Page 55 of September

“Anytime,” Gwen replied.

Carly was sniffing around Myra’s front yard while Juliet held on to her leash. They’d finished eating dinner and their dessert, and once the sun was officially gone, they’d moved things inside. Elisa and Myra hadn’t wanted either of them to help with the dishes, so Gwen had offered to walk Juliet to her car.

“Buster and Carly really get along well, huh?” she added, trying to keep Juliet there as long as she could because she wasn’t ready to say goodnight to her yet.

“Seems like it,” Juliet replied. “Will you bring her over here to hang out with him while I’m gone?”

“Sure, if you want me to,” she replied as she stuffed her hands inside her pockets.

“I just want her to be entertained, have fun, and not be alone,” Juliet said.

“She won’t be. I’ll be with her. And if you’re good with it still, I’ll walk her with the dogs I trust.”

“Yeah, that’ll be good for her, I think.”

“I’ll pick her up tomorrow, then,” Gwen said. “Before you hit the road.”

“Okay. Can you be there by eight? I have to leave early. It’s a long drive.”

“Sure,” she replied. “Whenever. I’ve got dogs I walk by nine, so I need to grab her and her stuff before then.”

Juliet nodded, and Gwen wondered how much longer they were going to stand by the car and talk about the dog.

“Well, we should go. I think she’s sniffed every blade of grass here.”

Gwen laughed a little and said, “Yeah, okay. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Good night,” Juliet replied with a soft smile.

Gwen watched her and Carly get into the car after that and waited for them to pull away, giving Juliet a little wave before she went back inside Myra’s house.

“Okay. Did you kiss her? Please tell me you kissed her,” Elisa said when Gwen arrived in the living room.

“She’s tipsy. Forgive her,” Myra said, nodding toward her girlfriend. “She finished that whole bottle of wine.”

“It went well with dinner,” Elisa replied. “And did you kiss her or not?”

“What? No, we just talked and let Carly sniff the yard.”

“That sounds weird,” Elisa said.

“It’s not. She’s a dog; she sniffs things,” Gwen said and sat down next to Elisa on the sofa. “I feel like we spend a lot of time talking about the dog and not talking about each other. Like, I didn’t know her dad was a florist, and her mom was an accountant because we spend all our time discussing Carly and Juliet’s travel schedule.”

“Well, you might be friends, but youaretechnically getting paid to take care of her dog. And she said that this job was new, so she’s probably stressed about Carly, right?” Myra reasoned and wrapped an arm around Elisa’s shoulders.

“Yes, but I like her. I want to get to know her.”

“You should tell her that, then,” Myra suggested.

“Yeah, ask her out,” Elisa encouraged. “She’s really nice, Gwen. I like her for you. And don’t think I didn’t notice that you had your arm over her chair.”

“It just happened.” Gwen smiled at the memory. “But she didn’t push me away.”

“No, she didn’t. She had her hand on your thigh there for a minute,” Myra noted.

“She had her hand on your thigh?” Elisa asked, turning her head toward Gwen. “Where was I?’”

“Sitting there, but it was under the table,” Gwen said. “And it was only for a second. I liked it, though.”