Page 31 of Sunsets at the Beach House

“Good enough for me.” Claire got down one of her cookbooks. Because it was one of her favorites and one she referenced all the time, she had a copy back at the Landry house too. But she wasn’t as interested in the recipes on its pages as she was the collected recipes that had been stuffed into both ends of the book.

All of those were her own, tried and true recipes she’d used for all the many events, fundraisers, bake sales, charity auctions, church functions, funerals, potlucks, and everything else under the sun that she’d contributed to over the years. Her winners. Her mainstays. She paged through them, reminiscing about times she’d made the various treats.

“Okay,” Kat said. “Salad is ready and I’ve got water for us, unless you want something else. You want to eat outside?”

“Sure.” Claire set the cookbook aside. “Especially because I’m going to be spending the rest of the day in this kitchen.”

They took their bowls, napkins, and glasses of water out to the porch. It was warm but a nice breeze made it bearable. They sat and ate, chatting about the wedding, the big day of moving tomorrow, and, of course, Paulina and Nico.

Claire didn’t have much to say about them, but she could tell that Kat’s interest had developed a little further. She seemed hesitant to say much, though.

“Listen,” Claire said. “If you want to get to know Nico, do it. You’re not going to make me feel bad. He is your brother.”

“Half-brother,” Kat corrected. “Are you sure? It’ll mean seeing Paulina and spending time with her and that feels like betraying you.”

Claire shook her head. “I appreciate that you want to protect me, or that you feel loyal to me, but again, he’s your brother. Half or otherwise. And you’re never going to get another one, so you might as well.”

Kat nodded thoughtfully.

“Not only that,” Claire said. “But it’s not Nico’s fault he was born into this difficult situation. He shouldn’t be punished for what your father did.”

“That’s really understanding of you, Mom.”

Claire stabbed the last bite of chicken. “To be honest, I’m still a little numb about it. The best way for me to handle this is to imagine what an outsider would do. And blood is blood. Nico deserves to know his family.”

Kat frowned. “I can’t believe Dad lied and told Paulina you and Roxie were his ex-wives.”

Claire snorted. “I can.”

“Yeah, I guess you can.” Kat leaned forward. “All done? I’m ready to get to work on my surfboard clock.”

Claire smiled. “All done. I have a lot of baking in front of me.”

They both got up. Kat took her mom’s dish. “I’ll clean up. You have a lot more to do than I do.”

“Thanks.” She went back to her cookbook and the search for one recipe in particular, a lemon sponge cake. She was thinking about doing it without the lemon, but adding in some finely diced fresh pineapple and shredded coconut, then doing a pineapple curd as the filling between the layers with a coconut buttercream on the exterior.

The buttercream would have to be flavored with coconut cream and extracts, because adding shredded coconut to it would make it impossible to get a smooth surface to decorate on. She hoped that would be enough pina colada flavor for Willie and Miguel.

She found the recipe and read through it. She was tempted to change out the fresh lemon juice for pineapple instead. It was only three tablespoons. She glanced at the pineapple she’d bought. She had to cut it up anyway. Maybe that small bit of juice would be just the thing to give the cake an extra layer of flavor.

Kat came through again, this time with her bag from Michael’s and an old Gulf Gazette under one arm. She went outside and started setting up.

Claire decided to try using the juice. She didn’t think it could go wrong, other than possibly overpowering the coconut. She got to work finely dicing the pineapple. Her plan was to let it sit out on some paper towels while she made the cake batter so that it would dry a bit. If the fruit was too wet, it could ruin the batter.

This first batch of cake was really a test. If it tasted good, she’d use it. If not, she’d tweak some things to get a better flavor. She might just be making this cake as a favor, but it was still her reputation and it was a very special day for Willie and Miguel.

She didn’t want the cake to disappoint them in any way.

She got the pineapple diced and spread out on the paper towel. She juiced enough for three tablespoons and set that aside.

Next, she set her oven temperature, then greased and floured the two smallest of the round pans she’d bought. She’d need two of each of these in total, but today was really more about making sure the flavor was right. If this recipe worked out, she’d have one of the four total cakes she needed. Not much of a head start, but enough.

If this recipe didn’t work, she’d be back to square one. Which probably meant she’d do something simpler and more reliable.

She made the batter, added the juice, the diced pineapple, which had dried nicely, and the shredded coconut, divided it into the pans, then they went into the oven.

She stared through the glass at them for a moment, but she had too much to do to watch them bake.

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