Page 45 of New Day at the Beach House

“Good,” Trina said. She returned to her spot on the couch. “Now, I have to get some more work done before I leave.”

“Leave?” Willie frowned. “Where are you going?”

“Surfing with Miles, remember? And Kat and Alex, too.”

Willie nodded as it came back to her. “Anything you need your Ma and I to do today? For the salon, I mean?”

Roxie came over with another cup of coffee for herself. “I already have my assignment. I’m buying towels. Then I’m going grocery shopping. Or maybe I’m buying towels after that. Depends when Trina gets me the links.”

“I still need estimates for the sign, as well,” Trina said. “They were supposed to have them to me already.”

“I’ll call them for you,” Roxie said.

Willie cut into her pancakes and forked up a bite. “I can help, too.”

“Mimi, you help every time you pay for something. You just rest and feel better,” Trina said.

Roxie pulled her phone out. “Danny Rojas just texted. He said his father has your phone, Ma. Not sure how that happened, but he’s on his way to bring it over. Miguel is apparently still in bed.”

Willie exhaled in relief. “I’m so glad it’s not lost. It would have been a major pain to replace that thing.” Poor Miguel. Was he feeling as bad as she was? At least she knew Danny would take care of him.

Trina didn’t look up from her computer as she typed something on the keyboard. “It is. I’m glad it wasn’t lost.”

Willie nodded, but she was too busy eating pancakes to engage in any further conversation.

While her mom had been downstairs, Kat had taken Toby out for a quick pee. Now Toby was snoozing on the couch while she and her mom were working on fixing breakfast for the rest of the house. Eggs, bacon, toast, fruit, and a side of home fries, the last three mostly so that Cash would leave a little food for the rest of them. Kat and her mom wouldn’t eat the potatoes, the bread, or much of the fruit.

They’d both decided to avoid carbs when they could, although Kat was really doing it to support her mom. She didn’t feel like she needed to lose weight.

She might think differently after spending the day in a bathing suit around Alex, though.

Kat had just put bacon on the griddle and was slicing up a melon when her grandmother came out of the bedroom, already showered and dressed for the day. “Morning, Kat.”

“Morning, Grandma. How are you doing?”

“Good, dear. How are you?”

Kat smiled. “Happy. Excited about the new job. After breakfast and before I head off to go surfing, I’m turning in my two-week notice.”

“Good for you.” Her grandmother went straight to the coffee.

“I won’t have to wait two weeks, though. I have enough vacation time built up that I won’t actually have to go back to work.”

“Even better.” Her grandmother glanced at Kat’s mom, who was beating eggs in a bowl with a little cream and looking less than pleased, which Kat understood. “Morning, Claire.”

“Morning, Mom.”

Margo fixed her coffee, then sipped some of it before going to stand by her daughter. “Did someone die overnight that I’m unaware of?”

Claire shook her head. “No. But Bryan’s life insurance check came this morning. It was only half as much as I was expecting it was going to be. Same for Roxie. According to the attorney, some of the money went to other beneficiaries, and we have no idea who that might be.”

Kat watched her grandmother’s face go from surprise to anger. “He has a lot of nerve doing what he did and then not leaving you your fair share.”

Claire shrugged. “I guess it’s easy to be a big man when you know you’re not going to be around to deal with the consequences.” She tipped the eggs into a large pan that already had a good amount of butter melted in it and gave them a stir. After that, she flipped the slices of bacon over. “And what’s done is done. It’s not like I or Roxie can do anything about it.”

Margo scowled into her coffee. “It bears repeating that it’s a good thing he’s dead.”

The bedroom door opened and Aunt Jules shuffled out in her robe, sleepy-eyed but smiling. “Morning, family. Please tell me there’s coffee and a lot of it.”

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