“Will you trust me to order for you?”
She sighed and then nodded. “Yes.”
“Good girl.”
Eli put in their orders and grinned when Kinley flinched at what he ordered.
“And bring a bottle of your best cabernet.”
“Yes, sir,” the waitress said and moved away.
“Do you like wine?”
She shook her head. “A little. Sometimes it makes me sick.”
“Then we’ll have to watch that.”
She nodded and then glanced around. Her expression suddenly got sad.
“What’s wrong?”
She looked at him. “People are staring at us. I know they’re wondering what you’re doing with someone like me.”
Eli grunted and shook his head. “That’s not it, baby. People don’t like to see scars like mine.”
“That makes me sadder,” she said.
“What does?”
“I can barely see anything on you, but all I can think about was how much pain you must have been in. I hope you had someone there to take care of you.”
He watched her eyes mist, and she blinked rapidly to push back the tears.
He kissed her hand. “You are the sweetest thing.”
“Because I don’t like you being hurt?” she asked.
“Yeah. I don’t have many people in my life who care about me like that.”
She looked away. “I only have a cousin. No one else.”
“Yes, you do.”
She looked at him in confusion. “Who?”
“Me. We’re friends now, right?”