Eisen chuckled and nodded when she asked if he made it. “Thanks,” he said softly. Compliments, to Eisen, whether liberally given or not, always meant a lot. Especially from Lexie, but that was something that would go unsaid. “Grandma Bradbury’s secret recipe, so don’t you dare go asking me for it,” he teased. Honestly, she didn’t care if he shared it or not.
“Okay, so maybe I’m spoiling you, but I see nothing wrong with that,” he insisted with false-sharpness. “Everyone needs a little pampering now and then.” And he’d be damned if he was going to let her spend her birthday surfing the internet and eating hospital food. He’d stay here as long as he could. She spoke of wanting her schoolbooks and Eisen shrugged. “You might wanna smack me but I think I’m with your parents on that one,” he said softly. “At least until you feel better, you know? And I know you’re bored but sitting here studying and overextending yourself will only end you up stuck here longer.”
He reached into the bag and grabbed the CD. “However,” he said, holding it down where she couldn’t see it. “I have something to keep you from being totally bored and stuck in silence. Or worse…crappy daytime TV,” he spoke coyly, pulling the CD from its hiding spot and flipping it so that when he handed it to her, it was track-listing first.