Page 37 of Billionaire Unexplained: Kaleb

Good! That definitely meant neither of my brothers would dare to start devouring the food before we got into the kitchen.

None of us would ever deliberately disrespect our mother.

I took Anna into the large kitchen and sat her down at the table.

My stomach growled as I smelled the chicken and dumplings.

It was my favorite, and Mom knew it.

She was absolutely going to try to pry more information from me by giving me my favorite dinner.

“It smells amazing,” Anna said as she closed her eyes and inhaled.

“Eat,” Mom ordered as she waved at the table.

My brothers reached for their favorite items like someone had just fired the starting shot for a hundred-yard dash.

The three of us had always been a little competitive when it came to food. That hadn’t changed much, even though we’d been grown men for a long time. We had much larger appetites.

Mom cleared her throat. “We do have company,” she said firmly. “You three don’t need to eat like you haven’t seen food in months.”

Devon handed a bowl to Anna. “I was just getting the dumplings for Anna,” he explained smoothy.

Tanner snickered as he saw the displeased look on my mother’s face.

Mom shot Devon a warning look for telling a lie, but she didn’t say anything. She didn’t have to. One disappointed look from our parent was all it took to make Devon fall in line.

“I’m all in on this plan of yours to keep Anna’s identity a secret,” Mom said as we all started to eat. “This poor girl needs some time to herself without being recognized. Honestly, she looked so different without all that blonde hair that I wouldn’t have recognized her if I didn’t already know that she was Annelise. What can I do to help?”

“Keep the secret,” I told her. “We aren’t expecting you to tell any lies for us, but if the wrong person finds out she’s here, Anna will be swamped with the press breathing down her neck because she’s staying alone with me. She doesn’t need that right now. And you know how people in this town love drama and secrets.”

The people of Crystal Fork were inherently good people, but any kind of juicy gossip spread like wildfire in the small town.

“Maybe you should start off slow instead of taking her directly to the spring fundraiser,” Mom said thoughtfully.

“Like?” I questioned.

“Take her to The Mug And Jug for coffee tomorrow morning. Let some people get used to seeing her with you before you show up at the fundraiser where the entire town will be present,” Mom suggested. “Silas will love flirting with her.”

“The Mug And Jug?” Anna questioned. “And who is Silas and why would he flirt with me?”

I grinned at her. “The Mug And Jug is the most popular place in town. They serve gourmet coffee in the morning, and then it turns into the only bar in town in the evening. Silas Turner owns The Mug And Jug, and he tries to flirt with every female in town. He’s eighty-four years old, and he’s harmless.”

“Gourmet coffee,” Anna said longingly.

I grinned wider, knowing I wasn’t going to have to twist her arm to go with me.

“And the best cinnamon rolls in the area,” Tanner added as he took a break from his food.

Anna’s eyes widened. “I love cinnamon rolls, but they don’t love me. Sweets pack weight on me in a hurry, and my stage costumes are already tight. I haven’t been watching my diet very closely since my parents died. I’ve been indulging in too much comfort food. I haven’t even looked at a salad in months.”

My mother laughed. “I don’t see a single extra pound on your body, hon. You can afford a cinnamon roll.”

Mom was a little plump, and she always thought everyone else was too skinny, so she always tried to feed everyone, whether they needed to gain weight…or not.

However, she was right to try to get Anna to eat what she wanted. She was curvy in all of the right places, but she was slender. Hell, did her weight really matter in the first place? If she wanted a damn cinnamon roll or two, she should have some.

It sounded to me like she’d deprived herself of way too many of the simple pleasures in life for the sake of her career.

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