Page 53 of September

“Me? No,” she said, shaking her head.

“Good. I’m making chicken and shrimp, and I’ve got corn going, too. There’s a salad and some other stuff.”

“That sounds delicious,” she said as she sat down next to Gwen at the table.

Myra went to the stand by the grill, and Elisa rubbed her shoulders for a second before sitting down across from them.

“So, you have kids, right? Twins?” Juliet asked.

“I have two eighteen-year-olds, yes. Adele and Archie Junior, but we usually call him AJ.”

“They both just went to college?”

“Yes, different ones. It’s the first time they’ve been apart for more than a few days. I’ve been getting a lot of texts and calls.” Elisa smiled. “AJ is a few minutes younger and likes to pretend that he’s fine, but he misses his sister. Adele is in a new relationship and finding it hard to balance school, her girlfriend,andher brother, so it’s been interesting around here because I am also in a new relationship, have a new dog, and have renovations going on next door because this one couldn’t stop at just fixing the roofandthe kitchen.”

“Hey!” Myra laughed. “You wanted the bay window.”

Elisa laughed, too, and said, “I did. I did. Anyway, there’s a lot going on over here, but tell us more about you.”

“Me?”

“No, tell us more about Carly,” Gwen teased.

Juliet looked over at her, and it was only then that she realized that Gwen’s arm was resting casually over the back of her chair. It made Juliet feel like this was a double date, and that realization made her smile.

“You’re being extra sassy tonight,” Juliet replied. “And what do you want to know?”

“I don’t know. What do your parents do?”

“One is an accountant, and the other is a florist.”

“I didn’t know your mom was a florist,” Gwen said.

“That’s because mymomisn’t. Mydadis. My mom is the accountant,” Juliet said, winking at her. “My mom actually met my dad when she went to his family’s flower shop to get flowers for a sick friend who was in the hospital at the time. The friend was fine a few weeks later, and Mom and Dad fell in love. He took over the shop about ten years ago from my grandparents, and my mom is their bookkeeper. She takes on other clients as well, and we hardly see her when it’s tax season, but she works crazy hard for a few months, makes really good money, and then just does the books for the shop the rest of the year, which works well for them because they also really like each other. It’s weird.” Juliet chuckled. “She can do the books from home with a laptop, but she goes into the shop to work alongside him and helps with the customers sometimes, too.”

“That’s sweet,” Elisa said with a soft smile.

“It is, yeah,” Myra added as she walked over to stand next to Elisa’s chair.

Her arm went around Elisa’s shoulders, and Elisa’s arm moved around Myra’s waist as she leaned into her.

“I wouldn’t know anything about that.” Gwen laughed. “My parents tolerate each other, I think.”

“I’d agree with that,” Elisa said. “I’d ask why they stay together, but I don’t have any room to talk. I stayed with your brother whenIwasn’t happy.”

“You married him after you got knocked up with twins. My parents married each other voluntarily and were together for several years before my mom popped out twins of their own. They’ve brought this unhappiness on themselves.”

Sensing that there might need to be a subject change, Juliet took a long pull from her cold beer and said, “So, the dogs are really getting along, huh?”

Gwen looked at her and gave her a small smile.

“They’ll sleep so well tonight,” Elisa replied. “Which is good because he’s been waking up at five in the morning, expecting to go outside. I wonder whose fault that is…” Elisa looked up at Myra.

“I wake up early most days for work.” Myra shrugged a shoulder. “I’m thinking I might take him to the office with me one day. I think he’d like it. Maybe you can bring him in for a couple of hours around lunchtime, and if he does well, I can take him with me to work on a short day in the warehouse.”

“Sure, if you want to try it,” Elisa replied and rested her head against Myra’s side.

“It’s almost like you two adopted himtogether,” Gwen teased.