Page 50 of September

“No, but Molly is my best friend. You and I just met, and we metbecauseyou’re taking care of my dog.”

Gwen nodded and said, “If you want to pay me, I won’t stop you, but I love Carly. She’s sweet and well-behaved. I don’t mind keeping her here with me if that helpsyouand helpshernot be lonely. You can pay me for the walking and the standard pet sitting rate through the app and get the food she needs and whatever else you want to make sure that she has, but that’s all I need, okay?”

“It won’t be for the whole month. That’s too much. I’ll have Molly take her for a week or so.”

“Okay. Just let me know. I’ll put you on the calendar for the whole month for now, and we can change it whenever. You should book it in the app, too, though.”

“Are you really sure?”

As the water began to boil then, it reminded Gwen that Juliet was there to teach her how to make a good cup of coffee, and she thought that it gave her a good way to transition them back to this being more of a hangout than two people planning work for the next month and a half.

“I’m sure,” she said. “Now, will you show me how it’s done?” She nodded toward the stove.

“Oh, right,” Juliet replied. “I’m sorry.”

“What for?”

“I came over here as a friend, and I just made you work. I brought Carly, too. I should have left her at home and just made it about us making coffee tonight.”

“She’s just sleeping.” Gwen looked down and laughed a little. “I think she’s fine. And I’m fine, okay?”

“Okay,” Juliet said. “So, coffee?”

“Yeah, coffee,” Gwen replied.

They stood and left Carly on the sofa after undoing her leash. Juliet opened the box with the French press, and Gwen washed it while Juliet talked her through the coffee blends she’d gotten for her. When they decided on the medium roast first, Juliet pulled out the coffee grinder that she’d brought with her. Assuming it was Juliet’s from home, Gwen wanted to let her use it herself so she wouldn’t accidentally break it.

“Do you not want to try?”

“I don’t want to break your thing.”

“It’s yours, Gwen. I got it for you. I realized today that you probably didn’t have one, and it looks like I was right.”

“You didn’t have to–”

“I know. I wanted to. I promise, it wasn’t expensive. Standard coffee grinder,” Juliet said. “Come on. Grind the beans.”

Gwen did as she was told, and eventually, they had hot water and ground coffee in the French press. Juliet showed her the rest of the process and poured each of them a cup of coffee.

“Milk?” Gwen asked.

“Sure, but taste it without it first.”

“I like my coffee with cream.”

“But our coffee isn’t bitter, so you might not need as much. Just trust me,” Juliet replied, holding up the cup for Gwen to take.

Gwen blew on the steaming liquid as she looked over the mug and into Juliet’s curious eyes. This woman was beautiful, and Gwen didn’t really want any coffee. She wanted to kiss her, ask Juliet to stay the night, and wake up next to her tomorrow morning, but that was probably too much to ask, so she just sipped the hot coffee instead.

“Shit. That’s good,” she said and stared into the mug as if she was surprised there was coffee in there and it wasn’t magic.

Juliet chuckled and said, “Told you. Not bitter, right?”

“No. How did you do that?”

“It’s all in the roast and in how you brew it.”

“My coffeemaker just makes acid. I only want this from now on.”