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I watched as she put another big plate in front of Kai, only it was filled with broccoli, cauliflower, corn, and turkey.

“Don’t worry about it, Marlowe. I expect that Kai will be eating whatever you can’t finish.”

I looked over at Kai. He winked at me. “I’ve got your back.”

I nearly melted right then.

“See, I told you.” Lettie patted my shoulder. “Is there anything else I can get for you?”

We both shook our heads, and then started eating. After my second bite of fried chicken and my first bite of waffle, I looked up at Kai. “You’re not going to be getting any of my food.”

He burst out laughing. The sound was deep, rich, and sent tingles down my spine. “In that case, I’ll put in another order to take back to the hotel with me.”

“How long are you staying at Whispering Pines?”

“Until I get in touch with Beau.”

“Are you going to talk to Bernie? He’s the one who arranged the three calls I had with Beau.”

“Yeah, he’s definitely on my list of people to talk to.” Kai cut up a piece of turkey and put it in his mouth. When he was done chewing and swallowing, he gave me a half smile. “You were also on my list of people to talk to, even if I didn’t want to ask you out.”

“So, is this a date?” I teased.

He leaned in slightly, lowering his voice, making it impossible for me to look anywhere but at him—not that I wanted to. “If you don’t know this is a date, I’m doing something wrong. How can I convince you?”

I shivered. “I think you telling me I was beautiful and noticing my shoes, convinced me.”

“Don’t forget your hair. Now that I’ve seen it down, I’m going to be dreaming about your hair.”

Damn, I’m going to start blushing again.

Time for a new topic. “What do you want to know about Beau?”

“Anything? Everything?” He took a sip of water. “Now I probably sound like one of those lovelorn high school boys who follow you around.”

“No. No, you don’t. You sound exactly like a brother who wants to know about a twin he never knew he had.”

“That’s not quite true. I had dreams of the two of us. I remember telling my father about them once…”

His voice trailed off.

“And?” I prompted.

“Let’s just say, it didn’t go well, and leave it at that.”

I could see both pain and anger in his eyes. My instinct was to reach out, touch his hand, offer some comfort. I sure as hell wasn’t going to press for an answer. “Was there anything good about your childhood?” I prayed he’d say yes.

His expression softened. The anger left his eyes. “Alaska is beautiful. Before I turned ten, I got to run wild. Dillingham is a small community, and I made friends with other kids who were just as unruly as I was. Ronald, I mean Arthur, didn’t care where I was, or who I was with. It was great. Then I turned ten and I had to work the boat.”

“I don’t understand. What do you mean, work the boat?”

“He owned a crabbing boat. He was a shitty captain, but he somehow managed to talk some guys into working the boat with him during king crab season from October to January. He had less guys working for him during snow and Dungeness season because they weren’t worth as much, so the payout was smaller. That’s why he needed me. Plus, I was cheap labor.”

“Was it dangerous?”

Kai gave me a half grin.

“Sometimes.”