Page 23 of September (New Orleans #9)

W hen Juliet rolled up the window, Carly knew they’d arrived wherever it was they’d been heading, but she turned to look at Juliet as if to verify that fact while her tail wagged like crazy.

“Okay. Please behave for me.” She looked at Carly and patted her head. “We want these people to think I can handle training a dog.”

The terrier didn’t answer her, obviously, but Juliet felt like their eye contact meant that Carly had heard her and understood what she had said. She got out of the car and walked around to let Carly out, grabbing the leash she had left her on before the dog got a chance to make a run for it.

“Hey, girl,” Gwen said.

Juliet looked up and saw her walking out of the house next door.

“And hey to you, too,” Gwen said to Juliet this time.

“Hey. I see I come in second place behind my dog?”

“Nah. She’s just always more excited to see me.”

Juliet thought that Gwen had definitely underestimated how excited she was to see her. It hadn’t been all that long since she laid eyes on Gwen, but she had missed that face. She let go of the leash, and Carly ran straight for Gwen, who knelt down to pet her.

“We’re over here,” Gwen told her, nodding toward the house she’d just walked out of. “I gave you Elisa’s address, but we’re actually hanging out at Myra’s because they’re doing construction on Elisa’s place right now.”

“Myra’s place is–”

“Next door, yes. It’s how they met,” Gwen explained before she stood up and grabbed Carly’s leash. “Well, technically, they met because Myra is a contractor and Elisa called to get an estimate on the work. They didn’t know they lived next door.”

“Really? What are the odds?” Juliet asked as they walked toward the house.

“Yeah, it’s crazy. Meant to be, I guess.”

“How long have they been together again? You mentioned it at the bar, I think.”

“Not long at all. About a month.”

“That’s right. And anything I should know?” Juliet asked.

“About what?”

“I don’t know. Like, things I can bring up in conversation or things I should avoid.”

“I can’t think of anything, but it’s cute that you asked,” Gwen replied and opened the door.

Had Gwen just called her cute? Juliet tried not to blush, but she felt the heat creep up her cheeks anyway. She walked through the front door, following Gwen, who still had Carly’s leash in her hand.

“So, Buster is a rescue, too. Elisa just got him, but he’s the sweetest. I’ve had him around other dogs, and there hasn’t been an issue, but I’ve asked Elisa to keep him on the leash, and I’ll keep Carly on the leash.

We’ll let them sniff around, and if all goes well, they can play together while the adults eat and hang out. ”

“Okay. I trust you,” Juliet replied, and they proceeded to walk through the shotgun house until Gwen opened the door to a well-kept yard that had a patio with an awning that provided some much-needed shade.

Buster had been lying next to a patio chair Elisa was occupying, but when he saw another dog enter the yard, he gave a short bark followed by a soft growl.

“Buster,” Elisa warned.

Buster stood up but didn’t make a move to get closer to Carly. Carly herself moved back a few steps to be closer to Gwen, which, Juliet had to admit, was adorable. Her tiny dog trusted Gwen and knew she would never let anyone hurt her, and that said a lot about who Gwen was as a person.

“Hi, Juliet,” Elisa said, standing up. “He’ll be fine. Carly is just in his territory, so give him a minute because he’s a man, and you know how they are about territory. Can I pet her?”

“Of course,” Juliet replied. “And thanks for letting me bring her over.”

“Anytime,” Elisa said and walked over to Carly.

“And his territory? He’s claiming Myra’s backyard now, too?” Gwen asked.

“Well, there’s a gate between the yards that was there before Myra and I ever moved in, so we’ve just left it open for him to have a lot more space to run off all his energy.” Elisa knelt down to give Carly some attention and added, “Buster, come on over, buddy.”

“I’ve got the leash,” Myra said, standing up and taking Buster’s leash, following him as he approached Elisa. “Hi, Juliet. Nice to see you again.”

“You too. Thanks for having me over. You have a beautiful home.”

Juliet had only seen part of it and for a few seconds at most, but it felt like the right thing to say.

The four of them stood around the two dogs as they sniffed and moved around each other, doing that thing dogs usually did to get to know one another.

It didn’t take long for them to deem each other safe and start jumping around.

Myra let Buster off the leash, Gwen let Carly off hers, and the two dogs burst into the yard, running and jumping around each other.

Buster picked up a rope toy. Carly tried to take it, and they were off playing.

“So, beer?” Myra asked. “Or wine?”

“Um… Whatever you’re having,” Juliet said to Gwen.

“Beer for me. Elisa is more the wine girl.”

“Okay. Beer,” Juliet said.

“No martini this time?” Gwen teased.

“Shut up.”

“No problem, Bond. James Bond,” Gwen added in a mock British accent.

Juliet laughed and watched Carly as she played happily with Buster. She was going to miss this, watching her dog be happy.

“Can you let them hang out together when I’m gone?” she asked Gwen.

“Sure. I walk Buster sometimes. Elisa?”

“No problem. He has a lot more energy than I thought he would have when I rescued him, so letting him run or play it off works well for me when it’s time for me to get some sleep.”

“Thank you. I don’t know if Gwen told you, but my job suddenly requires a lot of travel I wasn’t expecting, and I got Carly before I knew I’d be getting it. Gwen’s been amazing. Carly really loves her.”

Elisa smiled over at Gwen and motioned for them to sit at the table just as Myra returned from inside the house with three beers and a glass of white wine that she had somehow managed to carry all at once.

“Here you go, babe,” she said to Elisa, handing her the wine.

“Thank you,” Elisa replied.

“I’m grilling tonight. You’re not a vegetarian, are you?” Myra asked Juliet. “I got a veggie burger thing, just in case.”

“Me? No,” she said, shaking her head.

“Good. I’m making chicken and shrimp, and I’ve got corn going, too. There’s a salad and some other stuff.”

“That sounds delicious,” she said as she sat down next to Gwen at the table.

Myra went to the stand by the grill, and Elisa rubbed her shoulders for a second before sitting down across from them.

“So, you have kids, right? Twins?” Juliet asked.

“I have two eighteen-year-olds, yes. Adele and Archie Junior, but we usually call him AJ.”

“They both just went to college?”

“Yes, different ones. It’s the first time they’ve been apart for more than a few days.

I’ve been getting a lot of texts and calls.

” Elisa smiled. “AJ is a few minutes younger and likes to pretend that he’s fine, but he misses his sister.

Adele is in a new relationship and finding it hard to balance school, her girlfriend, and her brother, so it’s been interesting around here because I am also in a new relationship, have a new dog, and have renovations going on next door because this one couldn’t stop at just fixing the roof and the kitchen. ”

“Hey!” Myra laughed. “You wanted the bay window.”

Elisa laughed, too, and said, “I did. I did. Anyway, there’s a lot going on over here, but tell us more about you.”

“Me?”

“No, tell us more about Carly,” Gwen teased.

Juliet looked over at her, and it was only then that she realized that Gwen’s arm was resting casually over the back of her chair. It made Juliet feel like this was a double date, and that realization made her smile.

“You’re being extra sassy tonight,” Juliet replied. “And what do you want to know?”

“I don’t know. What do your parents do?”

“One is an accountant, and the other is a florist.”

“I didn’t know your mom was a florist,” Gwen said.

“That’s because my mom isn’t. My dad is.

My mom is the accountant,” Juliet said, winking at her.

“My mom actually met my dad when she went to his family’s flower shop to get flowers for a sick friend who was in the hospital at the time.

The friend was fine a few weeks later, and Mom and Dad fell in love.

He took over the shop about ten years ago from my grandparents, and my mom is their bookkeeper.

She takes on other clients as well, and we hardly see her when it’s tax season, but she works crazy hard for a few months, makes really good money, and then just does the books for the shop the rest of the year, which works well for them because they also really like each other.

It’s weird.” Juliet chuckled. “She can do the books from home with a laptop, but she goes into the shop to work alongside him and helps with the customers sometimes, too.”

“That’s sweet,” Elisa said with a soft smile.

“It is, yeah,” Myra added as she walked over to stand next to Elisa’s chair.

Her arm went around Elisa’s shoulders, and Elisa’s arm moved around Myra’s waist as she leaned into her.

“I wouldn’t know anything about that.” Gwen laughed. “My parents tolerate each other, I think.”

“I’d agree with that,” Elisa said. “I’d ask why they stay together, but I don’t have any room to talk. I stayed with your brother when I wasn’t happy.”

“You married him after you got knocked up with twins. My parents married each other voluntarily and were together for several years before my mom popped out twins of their own. They’ve brought this unhappiness on themselves.”

Sensing that there might need to be a subject change, Juliet took a long pull from her cold beer and said, “So, the dogs are really getting along, huh?”

Gwen looked at her and gave her a small smile.

“They’ll sleep so well tonight,” Elisa replied. “Which is good because he’s been waking up at five in the morning, expecting to go outside. I wonder whose fault that is…” Elisa looked up at Myra.

“I wake up early most days for work.” Myra shrugged a shoulder.

“I’m thinking I might take him to the office with me one day.

I think he’d like it. Maybe you can bring him in for a couple of hours around lunchtime, and if he does well, I can take him with me to work on a short day in the warehouse. ”

“Sure, if you want to try it,” Elisa replied and rested her head against Myra’s side.

“It’s almost like you two adopted him together ,” Gwen teased.

“Shut up,” Elisa said. “Let Juliet talk more. She’s nicer than you.”

“I’m nice,” Gwen argued.

“It’s true: she is,” Juliet said as Myra walked back over to the grill. “She brought cameras over to my place for Carly so that I could see her when I’m gone, and she took her for the night while I was on my trip.”

“She did, huh?” Elisa asked.

“Yeah. I’m going to go check on the dogs,” Gwen said, standing up.

She then carried her beer out to the yard with her and picked up a tennis ball. When she tossed it into Elisa’s yard, both dogs took off through the gate that connected the yards in an attempt to be the first to get it.

“Quite an arm there, Benedetti!” Juliet yelled.

“I’m a pro at this,” Gwen replied, flexing her right arm.

Juliet’s eyebrows lifted at the sight of the muscles there, and she cleared her throat as she glanced back at Elisa, who was smiling at her knowingly.

“So…” Juliet said. “Chicken for dinner?”

When Myra announced that dinner was ready, Gwen went inside to wash her hands after playing with the dogs, and Juliet helped with the plates.

She also got Gwen a fresh beer, along with another for Myra, and made her way back outside in time to find Carly lying down right next to Buster under the table.

“They’re here for the scraps,” Gwen said as she joined her and stood next to her.

“Are you messy eaters?”

“No, but they’re desperate dogs,” Gwen replied with a laugh. Then, her hand went to Juliet’s lower back over her shirt, and she asked, “Hungry?”

“Starving, actually,” Juliet admitted.

The food was delicious, and the conversation continued to flow.

Juliet hadn’t wanted another beer because she was driving, but when Gwen refilled her glass of iced tea for her from the pitcher on the table, Juliet smiled over at her and, without even thinking, rubbed Gwen’s knee as a thank-you before she pulled her hand back and returned her attention to Myra, who was talking about her construction business.

Eventually, the dogs realized that the humans wouldn’t be dropping anything under the table for them, so they went back to playing in the yard, though not with as much energy.

As the sun got almost all the way down, the bugs were starting to come out, so Myra lit some torches that were set up in place to give them some relative safety, and Elisa got the dessert that she’d made earlier that day.

“Coffee?” Elisa offered Juliet after setting down a plate in front of her.

“Don’t get her started on coffee. She’ll only tell you that you’re making it wrong,” Gwen teased.

“I will not.” Juliet laughed and then added, “She has a pod machine. Do you ?”

“No, but I’m sure I don’t know how to make it like you do,” Elisa replied.

“I have a few sample bags in my car. I was going to give them to her.” Juliet nodded toward Gwen. “But you’ve made me dinner and pie, so I think you get dibs.”

“Hey!” Gwen laughed. “Are they the medium roast?”

“Yes, because that’s what you said you wanted,” Juliet replied.

“Then, I want them,” Gwen said and continued to laugh. “I mean, you can give one to Elisa, but she won’t appreciate them how I will.”

Juliet smiled at her and replied to Elisa, “I think I’ll just finish this pie and my iced tea, but thank you for the coffee offer.”

“Will I get my coffee later?” Gwen asked her.

“Only if you behave,” Juliet teased.