Page 13 of Hexes From Exes

“But that’s not even the best part,” he said, leaning forward conspiratorially. “We’ve got an investor that wants to take the product to Germany. I was there just a few weeks ago. We rented all sorts of sports cars and drove on the autobahn, got up to 150 mph. Well, there it’s kilometers, not miles, but you know what I mean. Or maybe not, you were never really into cars.”

Stephanie gave a stretched smile and contemplated faking a seizure to leave. Thankfully the waitress appeared with the check, which she placed right in front of Frank.

“Halfsies?” Frank asked. “Since you asked me out,” he added with a wink.

Once the bill was settled, Frank leaned over the table, his attention solely on Stephanie for the first time that night. “Well, wanna take this party to my place?” he asked. Stephanie and Frank never were intimate, it’s another reason she pegged him as a possible vindictive ex.

“Oh, I’ll pass. Work in the morning, you know,” she said dismissively.

“It’s only 10 o’clock!” Frank practically whined.

When Stephanie insisted, he shook his head and stood, sighing. “You always prioritized work over us. I suppose some things never change.” With that he left, not even offering to walk to her to her car.

“Bar’s got an open seat,” the waitress said as she collected the check, peeking at the difference in tips between Frank and Stephanie and wincing. “First drink’s on me,” she added.

Stephanie settled at the bar, gladly accepting another glass of wine from the waitress.

“Are you intentionally swinging this?” Rick asked, his voice suddenly so close to her ear.

She jumped, her head whipping toward the voice. She half expected him to be standing there in his demon form, terrifying the patrons of The Grotto. Instead, he was in his human form, settling into the empty chair next to her.

“Am I what?” Stephanie asked.

“Swinging this. Revisiting particularly terrible dates,” he clarified.

“Would it matter? I just need to prove the men who cursed me are terrible,” she countered, taking a sip of her wine. “And given that they were so upset by my existence that they decided to curse me, I can only assume they’re very upset by whatever they think I’ve done.”

“What did you do to Frank?” he asked. The bartender was hovering just out of sight, waiting for an opportunity to get Rick a drink.

“I poached a scientist from him. Well, not really - the scientist just picked me. I offered better benefits, relocation bonus, creative freedom. Frank didn’t.”

“What you having?” the bartender asked Rick at last.

“Oh, nothing,” he said, waving her away.

“You gotta drink something at the bar, can’t just take up a seat,” the bartender told him.

He frowned and waved at Stephanie’s glass. “Whatever she’s having,” he said dismissively.

“You’re a wine drinker?” Stephanie asked.

Rick shook his head. “I’ve never had human drinks or food, never had an interest.”

“I don’t know if you want to start with wine then,” she said carefully, grabbing a drink menu from the counter. “You won’t die if you drink anything here? Get poisoned?” she pressed as she looked through the menu.

“No, I can eat your food and you can eat mine,” he said with an exaggerated eye roll.

The bartender returned with the glass of wine. “Actually, could you bring him a mojito? I’ll take the wine, go ahead and open a tab.” She passed her card to the bartender and reached for the glass.

“I’m sure I’ll enjoy your human drink just fine,” he said, snatching the glass before she could take it. He brought it to his lips and took a large swallow, which he followed with a face of pure disgust. “What is it?” he asked, looking like he was going to throw the glass across the room.

“Like I said, you probably don’t want to start with wine,” Stephanie said while taking the glass from his hands. The bartender dropped the mojito off a few moments later, and Rick took a tentative, much smaller sip.

“This is much nicer,” he said with a nod, taking a larger drink and emptying nearly half the glass.

“So, was Frank one of them?” Stephanie asked, feeling antsy.

“No,” Rick said, emptying the second half of the glass with another large swallow. Then he took to picking the pieces of mint out with his fingers and chewing on it.