Page 4 of September (New Orleans #9)

Gwen hadn’t grown up in New Orleans, but after college, she had moved here, despite her parents telling her to move back into their house until she could find a decent job or a wife because, in their mind, those were the only options.

Of course, they would’ve preferred a husband, but Gwen had made it clear that wasn’t a possible outcome, so they tolerated her being a lesbian.

In fact, they were more okay with that than they had been with her deciding that she wanted to walk dogs for a while until she decided what she wanted to do for a career, and they’d really hated it when she had decided to walk dogs as her career.

“Hey there.”

Gwen looked up and saw an attractive woman with a blonde pixie cut standing next to her at the bar.

Myra and Elisa had gone to find a table while she had been sent to get them all drinks, which hadn’t been planned to get her away from the couple to find someone for herself, but if it worked, she would take it.

“Oh, hey,” she replied.

“I’m Jen.”

“Gwen.” She laughed. “We rhyme.”

Jen laughed as well and said, “Jen and Gwen. Nice. It’s like we have our ship name ready to go.”

“Gen with a G?” Gwen asked, trying to figure it out.

Jen laughed again and asked, “Can I buy you a drink?’

“Oh, sorry. Thanks for the offer, but I’m–”

“With someone?”

“No. Well, yeah. I’m here with my friends.”

“And they wouldn’t want you to get a free drink? Some friends you have there, Gwen,” the woman joked.

“Yeah, they’re the worst.” She laughed a little and then added, “Another time, maybe? We’re out celebrating some things tonight.”

“You’re a local?” Jen asked.

“I am. You?”

“No. I’m in town for a conference. Work thing.”

“What do you do?”

“I sell insurance. It’s boring.”

“So, you were just looking for something for the night?”

“I’m here for the next three nights, so it didn’t have to be just for tonight,” Jen replied.

“I see,” she said and waved the bartender over. “Well, I’m not really into that. I can be. I just don’t think I am right now. Not into it, I mean.”

“Sex with a woman?” Jen asked.

“No, I’m really into that. Love that . God, I miss that.”

“Been a while?” Jen laughed.

“You could say that.”

“I could fix that,” she offered, leaning over the bar like Gwen was.

“And I’m sure I’d appreciate it, but I’m not a one-night stand kind of gal.”

“Three-night stands are off the table, too?”

“Never had one of those,” Gwen replied. “But, yeah.” She smiled over at Jen. “Thanks for the offer, though.”

“I saw you come in and had to try. I was really just going to offer to buy you a drink, but I figured why not go all-in, you know? You’re insanely hot, you know that?”

“If I say yes, that makes me a narcissist, right?”

“And funny, too,” Jen said. “My loss.” She held up her beer bottle. “Well, I’ve got to try to find a way to have some fun in this city before I leave. Have a good night, Gwen.”

“You too, Jen. Good luck with your whole three-night-stand mission thing.”

“Thanks,” Jen said and walked off, laughing.

When Gwen was finally able to get the bartender’s attention, she ordered their drinks, and as she waited for them to be made, she turned to her left.

There, she saw two women talking to one another at the end of the L-shaped bar.

One of them was blonde, and it looked like she had green eyes.

Gwen was guessing from afar, but the beer bottle the woman was holding was green, and as she brought the bottle to her lips, it really brought out those eyes.

Gwen tried not to stare, but it took the bartender asking her to pay for her drinks to get her to pull her eyes off the blonde.

Having paid, she walked toward the table with the three beers she’d purchased, placed one in front of Myra and one in front of Elisa, and took a long drink of the one she’d gotten for herself.

“Did I see you talk to someone at the bar?” Elisa asked.

“Yeah. Tourist.”

“And?”

“And she wanted to sleep with me,” Gwen replied.

“You said no?”

“Tourist,” she repeated.

“Do you have a thing about not sleeping with tourists?” Myra asked.

“Not tourists specifically. I just don’t do meaningless sex. Making out is fine, but I wasn’t interested in that tonight. Just sleeping with someone once, and that’s it? Not a fan.”

“Myra used to be a fan,” Elisa shared.

“Babe!”

“What? You were.”

“Yeah, a long time ago. Like, decades ago now. I’m a one-woman woman today.” Myra wrapped her arm around Elisa’s waist and pulled her into her. “Don’t go telling people I’m a player or something.”

“I said used to be,” Elisa replied and kissed Myra’s neck.

Gwen stayed for another hour to celebrate them having the house to themselves, but when Elisa and Myra were ready to go to another bar, she called it a night.

They walked her out and made sure she got into her shared-ride car safely, but instead of going straight home, she went to a client’s house.

She’d been taking care of their cat while they were on a three-week-long cruise in the Caribbean.

The gray-and-black striped ten-year-old cat was a sweetheart, and Gwen would miss her when they got home and she no longer needed to stop by to check on her, play with her a little bit, make sure she had food and water, and clean the litter box.

“Hey, sweetie,” she greeted when the cat rubbed herself over Gwen’s legs. “How are you?” Gwen picked her up, and the cat rubbed against her cheek. “Animals are just better than people. How are you so sweet?” The cat began purring. “How about some treats? Did you eat all your food today?”

Gwen checked the food and water bowls, cleaned the litter box, and gave the cat a few of the allowed treats.

Then, she sat on the floor and used the string toy with the little fake fish attached at one end and played with her, trying not to think about how lonely she was and probably would be for a while.