“Yep. We’re all blondes.” She found another picture of the entire family taken last Christmas and showed it to him. “Here’s one with all of us. My dad, the one with the dark hair and eyes, is king of the blonde joke.”

Linc cocked a brow that only added to his rakish good looks. “You let him get away with that?”

“In a house full of women, he put up with a lot more than we did. He deserves to take his fun wherever he can get it.”

“Beautiful family. Where do they live?”

“They’re all in North Carolina.”

“How’d you end up so far from home?”

She suspected he already knew but was hoping to hear it from her. “That is a very long story.”

“I don’t have anywhere to be. Do you?”

He was charming and easy to talk to and funny. It would be too easy to share her story with him, but she wasn’t in the mood for a trip down memory lane. “If it’s all right with you, I’d like to pass on telling you that very long story, for now anyway. I’m having fun tonight, and it’s not a fun story.”

“Fair enough,” he said, running his fingers over the stem of his wineglass. “As long as you know I’m interested.”

She couldn’t miss the double meaning in his words and smiled at him, grateful for his kindness, his interest and the fact that he didn’t try to cajole the story out of her despite her obvious reluctance. That had happened before, and it was an instant turnoff for her. Anxious to change the subject, she said, “Some friends of mine are playing at the Tiki Bar at McCarthy’s Marina. How do you feel about live music?”

“I love it, especially when Evan and Owen are playing together. I was going to ask if you wanted to go.”

“Great,” Jenny said, excited to continue the date and see their mutual friends.

He paid the check and casually reached for her hand on the way out of the restaurant.

Jenny curled her fingers around his much bigger hand, marveling at the strange twenty-four hours she’d had. Last night Alex had been arriving at the lighthouse right around this time, and… Well, there was no need to go over all that again.

And here she was tonight, holding hands with Linc Mercier during what was turning out to be one of the better dates she’d had since Toby died. As much as she liked Linc, though, he didn’t inspire the same level of edgy, gut-wrenching desire she’d experienced with Alex.