Page 32 of September (New Orleans #9)

“S he worships your brother?” Juliet asked.

“Well, not exactly worships, but it’s not that far off.

It’s nothing new, really, and it’s not even surprising at this point.

She was raised that way. Her mom was a stay-at-home parent while her father worked as a lawyer.

Grandma raised six kids and was the embodiment of their definition of a perfect wife: always cooking, cleaning, and making sure the kids had what they needed, while Grandpa did his thing and showed up just in time for dinner.

On occasion, anyway,” Gwen added before she picked up her water glass and took a sip.

“I get that my mom was raised like that, and she raised us like that, too, but still. She expected Archie to get married to a woman just like her, and while Elisa acted like that woman, it was all fine. The moment she stepped out of line and dared to be herself, though, my mom stopped supporting her, and it became all about what my brother needed then and how Elisa had done him wrong. It’s pretty much the same with Annabelle.

She’s a bitch to everyone and never comes home, and yet, somehow, she’s a better daughter than me because she spends her trust fund and doesn’t work. Explain that.”

“Trust fund?”

“Yeah. All four of us got them. I got part of mine when I turned twenty-five. The other part only comes if I’m married by thirty-five.”

Juliet lifted an eyebrow at her.

“Don’t worry, I’m not proposing,” Gwen added with a laugh. “Besides, that’s still three years away, so I’ve got time. I don’t want it, though. I haven’t even touched the one I got at twenty-five.”

“No?”

“No. And if you’re thinking about proposing just so you can get your hands on that money, be aware that it comes with strings.”

Juliet laughed and replied, “I wasn’t. But what are the strings?”

“My mom claims that there are none, but the moment I’m married, I know she’ll expect a kid to pop out or something so that she can have more grandchildren, and if I don’t make it happen immediately, she’ll mention the money I got ‘just for that purpose’ over and over until she’s annoyed me enough to pop out a kid. ”

“Do you want them?”

“Kids?” Gwen asked and pushed her plate away.

They’d gotten dinner at a nicer place than the previous night, and Juliet’s food had been delicious, but she’d been so worried about Gwen that she hadn’t been able to eat much of it.

Gwen had been somewhat silent throughout their drive and dinner, and if she wasn’t silent, she was only making small talk.

That had given Juliet an indication that she had needed to get something out, so she’d taken a chance and had encouraged Gwen to talk about the call with her mom.

Now, she felt like they were really talking for the first time that night.

“Yeah, kids,” she said and smiled.

“I do, yeah. And I don’t care if I’m married first. I just want one person forever; you know? I know some women are amazing single moms, but if I can help it, I would like to have a partner help me raise them. You?”

“Me too,” Juliet said. “And I don’t so much care about the wedding thing, either. I mean, it’s great for tax purposes, but I’d do a ceremony at city hall with witnesses. I don’t need a whole thing that costs a ton of money and only lasts one day.”

Gwen smiled at her and said, “Whoever gets to maybe marry you at city hall is one lucky woman.”

“Does that mean you’re taking yourself out of the running?”

“Hell, no,” Gwen replied.

Juliet laughed and said, “Good. I don’t want you to.”

“I would suggest we go on a third date, at least, before we make any kind of long-term commitment, though,” Gwen added with a smile.

“Probably a good idea.”

They skipped dessert, deciding to walk around the city at night a bit before returning to Juliet’s place, and when the check arrived, Gwen took it and paid for their meal.

On their walk, Gwen nodded toward Café Du Monde, which wasn’t a place Juliet usually frequented due to tourists bringing about perpetually long lines, but they were there, and Gwen seemed interested, so she nodded that they could go, wanting to give Gwen whatever she could that night to make her happy.

The line was long, as it usually was, but it moved quickly, and they had nowhere to be anyway, so they stood and waited.

When Gwen took Juliet’s hand, Juliet leaned into her side, loving the feeling of having someone to stand in line for beignets with.

“So, another work trip?” Gwen asked.

“Coming up, yes. And another after that, and…”

“And?” Gwen asked.

“And I don’t want to go.” Juliet shook her head.

“Sorry, Jules. Does it help if I say that I don’t want you to go, either?”

“Yes, and not really.” Juliet laughed. “I feel like I met you at the exact worst time because I’m going to be gone so often.”

“Well, we only met because you’re going to be gone so often. You wouldn’t have had a reason for me to walk Carly otherwise.”

“True,” she said.

“But if you don’t like it, what are you going to do? Just keep doing it forever?”

“No. I took the job because I thought I’d get promoted quickly, but after talking to Molly earlier, I’m no longer sure that’s going to happen, which sucks.”

“Why not?” Gwen asked as they took a step forward in line.

“Well, my new boss told me he’d be getting promoted soon, but Molly said that was unlikely.

The company does all the promotions once a year unless there’s a new role or someone leaves, so I might be doing this for over a year.

It’ll get better once they hire Andrew’s replacement, but that person needs to get trained first, so that relief is probably four to six months away.

They didn’t backfill me when I took this weird hybrid role, so I’m doing my old job, part of Jordana’s job, and now, all of Andrew’s job. ”

“Yes, but you don’t have to,” Gwen said. “Can’t you tell your boss that it’s too much?”

“You’ve been working on your own, babe. I’m not sure it really works like that,” she replied and took a step forward with Gwen. “It’s a job. I kind of have to do what they say.”

“No, you don’t. You can find another job.”

“I don’t want one; that’s the problem. I like what I do.

I thought about going back and recertifying in the HR areas I’d need in order to get the next HR gig like Molly’s, but my heart isn’t all the way in it anymore.

That was my plan. I went to school for it, planned for it to be my whole career, and now, I just don’t know anymore. ”

“Okay,” Gwen said and turned to face her, still holding Juliet’s hand. “Pretend it’s next year. Picture it. What are you doing?”

“Maybe still standing in line for beignets with you,” she joked.

“I’m serious,” Gwen said through light laughter.

“I don’t know. Probably still doing this because I won’t be promoted yet.”

“But do you want to still be doing this? Traveling all the time?”

“Not really.”

“Then, what do you want?”

“My old job, but with some local classes to teach. The sales one we piloted was great and was supposed to be held at corporate, and I’d like to centralize our leadership classes instead of traveling to them.”

“Can you do that?”

“It’ll be my boss’s call, but I can recommend it.

They’re weeklong, those classes, and we make the managers travel to a hotel conference room within their district.

We could offer them here instead, and I wouldn’t have to travel all the time.

They are paying for a hotel room for each of them anyway. ”

“That sounds like it would save the company money.”

“It would. But they’ve always been against it.”

“Why?”

“Because Jordana was against it.”

“But Jordana is gone.”

“Yeah, I guess she is,” Juliet said as they moved up another spot in line. “She wanted the travel.”

“Well, she was boning that dude, right?”

“And Andrew, too,” Juliet added with a nod. “A whole lot of boning.”

“Who knows? Maybe she had other dudes, too.”

“God… She could have, right?” Juliet said. “If she had two that we know of, why not another? She traveled almost every week of the month, covering a lot of stores. She could have had a guy in each one.”

“She’d have to really love sex, then,” Gwen said. “With guys.” She shook her head. “Gross.”

Juliet laughed and ran a hand through Gwen’s hair.

“Yeah, gross.”

“Sex with women is way better,” Gwen added.

“I would have to agree with that statement,” Juliet replied before she leaned in and kissed her sweetly. “Will you stay over tonight?”

“But where will you sleep if Carly is in the bed next to me?”

Juliet laughed and said, “I think she’ll just have to move over and make room for me in there.”

“Then, I would love to,” Gwen replied. “But if I wake up and my face is getting licked again, I will assume it’s you this time.”

“I plan on licking something else,” Juliet stated.

A throat cleared then, and they both turned. They hadn’t realized that they were next in line, so the woman behind the counter was now glaring at them.

“Two orders of beignets and two coffees, please,” Gwen said before turning back to Juliet. “And we’ll talk about that later.”

◆◆◆

Juliet put the key in the lock and went to turn the knob, but Gwen squeezed her other hand, which she was holding, before she could, making Juliet look over at her, wondering what was wrong.

“So, it’s later,” Gwen said.

“Yes, it is,” she replied with a chuckle before she turned the knob and pushed open the door. “And I have to take this one for a walk.”

“No, I just went for a walk. I’m fine. Ready to lie down, actually,” Gwen joked.

Juliet laughed and said, “Hi, baby.” She knelt down by the excited Carly and reached for her leash. “Come walk her with me?”

“Of course,” Gwen replied with a smile before she took the leash from Juliet and took Juliet’s hand into her free one. “You’re still worried about her when you’re gone, aren’t you?”

Juliet checked that she locked the door properly, as she always did, and walked down the hall with Gwen and Carly.

The scene was a good one. They were holding hands. Her dog was walking ahead of them, ready to get outside and sniff everything in sight. All they really needed was to add a baby stroller and a house instead of an apartment, and this was Juliet’s dream life.

“Yes, I’m worried. Will she even know who I am when I come back?”

“Of course, she will. You’re her mom, Jules.”

“I’ve only had her for a few months, when you think about it, and when I first got her, she had another mom.”

“Ah, yes; this ex-girlfriend who just up and left you and Carly. What would she have done if the two of you had had a kid?”

“No idea, honestly. I never had her pegged as someone who would just leave. She was the one who picked Carly out, too. I mean, I thought Carly was sweet, but I wanted another dog.”

“Yeah?”

“I can’t believe that now because I love her to death, but yes, my ex wanted her more than I did. Then, she just left her behind like she hadn’t mattered at all. Kind of like what she did to me, too.”

Gwen nodded but didn’t say anything, and Juliet realized that the last part might have come out wrong when she took in her now very serious face.

“Hey?”

“Yeah?” Gwen said.

“I’ve got some thoughts and opinions about my past, but I’m not still hung up on my ex, okay?

I’m here with you, which is right where I want to be.

You can tell that because you’re the other reason I don’t want to travel all the time.

It’s not just Carly, you know? I’ll miss her, but I know you’ll take good care of her for me.

Aunt Molly will get her visits in, too. Carly won’t want for anything.

” They made their way outside. “But I’ll want for you. ”

“You can have me, you know?” Gwen said.

“Tonight?” Juliet asked as they started their walk.

“Yes,” Gwen replied. “If you’re ready.” She looked over at Juliet, who was watching Carly sniff the sidewalk.

“Part of me is,” Juliet told her.

“But not all of you?”

“I don’t know. I don’t want us to rush into something because I’m going to be gone a lot.”

“Okay. Well, we can wait,” Gwen replied. “I don’t mind waiting for you.”

She squeezed Juliet’s hand and smiled.

“I don’t want to wait. In fact, I’d like to see you every night before my next trip, if I can.” Juliet lifted their joined hands to her lips and kissed Gwen’s.

“Yes, you can. I can find someone to cover if I have to.”

“I don’t want you to skip work because of me. I know you make money when you work, not when you don’t. I guess that’s the benefit of salary, huh?”

“That and actual benefits. Because my work is freelance, I have to pay for my own.”

“Oh, I hadn’t even thought of that,” Juliet said.

“Thinking again about that proposal, huh?” Gwen joked. “I still have the trust fund, though.”

Juliet laughed and asked her, “You really don’t want the money? I know there are strings. And I’m no gold digger; I’m just curious.”

Gwen smiled over at her and replied, “It’s hard because that money would make my life easier. I could buy a house or invest in my business. I could also blow it all on the riverboat or take a kick-ass trip all around Europe and stay at only five-star resorts.”

“Your business?” Juliet asked, not falling for the jokes Gwen had tried to mask her true desires with.

“Yeah, to go out on my own and get off the apps. They make money off of me, but if I were on my own, I could cut out the middleman. I have a lot of regulars I can rely on, and they could give me referrals.”

“Why don’t you do it, then?”

“It’s risky,” Gwen replied with a shrug.

“And it would be harder to get new clients since everyone is on apps these days. Even if I knew how to build one of those for myself, how could I get it to the top of everyone’s list to download it over the big ones that are already there and have a giant list of people offering their services? ”

“You have those regulars. Their word of mouth would keep you in business.”

“Probably, but I won’t know for sure, so it’s still kind of scary. I’ve thought about offering grooming, too.”

“Like in-home grooming? God, that would be great. I hate taking Carly to the groomer. She normally likes car rides, but I swear, she somehow senses when we’re going to the vet or to the groomer.”

“I was thinking about a van, actually. Mobile grooming,” Gwen said.

“That could be cool,” she replied. “Why don’t you do it?”

“I’d need to buy the van and probably renovate it.”

“But you don’t want to touch the trust fund because of those invisible strings?”

“Exactly,” Gwen replied.

Carly stopped and took care of her business. Then, they turned around and headed back toward Juliet’s apartment.

“Hey, tonight?”

“Yeah?” Gwen asked.

“I want to snuggle up next to you, but that doesn’t mean I want to wait forever, okay?” Juliet said.

“Okay.” Gwen chuckled. “How long is not forever to you, then?”

“I don’t know. I could see myself being ready tomorrow, the day after, or the day after that.”

“Wait. Really?” Gwen asked.