Page 70 of Sunsets at the Beach House

He chuckled. “Can’t have you being sad.”

She took his doughnut out, holding it by the wax paper partially wrapped around it, and handed it to him. “I’ll fix your coffee for you. How do you want it?”

“Thanks. Two sugars, two creamers.”

She got it taken care of, putting the lid back on so it wouldn’t spill, then put it in the cup holder closest to him. She put a napkin on his leg, too. “Just in case.”

“Thanks. I’m sure I’ll need it.”

She fixed her coffee next. When that was done, she took a bite of her doughnut. “Mmm. Not bad for a mass-produced thing.”

He nodded, his mouth too full to answer. Finally, he rested his doughnut on the napkin she’d given him and took a sip of coffee. “Should we offer doughnuts?”

“No. Too much work and there’s already a doughnut place in town. But for the early morning crowd, we’ll have muffins and some assorted pastries. We’ll do the standard filled Danish in a variety of flavors. Probably cheese, guava, strawberry, pineapple, lemon, maybe an orange marmalade, maybe a key lime curd.”

“How about that sour orange? That would wake you up in the morning.”

She smiled. “That’s not a bad idea at all. Then we can do a few other types of pastries like apple fritters, cinnamon rolls, bear claws. Things like that.”

He nodded, picking up his doughnut again. “You’ve put a lot of thought into this.”

“I have lists of everything I want to make.” She sipped her coffee. It wasn’t bad. “A lot of lists. I’ve broken them down by product type, then the flavors I want to use. I want to have a great selection, but I don’t want to duplicate so much of what’s out there already. We need to be special. Interesting. Different. The sour orange pie and Puerto Rican flavors and treats will help a lot with that.” That’s how they’d make a name and reputation for themselves—by standing out.

“I couldn’t agree more. You seem to really have a handle on it. And I love how much you’ve embraced our Puerto Rican heritage when it comes to the flavors and recipes. Thank you for that. Means a lot to me and my family.”

“Means a lot to me, too. If it’s important to you, it’s important to me. And I’ve really enjoyed adding to my repertoire.”

He popped the last of his doughnut into his mouth. She took another bite of hers as well. They drove in silence, finishing up their food, sipping their coffee, and just enjoying the moment.

He took a sip of coffee then returned his cup to the holder. “Do you think being back in your house will stir up a lot of memories?”

She nodded. “I’m sure it will. But I don’t think they’ll bother me. They might have at one time, but I have so much going on in my life right now, so much good, exciting stuff, that I don’t have the time for bad energy.” She laughed. “Did that sound a little New Age? I just mean that I’m moving forward.”

“I get it,” he said. “It’s a great attitude, too.”

“You’re such a big part of helping me get there. Not just the bakery, which is huge, of course, but your friendship and the way things are developing between us. It’s really made me see how I was limiting myself. Unnecessarily.”

“There’s a lot of life out there to be lived.”

“And I know that now.” She sighed and looked out the window. “I lived such a small life for so long. Way too concerned with what someone else might think.”

“That’s a hard way to go through life.”

“It really was.” She glanced over at him. “I’m not glad Bryan did what he did. But, boy, did it wake me up. If I’m happy about anything, it’s that it all exploded when it did. If I hadn’t found out about any of this for another twenty or so years, I would feel like I’d wasted my entire life. At least now, I feel like I’m getting an amazing second chance.”

Danny smiled. “I’m so glad I get to be a part of that.”

Margo had a legal pad on her lap and a pen in her hand. As Conrad drove, they talked through the next few scenes of the book, and she took notes. She put down as much detail as they could come up with, even adding some lines of dialogue when possible.

She was glad to do it and even gladder that they were making some headway. She didn’t like the thought of giving up an entire day of writing. They’d been on such a nice streak.

She’d filled two and a half pages when their ideas seemed to peter out. “Is that all we have?”

After a moment, Conrad nodded. “Maybe. If we go too much further, we might find none of it’s useful. You know how it is when you actually start putting the words down in the manuscript. Things change. New ideas emerge. We could end up going in a completely different direction. Although what we have so far seems pretty solid. Do you think we should try for more?”

“No, that’s fine. We can stop there.” She clicked the pen to retract the ballpoint, then tucked it away in her purse. “You are supposed to be educating me about Dinah anyway.”

He smiled. “Right. Where to begin…”

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