Page 21 of New Day at the Beach House

“Baking.”

Jules rolled her eyes. “Yeah, obviously.” She laughed. “What are you baking?”

“Something new. Come try one. You can be my guinea pig. I asked Kat but she said she wasn’t feeling up to it.”

“Kat’s home? How did her interview go?” Jules asked as she came over.

Claire shook her head and lowered her voice. “I don’t think it went well. She looked upset and went straight to her room.”

Jules glanced over. The door was shut. “Poor kid.”

“I know,” Claire said. She pointed at the cookies. “Come on, try one.”

“I don’t know if being your guinea pig is a good thing or a bad thing,”

“Neither do I,” Claire admitted. “I haven’t even tried them yet. I’ve been letting them cool.”

Jules looked over the racks of cookies. Some were drizzled with icing, some weren’t. Some had darker bits in them, too, but otherwise they didn’t look all that strange. Except for the white chunks in them. “What is that? White chocolate?”

Claire shook her head. “Popcorn.”

Jules glanced at her sister. “You put popcorn in cookies?”

“Just try one.” Claire picked up one of the cookies without icing. “Come on—we’ll do it together.”

Jules took one of the same kind. “I’m game.” She bit into it, not sure what to expect, but was instantly and pleasantly surprised. “Hey,” she said around a mouthful of cookie. “This is good. Tastes like…I don’t know what it tastes like, but I like it. Salty and sweet is always good in my book.”

“Thanks,” Claire said. She was smiling as she chewed. “It really is pretty good. It’s a sugar cookie with pieces of kettle corn in it. Let’s try an iced one.”

She picked one of those up and broke it in half, handing one piece out to Jules.

They both tasted it and, again, Jules nodded. “This one has a much more intense popcorn flavor.”

“It’s the icing,” Claire said. “It’s infused with popcorn.”

“I don’t even know how you do that.”

Claire broke one of the cookies with the dark bits in half next, also giving one piece to Jules. “Same as the first cookie but with toffee bits.”

Jules tried it as Claire took a bite. Jules’s brows went up. “Hey, this tastes like caramel corn.”

“Perfect.” Claire took a second small bite. “That’s exactly what I was going for.”

“These are obviously for the bakery.”

“They are. I’m going to share them with Danny tonight.”

“He’s going to love them.” Jules popped the last bit of cookie into her mouth. “Speaking of tonight, shouldn’t Mom be getting home soon? I thought she was going to that play with Willie and Roxie tonight.”

“She is, but she might be going straight there from Conrad’s. I’m not sure.”

Jules snorted. “Mom with a boyfriend. Who would have thought it?”

Claire nodded. “I know, right?”

“Well, I need to change and get down to the beach. Cash is there watching Toby.”

“You change, I’ll bag up a few cookies for him to taste.”

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