Page 20 of September

“It’s okay. And I think I have the Carly part figured out, at least,” she said, following her into the bar that Molly told her was geared more toward locals and not tourists. “I found a dog sitter. I met her today, actually. She’s really great. Carly loved–” Juliet stopped.

Sitting in a booth next to a very attractive and obviously butch woman was Gwen. Juliet stared at that butch woman for a second and then moved her eyes back over to Gwen, the person she actually wanted to stare at.

“Jules?” Molly asked. “Earth to Juliet.”

“Huh?” she asked, having to force herself to look away from Gwen.

“Where did you go just now?” Molly asked, laughing.

Juliet looked back over at Gwen just as Gwen turned to see her standing there and smiled at her. Juliet chuckled a little and nodded at her because she didn’t know what else to do now that she’d been spotted.

“That’s her,” she said.

“Who’s what now?”

“The dog sitter I hired a couple of hours ago.” Juliet nodded in Gwen’s direction. “Gwen.”

Molly looked that way and asked her, “The one with the short brown hair?”

“No, the one with thelongbrown hair,” she replied.

The bar wasn’t very big, but there was enough sound that, despite the fact that they were standing only twenty feet away, Juliet was confident that the music and talking drowned out their conversation. The two women sitting across from Gwen also looked over at Juliet, and she didn’t know what to do now. Should she go over and say hello? Should she leave Gwen and her likely girlfriend to their double date?

“Let’s say hi,” Molly suggested, deciding for her.

“Um… Okay,” she replied and followed her friend over to the booth. “Hi,” she said to Gwen a little too loudly.

“Hey,” Gwen replied. “Come here often?” She shook her head. “Sorry. Couldn’t resist.”

“No, I’ve never been here, actually,” Juliet replied. “This place was Molly’s idea.”

“Molly is…”

“Her.” Juliet pointed. “This is Molly.”

“Hi. I’m the aforementioned Molly,” Molly said with a small wave.

“Gwen,” Gwen replied. “And this is Logan.” She nodded toward the woman sitting next to her. “Elisa and Myra, her girlfriend.”

It was interesting to Juliet that Gwen had chosen to describe Myra as Elisa’s girlfriend, but Logan was introduced as just Logan. Juliet didn’t know what to make of that, but she didn’t want to ask in front of a crowd.

“Do you want to join us?” Elisa asked her.

“Oh, we don’t want to impose or anything,” Juliet said. “Molly heard that this was more of a local scene, so she just wanted to check it out. We can leave you to it, though.”

“Babe, want to go to the bar and play one of those games with me?” Elisa asked her girlfriend. “They just got the poker one in.”

“They all have poker on them and will take your money,” Logan noted.

“We’ll be right back,” Elisa said with a headshake.

“I guess we will,” Myra added. “Feel free to take our seats. We like the bar.”

“You do? Since when?” Gwen asked.

“Since now. Love the bar. So much love for sitting at the bar,” Myra said.

“Glad to hear it. I hang out there a lot,” a woman said as she approached them. “Can I get you anything?”