Page 33 of September (New Orleans #9)

S he rolled over and saw Carly’s face staring down at her.

The dog was panting and clearly ready to go out.

Gwen rolled back over to where she started and saw Juliet lying there, still asleep and looking adorable.

The previous night, they’d talked for a bit, but they had both been pretty tired, so they’d just watched something on the TV in Juliet’s bedroom and fallen asleep.

There hadn’t even been any of the deep kissing leading to hands groping like Gwen had hoped for, but this was good, too.

This was her waking up next to Juliet, a woman she was pretty crazy about already.

Despite them only having officially gone on two dates, it really felt like they’d been on at least a dozen.

They’d talked about practically everything at this point and still had so much to discover about each other.

Gwen knew Juliet liked beaches for vacations but preferred there be something else to do as well, like museums or shopping.

She couldn’t just sit still on a beach for a week and read a book.

Gwen had agreed with her on that and tried to resist planning their first vacation as a couple in her head because it was a little too soon for that.

Juliet also wanted to get a second dog one day when she had a house and preferred to get a larger one next time.

She said she’d be open to getting a cat as well, and when Gwen asked how she felt about lizards, Juliet said she’d be fine adopting a gecko.

That had made Gwen smile because while she didn’t have any plans to get another gecko, Larry was part of her life now and needed to be considered.

Juliet wanted a two-story house if she could find one and afford it, and she hoped to stay in New Orleans or just outside it, even if she left Southern Roastery one day.

Gwen could understand that. She loved this city, too, and planned to stay here forever if she could.

With everything important lining up for the two of them, the only thing Gwen was worried about was Juliet’s travel.

Part of that worry was selfish because Gwen wanted to spend as much time with Juliet as possible.

The other part, which was actually the bigger part, wanted Juliet to be happy, and after only having gone on two business trips, Juliet didn’t seem all that happy.

Gwen thought she would do something nice for her, so she kissed her sweetly on the forehead and slipped out of bed with Carly in tow.

Then, having dressed quickly and quietly, she grabbed the leash, and Carly followed her outside.

Their walk was for one purpose, and it wasn’t a long walk around the block.

Carly would get that later. After a few minutes of sniffing around for the right spot, the dog did her thing, and they were back upstairs, where Gwen dumped some dry food in her bowl and refilled her water.

With Carly addressed, she went back to the bedroom and saw that Juliet was just starting to wake up.

“Why are you over there?” Juliet asked.

“I took Carly out,” she replied.

“Gwen, you didn’t have to do that,” Juliet said. “Come back to bed.”

Gwen removed her jeans, changed back into the sweats she’d borrowed, and Juliet’s eyes were wide open now. Gwen smirked at her, which made Juliet glare at her.

“You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”

“You told me to come back to bed. This is me coming back to bed,” she replied with a wicked eyebrow before she slipped beneath the sheets. “Problem?”

“I now know the color of your underwear, so, yeah, I’d say problem. I’ll be thinking about that all day,” Juliet replied, rolling over and burrowing into Gwen’s side.

“You’re the one who wanted to sleep last night. I didn’t even get to make out with you.” She wrapped her arm around Juliet’s shoulders and pulled her in closer. “Good morning, by the way.”

Juliet leaned a little and kissed Gwen’s cheek.

“Good morning. I’ll give you a proper kiss in a minute. Should I get up and get her food?”

“I took care of it,” Gwen replied. “She has new water, too. Once she eats, I’ll give her a bone to chew on, so you can head off to work, and she’ll be occupied.”

“Gwen, you didn’t have to do all that. You’re here in your capacity as my–” Juliet stopped. “Date. You’re not working right now.”

“Well, I assume that as your… date , or possibly something more in the future, I’d be sharing some Carly responsibilities, yeah? Walks, feeding her, treats. Just getting a head start on that, I guess.”

“Thank you,” Juliet replied. “I should get up. I need to shower.”

“No chance I can join you?”

Juliet moved and looked down at her.

“Another time? This is strictly a shower to clean and not smell at work today. I’d like to take a much longer shower with you, where cleaning is second on the agenda.”

“Yes, please,” Gwen said, leaning up and kissing Juliet quickly.

“No way. I said proper kiss.” Juliet lowered herself until she was on top of Gwen. “Forgive my morning breath?”

“Always if you’re going to kiss me like this,” Gwen said, wrapping her arms around Juliet’s waist and pulling her down for more.

◆◆◆

“Hey,” Gwen greeted. “Ready?”

“Oh, hey. Yeah, give me just a sec. I need to grab my purse in the back,” Jill replied. “Enid, are you coming with us?”

“Yeah. Can Care come, though? We were going to grab lunch.”

“Sure,” Jill said. “Gwen?”

“Of course.”

That morning, after Gwen had said goodbye to Juliet at her apartment, she had packed Carly up and taken her to the dog park to run around for a bit.

She didn’t do it as the dog walker but as Juliet’s date and maybe more in the future.

Carly made a new friend there and played with her for ten minutes before her new friend had to go home.

Gwen had done her morning walks, and just as she’d dropped off the last dog, she had gotten a text from Jill asking if she wanted to grab lunch.

Not wanting to turn down a chance at hanging out with her new friend, she’d said yes and offered to meet her at NOLA Guides.

“Is it really cool if we go?” Enid checked. “I know you and Jill were going to do your thing.”

“Yeah, it’s fine,” she said. “We’re just grabbing lunch. The more the merrier.”

When Jill reemerged from the back with her purse, the three of them walked down the somewhat busy street at midday, and when they turned the corner, they ran into Caroline, Enid’s girlfriend, who had been coming from Jackson Square, where she was selling her art alongside another artist for the day.

“So, how’s school?” Gwen asked.

“Fine. Not my favorite,” Caroline replied.

“I’m in my second-to-last year, but I’m taking twenty-one credit hours next semester and some summer classes, too, probably, so it might even be my last year, and I’ll finally have a degree and my parents off my back.

I just want college over with, honestly.

It’s Enid’s last year right now, so we would be finishing around the same time since I’m not going to grad school like my overachieving girlfriend. ”

“MBA, right?” Gwen asked.

“Yes. Classes just started back up, so I’m adjusting like I do at the beginning of every semester. It’s good, though. I hated school when I lost my job and had to go back because I couldn’t find a new one, but I really like it now.”

“And she’s well on her way to running her own NOLA Guides office,” Jill added.

“Really? I thought you were the manager,” Gwen said to Jill.

“I am, but Mel is expanding our footprint, and Enid will manage the new office.”

“Probably,” Enid added. “I go back and forth on it because Mel is still in the planning stages, but if I don’t, I’ll have a ton of people from school I can recommend who will do a great job.”

“Oh, please; you’ll do it,” Jill said. “You love working in that office with us. We’re fun and make all those numbers you stare at interesting.”

“Hey, I like the numbers I stare at,” Enid argued.

“My girlfriend’s a nerd,” Caroline added with a shoulder shrug. “A hot one.”

“Thanks, babe,” Enid said and took Caroline’s hand.

“So, how’s Willa?” Caroline asked Jill.

“She’s also kind of a hot nerd,” Jill said. “And I love it. I love her.”

“She’s sweet. I like her for you,” Enid noted.

“Well, it’s always important to have the ex’s opinion of the current,” Caroline joked.

“Exes? You two are exes?” Gwen asked.

“No, she’s kidding,” Enid said, looking over at Caroline and shaking her head. “We were never together. Jill and I went out on a few dates.”

“And made out,” Caroline added. “But I’m being totally mature about it.”

Enid laughed at her.

“She’s joking right now, but she actually is mature about it,” Jill shared.

“These two met right around the time I started dating Enid briefly. Two official dates. Then, on the third one, which could’ve been the sex date, she comes over and says that she’s not into me at all and is obsessed with this other girl named Caroline.

Enid dumped me for her, and then, a month or so later, I met Willa, so it all worked out. ”

Gwen watched as Caroline and Enid both rolled their eyes at Jill but smiled at the same time.

“I guess so,” Gwen replied.

“What kind of incestuous ex stories do you have?” Enid asked her. “Help me out here.”

“Oh. None that I know of. I’ve only been in a couple of relationships, and I don’t really talk to them anymore.”

“You don’t stay friends with your exes? Are you even a lesbian?” Caroline teased.

“I know. I know.” Gwen laughed. “I just think it’s easier that way.

If one of us is still hung up on the other, she doesn’t have to see the other move on with someone else, so it’s not awkward.

Later, if we’re both cool about it and we want to be friends, we can, but if we’re not feeling like it, we just don’t do it. ”

“Yeah, this wasn’t awkward at all when we first started dating and they stopped,” Caroline said sarcastically.

“But we’ve all moved beyond it now because I have a girlfriend of my own, whom I love, and Enid loves you, so we can all hang out and it’s fine.”

“Yeah, it is,” Caroline agreed seriously this time.

“Hey, tell us more about Juliet,” Jill said and elbowed Gwen in the side playfully while they walked.

“What about her?”

“Oh, don’t play coy with us. Why isn’t she joining us for lunch?”

“She’s working,” Gwen replied. “Also, I didn’t ask her, but I guess I could have.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“I didn’t think about it. She’s really busy right now, so I’ve gotten used to her traveling and not being in the office.”

“How often does she travel?” Caroline asked.

“She didn’t use to, but she got promoted when her boss got fired, and now, it’ll be pretty much all the time.”

“Shit. That sucks. Right when you meet her,” Enid said.

“Well, technically, I met her because of the travel. I met her because I’m her dog walker.”

“Oh, right,” Enid replied. “Still, how are you going to handle the travel thing?”

“No idea. We’ve only really been on a couple of dates, so we’re not together or anything. We haven’t made plans or talked about what we’d do at all. Most of our conversations about it are about Carly.”

“Carly is her dog,” Jill explained.

“And Juliet is really worried about Carly forgetting her because she’ll be gone practically every day for six weeks.

She won’t forget her, but I understand the worry.

Carly will miss her mom like crazy and will wonder where she is.

Since she’s a rescue and Jules doesn’t know much about her life before the shelter, she’s worried that Carly might think she’s been abandoned.

I’m going to do what I can to ensure she doesn’t think that, but there’s no substitute for Mom, you know? ”

“I think you’ll be a pretty good one, though,” Enid suggested. “You’re Mom-adjacent given that you’re dating Mom in this scenario.”

“That sounds weird, babe,” Caroline replied.

“I know.”

“Anyway,” Gwen continued. “I really like her, so I kind of hate that she’s about to be gone all the time.”

“But it’s only six weeks, right? I get it. I’d hate it if Willa were gone for six weeks without me, but she’ll be back.”

“Technically, she’ll be back home on the weekends, but there’s one or two trips where she might stay wherever she is.

I’ll get to see her at least once a week, maybe, but it’s not just six weeks.

It’ll be like this for probably four to six months, according to Jules, and maybe longer. It’s just a lot.”

“Four to six months?” Caroline said and looked at Enid. “I don’t want to go four to six months without seeing you.”

“Good thing we practically live together and go to the same university, then.”

“I’m serious,” Caroline replied with light laughter and a playful smack to Enid’s arm. “When you’re done with school, if you don’t take the NOLA Guides’ job, you’ll–”

“Care, I’m not leaving without you, okay?” Enid interrupted her.

Gwen watched as Caroline’s soft smile crept onto her face, and she rested her head on Enid’s shoulder just as they arrived at the restaurant.

“Hey, you okay?” Jill asked her when Caroline and Enid walked in ahead of them.

“Yes. Why?”

“Because you seem to be sadder about her leaving than you’re letting on.”

“Oh. Well, I just met a woman I’m crazy about, and she’s going to be gone at least five days a week for the foreseeable future.

So, yeah, I’m not doing great. I’ve watched Elisa and Myra fall in love, and they’re so happy.

Then, I listen to you talk about Willa, and now, those two.

” She pointed into the restaurant where Caroline and Enid stood at the host stand, getting them a table for four.

“Yeah, I’ve been there myself. I also watched those two fall in love when I really liked Enid back then. If Juliet is the one, though, it’ll be worth it, right?”

“Yeah, I think so,” she said. “It just sucks.”

“I know. I’m sorry,” Jill offered. “I’ll buy you lunch to make up for it. Want a beer or a Bloody Mary? I’d say it’s five o’clock somewhere, but this is New Orleans – we can drink whenever we want.”

Gwen laughed and followed Jill into the restaurant.

She knew it was too late to invite Juliet to lunch now, but it wasn’t too late to text her something that Gwen felt was important.

By the time they’d sat down at their table, had been handed menus, and started talking about their drink order and how Enid and Caroline would share their favorite sandwich, she got a reply.

Juliet Francis : I miss you, too, babe.