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couldn’t hear,” Kaydee said and popped a finger in her mouth.
    “Finger out. Go wash up for dinner, and, yes, Mr. Temple can stay if he wants to,” Crystal said. She could never stay mad at Kaydee for long.
    He put Kaydee down and she ran off skipping merrily to the bathroom.
    “So what’s for dinner?” Hart asked.
    “It’s a home cooked meal, so it’s whatever I made,” Crystal answered.
    “That’s not being nice to an invited guest. I’ll tell Kaydee you were rude to me,” Hart teased. “She’s got my back.”
    “Oh, I’m so scared,” Crystal retorted and started to pull dinner dishes from the cabinet.
    “Hey, she’s pretty tough. Have you seen that mean face she does?” Hart replied. “She could put any interrogator to shame.”
    “Good point.” She handed him plates, utensils and napkins. “Since you’re eating, you can set the table.”
    “The last time I did this I was sixteen and rebelling against my parents,” Hart commented. “My mom used to give me a look that said if you don’t set this table I am going to wail on you.”
    “I don’t know if I should ask if those were good or bad memories?” Crystal said. She was afraid maybe his childhood was hard and the question would cause him to be uncomfortable. She certainly didn’t want to pry but when he smiled it alleviated her worry.
    “I was the second oldest of five. We didn’t have much but we had each other,” Hart said. “Clothes were passed down until they had so many holes they looked like Swiss cheese. Sometimes meatloaf Monday was three days a week, but, hell, when Dad grilled outside, we were all there.”
    “How many boys and girls?” Crystal asked as she spooned the food into the various serving dishes.
    “Three boys and two girls,” Hart answered. “All of us guys in the house were older so my sisters’ boyfriends used to be terrified to come over.”
    “Where is your family now?” She walked the dishes over to the table where Hart was just finishing up setting it and placed them in the center.
    “Shelly and Portia still live in Seattle; Mikey lives in Alaska like a homesteader with his wife. They don’t have TV or Internet. They raise animals and stuff.”
    “Ugh, no cable or Internet?” She shuddered.
    “Right, that’s what I said. I visited once and almost went insane,” Hart said. “Great bike ride, but I wanted out of that state.”
    Crystal laughed. “And your parents and other brother?”
    She saw sadness creep into his eyes. “We lost Mom and Dad ten years ago. He died of cancer and she followed a year later of a broken heart. Gerry died in a car crash when he was twenty-three. He was a lawyer and heading for a political career in D.C. when it happened.”
    “I’m so sorry.”
    He shrugged. “What can you do? The rest of us are spread so far apart that we try to keep in touch via e-mail, or, in Mikey’s case, letters. I’ve got a niece and two nephews I’ve never met.”
    “Well, you should remedy that,” Crystal said firmly. “I was an only child and my parents didn’t have family I could lean on when they died. It’s just me and Kaydee against the world. I wish she had cousins to play with.”
    “Her dad’s side of the family?” Hark posed the question.
    Crystal looked away abruptly. “They don’t see us as family. They are convinced I made him join the Marines so he could marry me, and when he died they blamed me. I have Lyn. She’s a lawyer and her husband Jim is one of the good guys in the sheriff’s department. We have Miss Emma, who is like Kaydee’s grandmother, so we’re fine. We don’t need them.”
    Hart grabbed her arm when she went to turn away. She met his gaze and he said gruffly, “Their loss.”
    Her heart give a little flip flop and she took a deep breath, wanting it to behave. Their moment was gone when Kaydee came skipping out of the room and she smelled like her Bath & Body Works body wash instead of antibacterial hand soap. Crystal gave her a look