"Yes, I'd like to help," he said, standing and moving to gather dishes on his side of the table. "I'll wash or dry. It doesn't matter to me." He wouldn't feel right about making this degree of a mess only to leave it to her to clean it all up.

He dumped his cracked and empty shells with the rest of the mess they had made in cleaning the crabs and set the few pieces that still contained meat aside. Whether she wanted to snack on them or feed them to the dog was something she could decide later. "Just tell me where you want me."