The shed wasn’t huge inside, but the riches packed inside the small space shocked Brandon into silence. Paintings hung on the walls from floor to ceiling, and the remaining canvases rested on the floor against each other perhaps ten deep along three of the four walls of the interior space. Most extraordinary to Brandon was the size of the canvases. He didn’t think any of them were less than six feet wide, and most were larger.

“Levi, there are more great paintings here than a lot of museums own. How did they get here? Where did Grandma Daley get the oversized canvases and even more important, how do you protect these? There’s nothing anything like climate control out here. I don’t know anything about art, but I assume they need that.”

Levi nodded. “Yeah, that’s a problem, but every winter, we nail up boards around the outside of the shed, and we stay out of the space until the temperatures warm again in the spring. Grandma always worries that the freezing temperatures will damage the paint, but so far we’ve been lucky. I think there are a few paintings here the paint cracked and started to flake off, but most of them are fine.”

“And the canvases? You can’t transport something like that easily in a canoe.”

“Grandpa stretched most of those before he died. Grandma is starting to get concerned about running out, but I think there are a few more blank ones behind that stack to your right.”

“Why don’t you move the paintings, Levi? I’m sure anywhere would love to…” Brandon thought about the size of the paintings, and he knew transportation in a canoe was still a problem. He figured out the answer to his own question. “You need to get a small plane or a helicopter in here.”

“I don’t know what we’ll do with these in the future, but they are Grandma’s legacy, and I need to protect them as well as I can for now. That’s why I wanted to get back here. Maybe I’m paranoid to think that someone could be out here in the woods who knows about her paintings and would try to steal them, but that’s what’s been going through my mind all through the last twenty-four hours. I wasn’t here to protect her work.”

Brandon said, “Yeah, I understand, and yeah, I think you are a little paranoid. I’ve got a question, though. You said that Grandma Daley sells her paintings. How do these get to Iron Crossing? You can’t take something like this in a canoe.”

“Remember that big pack I had the day we met?”

“Well, yeah, but it wasn’t this big.”

“Small paintings. I take small paintings to Iron Crossing. That’s what goes to the gallery in New York City.”

Brandon’s eyes opened wide. “Oh, wow. Is she that famous? Even her small paintings bring in a lot of money?”

“Well, it doesn’t cost a lot to live out here like this. We don’t have utility bills, and we don’t use a lot of electrical appliances, so things don’t break very often. Most of the money we spend is spent on food. Still, Grandma has enough money saved to keep us both comfortable for several years into the future.”

“Levi, what’s your plan for after? I don’t want to be rude, but she won’t be here forever. What are you thinking about when you’re on your own?”

Levi hoped that Grandma Daley would be around for long enough that it would make sense to move in with Brandon whenever she was gone, but he didn’t want to push. He said, “I don’t know. Let’s go back outside. I worry when I’m inside here with the art. I worry that the shed will catch fire or the humidity or freezing temperatures will destroy the paintings. Let’s go outside. I worry a lot less about the woods. We’ll have to go to get back to the hospital soon anyway.”

Brandon watched Levi close and lock the door to the shed. He said, “I hope I’m a big part of what happens after.”

Levi turned toward the cabin. He started to take steps toward the porch and spoke without turning around to face Brandon. “Oh man, yeah, of course. Damn, Brandon, I can’t really think about that right now. I just need you to hug and kiss me and hold me. Honestly, that’s what I need. There’s too much on my mind with Grandma sick. I appreciate getting to stay at your place.”

“Why would I do anything else?”

“Because you could be like the others.”

Brandon reached out a hand for Levi’s shoulder and gently turned him around. “You’ve hinted at that before. What others?”

Levi looked down at the ground, and then he slowly raised his head. “I’ve had a couple of long-term boyfriends before. One was in high school, my junior year, and it lasted for almost a year. The other was about nine months during college. I thought the relationships were great. I thought a lot about the future, and I was ready to ask about commitment, not engagement, but some kind of commitment. They both found guys better looking than me and ended it without saying goodbye.”

Brandon didn’t know what to say. He knew Levi well enough to know that experiences like that would have broken his heart. Ryan leaving the Northwoods in a rush was bad enough. He said the only thing that came to his mind. “I would never do something like that.”

Levi shrugged. “It happens. So, do you think there’s anything in the cabin I should bring for Grandma? I’m going to grab the pillow off her bed. She has a small pile of paperback books that I know she’s read over and over. There’s probably at least a hundred books in the closet back there, but she has clear favorites.”

Brandon kicked at the pine needles. He wanted to hug Levi and reassure him. He wanted to make sure that Levi knew that Brandon wasn’t like the assholes in the world, but it wasn’t the right time. He said, “Yeah, grab those. If I cut some of the flowers, can we keep them looking fresh for the hours it takes to get all the way back to the hospital?”

Levi turned just before he opened the cabin door. “Don’t hospitals have gift shops with flowers?”

“But you know that’s not the same. I’m going to see what we can do. Surely she has some bottles or something that can hold the flowers. I’ll take charge of that. You go get the books and pillow.”