Page 43 of September

“Know what, exactly?”

“Gwen, I was so worried about leaving my dog with a stranger that I was willing to pay all the money I make to find the best dog walker or pet sitter there was, and that’s you.”

“You’re saying I could’ve made more per hour?” Gwen joked.

“I’m serious.”

And Julietdidlook serious. Somehow, their lighthearted conversation about coffee and French pressed had turned into a serious one about how Gwen had disappointed her parents.

“Gwen, you’re the top person on that app.”

“It’s a dog-walking app. It’s not like I was at the top of my class at Harvard Medical School.”

“You didn’t just take care of Carly; you loved her.” Juliet turned to her, and they stopped walking just before they arrived at the apartment door. “And you took care of me, too. You made sure that I knew what was going on every step of the way. You even put up cameras for me so that I wouldn’t be stressed out. You took Carly home with you so that she wouldn’t be alone when you didn’t have to do any of that. You could’ve just walked her a few times a day and made sure she had food and water, but you are kind and generous, and you seem to understand animals, and they seem to understand you. Well, at least Carly does, but I read your reviews, and people rave about you like you’re Dr. Dolittle.”

“At least I’d be a doctor.” She shrugged.

“I don’t know what’s up your mom’s butt when it comes to you, but you have a nice apartment in a safe part of the city. You make enough money to take care of yourself. You’re good at yourjob. You seem to have friends you love, and they seem to love you, too. I think that makes you successful, for whatever that’s worth.”

“It’s worth a lot, actually,” Gwen replied and swallowed hard.

“If you need me to talk to your mom and tell her that, I’d be happy to tell her to leave you the hell alone.”

“I’d love to seethat,” Gwen said as she moved to pick up the brown bag of food and unlock the door. “For now, let’s just eat and maybe watch something, if you want. Carly may or may not be obsessed with the animal YouTube channel I put on now.”

“She watches TV?” Juliet asked as she followed Gwen inside the apartment with Carly.

“Was she not supposed to?”

“I never thought to leave it on.”

“Some animals like the background noise when you’re gone and they’re alone. I put it on for her when I was cleaning earlier, and she seemed very interested in the meerkats.”

“Cleaning? Did she make a mess or something?”

“No,Idid,” Gwen admitted. “And I didn’t want you to think I was a slob.”

“Areyou a slob?”

“Not really. But I’m no neat freak, either.”

Juliet let Carly off the leash, and they both watched the dog run into Gwen’s bedroom and jump all over her neatly made bed.

“Well, there go those decorative pillows.”

CHAPTER 13

“She thought I was into you?” Molly asked.

“And I thought thatshemight be intoyou,” Juliet said as they walked back from the store to the office, coffees in hand. “She brought you up a couple of times, and I thought that she might have been trying to get information out of me, like if you had a girlfriend and–”

“I really just wanted to hang out with Carly. But if she was trying to get info about me from you, doesn’t that mean she was really trying to get information aboutyou?”

“That’s a confusing sentence,” she said before taking a sip of her favorite drink that they only sold this time of year.

It wasn’t a pumpkin spice latte. Southern Roastery sold those, of course, and Juliet thought they were okay, but her favorite drink this time of year was a caramel apple latte, light on all the syrups. She loved the hint of tart apple and sweet caramel but still wanted the coffee flavor to make its way through. She even had them make it with an extra shot just in case they went overboard with the syrups, but she rarely had a problem with that here since this was the store closest to the office and had corporate team members going through it every day. It was an honor to be selected to work at this location. They never had to hire externally for it. If someone left, someone else appliedinternally, and as a result, Juliet always got the best cup of coffee.

“You meant me, right?” Juliet asked. “You’re asking if she really wanted info about me because she likesme?”