Page 101 of September

Gwen smiled up at Carly, who pretended to stop so that Buster could grab the stick, and then faked him out and ran toward the other yard again.

“She’s a good dog. I’ve really liked having her stay with me. Larry’s fine, but–”

“Larry is a tiny terror. He tried to bite my finger off,” Elisa noted, holding up the finger in question.

“I told you that he does that,” she said, laughing. “And he’s fine, but he likes to be alone.”

“Maybe he just wants to be alone as a lizard because you’re a human, but he’d like a little gecko friend or partner.”

“Shit. You think he wants a girlfriend of his own?”

“Girlfriend? Boyfriend? Not sure,” Elisa replied, probably only half-joking.

“I could get another gecko. Cleaning the terrarium sucks, but it’s not a big deal, and it wouldn’t change much with a second one.”

“Maybe he’d be happier. I don’t know,” Elisa said. “Are geckos more solitary animals?”

“They’re generally pretty good on their own or in pairs. I could try the pair thing, and if it doesn’t work, I could just get a second terrarium for the other one.”

“Sounds like a good plan to me,” Elisa replied with a nod. “So, what else for you?”

“Huh?”

“What else is going on? New girlfriend. Maybe a new lizard. Anything else going on?”

“I don’t know. Not really.” Gwen shrugged a shoulder. “I mean, I might decide to start my own business officially.”

Elisa turned to her then and asked, “What’s that mean?”

“Remember when I told you a few years ago that I was thinking about doing the dog grooming thing?”

“Yes. You’re pursuing that?”

“Maybe. I don’t know,” she said as she watched Carly, who was panting like crazy, walk slowly over to her water bowl for a drink.

“I think that’s great if that’s what you want,” Elisa said.

“It’s a lot. It’s a whole thing. I would have to use up my savings, though.”

“Still not touching that trust fund, huh?”

“Not if I can help it. I told her to take it back, but she said she wouldn’t. I suggested she donate to charity. She told me it was my money, and I could do what I wanted with it.”

“She did? That’s unlike her,” Elisa noted.

“I know. It was like she was defeated or something. She finally gave up on me being the daughter she’s always wanted and expected me to be and just told me to give it away if I wanted to.”

“Are you going to?”

“As tempted as I am, I know I should just keep it as an emergency fund. You never know what could happen. If Idostart the business and it doesn’t work out, I’d have that to fall back on. Plus, it would be nice to have it for kids, assuming I get to have any.”

“What does that mean?”

“Well, I’m thirty-two, so I’d need to get started on that pretty soon, especially because I can’t justgetpregnant. We’d have to plan it, and that can get expensive, no matter what we decide on, donor or adoption.”

“True.”

“I also like the idea of having that money for college funds or world traveling, should they want that. Weddings, if they want those. My grandkids one day.”