Re: lakeside mansion; hugh c./dietre a.
Hugh didn't know any of it, he couldn't. There might be people in Repose who could read people's thoughts, but Hugh wasn't one of them. So he couldn't know what was going through Dietre's head exactly, but he knew emotion when he saw it. He'd made a career off of observing people in many ways, but he didn't say anything - keeping the smile on his face up until Sieglinde interrupted them, and the tension between them were broken.
Truthfully, Hugh sensed that Dietre needed friends maybe as badly as he did, and it was nice to feel like he might even be able to help somehow. Maybe they wouldn't be best friends, or maybe they'd be very close. Hugh wasn't worried particularly about that one way or another, but he was enjoying the other man's presence, and it seemed the other man was enjoying his as well, and that was more than enough for the moment. It was his pleasure, really.
"Oh, Heart must have decided she really likes you," Hugh laughed."That's one of her favorites." Heart had bounded into the pantry, and now she came running back out, chasing around the sofas and coming around to sniff the toy and Sieglinde and look expectantly at Hugh. "You can share," he teased the dog, and then he crouched down, reaching for the toy. He looked up at Dietre, "Shall I grab a couple of the balls and we can let them chase them across the dining room?"