Page 8 of Winning Back Persephone

He raised an eyebrow. "You would think they knew better than to give us both dates at the same time and place."

"I think it's more likely we're on the same date."

"Ah."

Neither of us moved, and more importantly, neither of us suggested the sensible thing of turning around and going home, leaving the ill-advised date well alone.

"I heard they have excellent stuffed peppers here," he said. "If you wanted to have them. I know how much you love them."

"They're my favourite," I agreed. "Perhaps dinner wouldn't be the worst thing." Especially as I didn't have to cook it myself, which was always part of my challenge.

Hades smiled. Not a forced one either, but a genuine smile that he only ever gave to me. "After you." He gestured to the chair across from him.

I swallowed hard and took a seat. Without really thinking about it, I reached out to touch the rose in the middle of the table. It immediately perked up at my touch even if it was cut.

Hades watched me with a strange expression on his face.

"What?" I asked.

"I'd just forgotten what it was like to go out for dinner with you."

I raised an eyebrow. "I find that unlikely. It's only been two years."

"It's felt like longer."

I swallowed hard and tried not to shuffle uncomfortably on my chair. "It has." I managed to avoid thinking too much about my discomfort by focusing on the menu, finding the stuffed peppers Hades had mentioned easily enough, and they did sound delicious. A small part of me wanted to choose something different just so that I could prove he didn't know everything about me, but I knew that was foolish. There was no reason to deny myself something I was going to enjoy just because my former husband knew that I liked it.

"I'm guessing that you're going to get the risotto?" I asked him.

"I was considering it," he agreed. "I haven't made one in a while."

"What's a while?"

"About two years, give or take. It's not the same to make it for myself."

"Oh." I looked down at my place setting and tried not to think too much about how things had changed. Even thinking about it made me want to tell him that we'd made a mistake, even if things weren't.

The waiter returned, giving me a chance to properly compose myself.

"So, how are things at the club?" I asked, hoping that would be a safe subject.

"Good," he said. "Poseidon has hired it for a Saturday night in about six months."

"A Saturday night? What could he possibly want it for?"

Hades shrugged. "He wouldn't tell me."

"And you let him have it anyway?" I would have asked a few more questions before agreeing to that, but I knew Hades was more willing to try things out without thinking them all the way through.

"I made him pay double what the club normally earns on a Saturday night," Hades responded.

"That's something, I guess." I still wouldn't have hired it to him without more information, but the club wasn't my business any more, it was Hades', and I had to remember that.

"How are things going with your new business?" Hades asked.

"Well. We've got a big launch coming up just in time for Christmas."

"You don't celebrate Christmas."

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