Page 6 of The Neighborhood Witch

“I have something for you,” Oliver said as soon as he noticed Hugo. He bent down behind the counter to grab two neatly wrapped steaks.

“You don’t need to give me anything,” Hugo responded.

“They’re not for you. They’re for Max.” Oliver pulled out a brown package. “Ask her if you can have one.”

“I doubt she’d even let me have a taste,” Hugo replied as he took them. “Thank you.”

“Any time, sweetie,” Carol said.

“Oh, the new neighbor moved in,” Hugo said. “Pretty fast too. I didn’t see a moving van or anything. And Johanna isn’t happy. They painted the house purple.”

“We know,” Carol replied.

“We met her,” Oliver chimed in.

“She placed a large order for grapes,” Carol said. “Bought all the ones we had in stock and then some. My distributor flipped when I told her the size of the order.”

“She has some pretty wild hair, and she’s quite the looker too,” Oliver added.

Hugo raised an eyebrow. “No one uses the term ‘looker’ anymore.”

“Well, she is,” Oliver replied. “You’re quite the looker too if you put yourself out there.”

“We talked about this,” Hugo was quick to respond. “I’m not looking or wanting to date anyone. Not right now.”

“We’re not asking you to marry the poor girl,” Oliver said.

“We think it will do you some good to get out of the house and mingle with people,” Carol said. “You can’t stay cooped up in your house forever. You need to actually talk to someone.”

“I have plenty of people to talk to. I have the two of you and Max—”

“Max can’t talk back,” Carol interrupted.

“That’s what I like about her. Besides, I have Johanna complaining about something all the time. It’s perfect for me.”

“You can’t shut yourself away forever,” Carol pleaded.

“I’m trying to,” Hugo responded. Carol scrunched her face into a frown. Her eyes glistened as if she were about to cry. He knew he had overstepped this time. “Okay, I can’t just go up to her and say, ‘Welcome to the neighborhood. Hey, want to go on a date?’when I finally meet her.”

“What? No, not her,” Carol replied. “We know someone else.”

“She’s really great and sweet,” Oliver said. “Divorced. No kids. She used to work in our store. You might have met her once.”

Hugo sighed. “One dinner. That’s it. Nothing fancy.”

Carol smiled, then pulled a piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to Hugo. “Her name is Sarah.”

“Wrapped steaks. Name and phone number in your pocket. Am I that predictable?” Hugo asked.

“You’re in here every other day,” Oliver said. “You can buy more than a few groceries at one time.”

“But then what excuse will I have to stop in?” Hugo asked. “Besides, Max would eat everything, anyway.”

“The next time you come in, you can tell us how things went,” Carol replied before giving Hugo a hug.

“Have fun, Hugo,” Oliver said. “You might enjoy yourself.”

Chapter 3

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