Sprucing up the wine options at Four Leaf meant only one thing for Santiago -- he would have to engage a palate that better liked wine than he did and would no doubt be a customer for whichever ones he decided to give a test run to. That's how he found himself sat opposite Benji, awaiting the next two reds to be sampled to be brought their way.
"So," He says, pivoting the conversation from the more menial aspects of how the bar was doing that he had previously been divulging, steering it instead down a path that could end up any which way depending on where Ben was with it. "Auggie's back, huh. How are we with that?"
He couldn't think of a nicer way to inquire about whether the singular instance of backsliding Ben had mentioned to him in passing while they had played mini golf would be something he would be normal about or if he would go full Benjamin Hyun about it.