Page 16 of September

“Thing, yes,” Juliet said with a smile.

CHAPTER 6

Gwen pulled out her phone, expecting it to be a client but finding Elisa’s name on the readout instead.

Elisa Benedetti: Thank you. Whatever you said worked. Adele is on the phone with Wendy now and is going back to campus tomorrow.

Gwen smiled and messaged her back.

“Sorry about that. That’s my sister-in-law. Well, ex, technically, since she and my brother are divorced. My niece just went to college and came home unexpectedly with some relationship problems, though, so I was over there earlier talking to her. Elisa, that’s my sister-in-law, was just telling me that Adele is good now.”

“So, you have the magic touch with both dogs and college students?” Juliet asked.

Gwen laughed and said, “Dogs are easier.” She looked down at the tiny and very well-behaved Carly, who was walking properly on the leash and seemed to be enjoying their walk. “Elisa has a terrier, too. Pretty sure he’s a mutt, though. His name is Buster. She just got him. He’s pretty entertaining.”

“Yeah? So, how many doyouhave?”

“Dogs?”

“Yeah,” Juliet said.

“Oh, none.”

“You have no dogs?” Juliet asked, clearly surprised.

“No,” she replied. “I have a gecko named Larry.”

“You have a gecko?” Juliet asked with a laugh.

Gwen nodded.

“Why Larry?”

“Why Carly?”

“Carly was a rescue. She had the name already. I don’t know where it came from. Did you rescue Larry?”

“From Tampa Bay, technically,” she said. “I was there on vacation, and I found the little guy in my shoe when I got home. He had somehow gotten inside the hotel room and inside my shoe, which was already packed. I didn’t notice until I got back and pulled the shoes out of my suitcase. He crawled out, too, and looked up at me with this super cute face. I named him Larry. No idea why. It just came to me. I took him to a vet, who suggested I keep him since he was far from home, so I did. He’s a reef gecko, I discovered. He can live, like, ten to twenty years in captivity. They told me he was about a year old.”

“So, no dogs, but a gecko named Larry?” Juliet laughed.

“No dogs for now, but I want one in the future. In the meantime, I like taking care of other people’s dogs. It’s fun, and I don’t have the responsibility when I get home. I’m kind of like a grandma who gets to give the kids back at the end of the night. I’m also in an apartment, and I’d like to get a big dog one day. I’d rather they have a yard.”

“Makes sense,” Juliet replied. “So, Carly seems to really like you.”

“She’s easy to please, and there was bacon.”

Juliet laughed again, and Gwen looked over at her. Juliet Francis was beautiful. She had this long blonde hair and green eyes that popped with the green hoodie she had thrown on over those nipples she had shown Gwen accidentally earlier. Gwen hadn’t planned on looking down, but the full breasts with hardnipples hadn’t been easy to ignore through that thin fabric. It had taken her a few minutes to remember, but once she had connected to those eyes, she knew for sure that Juliet was the woman she had seen at the bar with that green beer bottle and an open expression on her face as she talked to the other woman.

“You can really take care of her for me while I’m away?” Juliet asked. “I hate that I have to leave her for a few days so regularly, and I don’t know the rest of my schedule beyond September. I would prefer not to have to find someone else. How does it work if you’re sick or have to go out of town or something? How–”

Gwen stopped walking. Carly turned to look at her and then sniffed the grass in the little patch to the left of the sidewalk. Juliet stopped, too, and turned to Gwen.

“If, for any reason, I can’t get to her, I have back-ups. They’re all on the app, so you can check them out. I’ll send you their profiles. I have two people I cover for myself regularly, and they cover for me. I would trust them with my own dog.”

“That youdon’thave?” Juliet teased.

“Fine.” Gwen chuckled. “I would trust them with Elisa’s dog, whom I love like my own. Once you know your schedule, though, we’ll see what I can do. I’ll walk other dogs during the day, and you can decide if you want Carly walked solo or with a group. We’ll figure it out, okay? You don’t have to worry.”