last of the budget would be spent before she talked to Pastor John.

Penny followed her sisters toward the house that Wyatt had rented. “What are we doing here?”

“Wyatt wanted us to show you something.” Diana took a key out of her back pocket. “Don’t worry. The realtor knows we’re here.”

Since Wyatt had left, Penny had kept an anxious eye on the home he’d lived in. Each day, she expected new tenants to move in. But, so far, she hadn’t seen anyone around the property.

Katie ran up the wooden steps to the front door. “You’re going to love your surprise.”

Barbara held her finger to her lips. “Shh! You can’t say anything.”

“I wasn’t going to,” Katie said as she waited impatiently for her sisters. “But you have to admit it’s awfully exciting.”

Penny looked at each of her sisters. “Do you all know what the surprise is?”

Diana glanced at Katie. “We do, but we aren’t allowed to say anything.”

Barbara unlocked the front door. “Close your eyes. That was a strict instruction from Wyatt.”

Penny sighed. “Is this really necessary? He isn’t here. Wyatt won’t know whether I closed my eyes.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that,” Katie said. “He has a sixth sense when it comes to you.”

Penny pulled back her shoulders. “He has a funny way of showing it. If he even remotely cared about my feelings, he wouldn’t have