I liked the explanation on screen that he couldn't spend time with Whiskey because she was the best. If Echo became the best, then he'd get all his free time to live happily every after with Whiskey.
It's not too different from how a smart man overfeeds his girfriend/wife until she believes that no other man would look at her because she has become an abomination... Which %99 of the time is balls out ridiculous, but women in large (pun intended) are vain narcissistic catty things you can't talk sense to.
It took me three episodes before I noticed Saunder's scars.