Page 8 of The Neighborhood Witch

“I’ll take that,” Sarah answered.

“Perfect. Two regulars?” Amanda asked Hugo,holding up two fingers.

“Uh, just make it one. I’ll take a water,” he quickly replied.

“I’ll be right back,” Amanda said and moved toward the kitchen.

“So, you’re on a regular drink basis with the staff?” Sarah chuckled.

“I may have visited here more than once.”

“I love the intimate feel of the place,” Sarah said as she scrutinized the restaurant. “It’s nice and cozy.”

Amanda returned holding a tray. She placed the glass of wine in front of Sarah, a wine goblet full of water in front of Hugo, and a basket of complimentary breadsticks in between them. “Have you decided what you want?”

“I’m still deciding.” Sarah glanced back at the menu. “You go first.”

“The usual for me,” Hugo said.

“That sounds good. I’ll take that,” Sarah quickly chimed in.

“You don’t even know what my usual is.”

“I’m sure it’s perfect,” she replied.

“Two usuals,” Amanda said before leaving.

“Carol talked highly of you,” Sarah said.

“She tends to exaggerate. Hopefully, she didn’t spill all of my secrets.”

“She didn’t say that much. Where would the fun be in that?”

“Yep. Fun,” Hugo said with a chuckle and a hint of sarcasm. “Since you know a little about me, what about you?”

“I’m recently divorced, but we’ve been separated for a while.”

“I’m sorry,” Hugo responded.

“Don’t be. It probably lasted a few years longer than it should have. It was amicable. We had no kids. No pets. So other than a few years of stress, it was for the best.”

Hugo offered Sarah a breadstick before taking one for himself. He then unfurled the napkin from the silverware and placed it on his lap. He bit off a piece of the breadstick and reached for the glass of water with his left hand. Sarah’s eyes locked onto his wedding ring as he gripped the glass.

“I thought Carol said you weren’t married?”

“I was married,” he replied.

“Divorced?”

“Widower.”

“I’m so, so sorry,” she pleaded. “I didn’t know. Carol didn’t mention anything.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“How are you doing? It must be hard on you.”

“I’m fine. Just fine.”

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