After changing into a pair of comfortable jeans and a T-shirt, he returned to the kitchen to find Venus arranging the plates on the dining room table. When she heard him, she turned, a grimace on her lips.
“I wasn’t certain of your preference in wine, so I bought red and white.”
“I like both, so I’ll have whatever you’re having,” he said.
She opened a bottle and poured two glasses, then stood nervously, watching him as if unsure what to do next.
“Sit,” he said. “We don’t want the food to get cold.”
He pulled back the chair for her and she slid into it, and then he took the one across from her so he could watch her and see into her eyes. He hadn’t even paid attention to what she’d been cooking, but now that he examined the artfully arranged plate before him, he realized she’d blackened
