Page 77 of September

“Of course, she will. You’re her mom, Jules.”

“I’ve only had her for a few months, when you think about it, and when I first got her, she had another mom.”

“Ah, yes; this ex-girlfriend who just up and left you and Carly. What would she have done if the two of you had had a kid?”

“No idea, honestly. I never had her pegged as someone who would just leave. She was the one who picked Carly out, too. I mean, I thought Carly was sweet, but I wanted another dog.”

“Yeah?”

“I can’t believe that now because I love her to death, but yes, my ex wanted her more than I did. Then, she just left her behindlike she hadn’t mattered at all. Kind of like what she did to me, too.”

Gwen nodded but didn’t say anything, and Juliet realized that the last part might have come out wrong when she took in her now very serious face.

“Hey?”

“Yeah?” Gwen said.

“I’ve got some thoughts and opinions about my past, but I’m not still hung up on my ex, okay? I’m here with you, which is right where I want to be. You can tell that because you’re the other reason I don’t want to travel all the time. It’s not just Carly, you know? I’ll miss her, but I know you’ll take good care of her for me. Aunt Molly will get her visits in, too. Carly won’t want for anything.” They made their way outside. “ButI’llwant for you.”

“You can have me, you know?” Gwen said.

“Tonight?” Juliet asked as they started their walk.

“Yes,” Gwen replied. “If you’re ready.” She looked over at Juliet, who was watching Carly sniff the sidewalk.

“Part of me is,” Juliet told her.

“But not all of you?”

“I don’t know. I don’t want us to rush into something because I’m going to be gone a lot.”

“Okay. Well, we can wait,” Gwen replied. “I don’t mind waiting for you.”

She squeezed Juliet’s hand and smiled.

“I don’t want to wait. In fact, I’d like to see you every night before my next trip, if I can.” Juliet lifted their joined hands to her lips and kissed Gwen’s.

“Yes, you can. I can find someone to cover if I have to.”

“I don’t want you to skip work because of me. I know you make money when you work, not when you don’t. I guess that’s the benefit of salary, huh?”

“That andactualbenefits. Because my work is freelance, I have to pay for my own.”

“Oh, I hadn’t even thought of that,” Juliet said.

“Thinking again about that proposal, huh?” Gwen joked. “I still have the trust fund, though.”

Juliet laughed and asked her, “You really don’t want the money? I know there are strings. And I’m no gold digger; I’m just curious.”

Gwen smiled over at her and replied, “It’s hard because that moneywouldmake my life easier. I could buy a house or invest in my business. I could also blow it all on the riverboat or take a kick-ass trip all around Europe and stay at only five-star resorts.”

“Your business?” Juliet asked, not falling for the jokes Gwen had tried to mask her true desires with.

“Yeah, to go out on my own and get off the apps. They make money off of me, but if I were on my own, I could cut out the middleman. I have a lot of regulars I can rely on, and they could give me referrals.”

“Why don’t you do it, then?”

“It’s risky,” Gwen replied with a shrug. “And it would be harder to get new clients since everyone is on apps these days. Even if I knew how to build one of those for myself, how could I get it to the top of everyone’s list to download it over the big ones that are already there and have a giant list of people offering their services?”