Page 79 of September

“I took care of it,” Gwen replied. “She has new water, too. Once she eats, I’ll give her a bone to chew on, so you can head off to work, and she’ll be occupied.”

“Gwen, you didn’t have to do all that. You’re here in your capacity as my–” Juliet stopped. “Date. You’re not working right now.”

“Well, I assume that as your…date, or possibly something more in the future, I’d be sharing some Carly responsibilities, yeah? Walks, feeding her, treats. Just getting a head start on that, I guess.”

“Thank you,” Juliet replied. “I should get up. I need to shower.”

“No chance I can join you?”

Juliet moved and looked down at her.

“Another time? This is strictly a shower to clean and not smell at work today. I’d like to take a much longer shower with you, where cleaning issecondon the agenda.”

“Yes, please,” Gwen said, leaning up and kissing Juliet quickly.

“No way. I said proper kiss.” Juliet lowered herself until she was on top of Gwen. “Forgive my morning breath?”

“Always if you’re going to kiss me like this,” Gwen said, wrapping her arms around Juliet’s waist and pulling her down for more.

???

“Hey,” Gwen greeted. “Ready?”

“Oh, hey. Yeah, give me just a sec. I need to grab my purse in the back,” Jill replied. “Enid, are you coming with us?”

“Yeah. Can Care come, though? We were going to grab lunch.”

“Sure,” Jill said. “Gwen?”

“Of course.”

That morning, after Gwen had said goodbye to Juliet at her apartment, she had packed Carly up and taken her to the dog park to run around for a bit. She didn’t do it as the dog walker but as Juliet’s date and maybe more in the future. Carly made a new friend there and played with her for ten minutes before her new friend had to go home. Gwen had done her morning walks, and just as she’d dropped off the last dog, she had gotten a text from Jill asking if she wanted to grab lunch. Not wanting to turn down a chance at hanging out with her new friend, she’d said yes and offered to meet her at NOLA Guides.

“Is it really cool if we go?” Enid checked. “I know you and Jill were going to do your thing.”

“Yeah, it’s fine,” she said. “We’re just grabbing lunch. The more the merrier.”

When Jill reemerged from the back with her purse, the three of them walked down the somewhat busy street at midday, and when they turned the corner, they ran into Caroline, Enid’s girlfriend, who had been coming from Jackson Square, where she was selling her art alongside another artist for the day.

“So, how’s school?” Gwen asked.

“Fine. Not my favorite,” Caroline replied. “I’m in my second-to-last year, but I’m taking twenty-one credit hours next semester and some summer classes, too, probably, so it might even be my last year, and I’ll finally have a degree and my parents off my back. I just want college over with, honestly. It’s Enid’s last year right now, so we would be finishing around the same time since I’m not going to grad school like my overachieving girlfriend.”

“MBA, right?” Gwen asked.

“Yes. Classes just started back up, so I’m adjusting like I do at the beginning of every semester. It’s good, though. I hated school when I lost my job and had to go back because I couldn’t find a new one, but I really like it now.”

“And she’s well on her way to running her own NOLA Guides office,” Jill added.

“Really? I thoughtyouwere the manager,” Gwen said to Jill.

“I am, but Mel is expanding our footprint, and Enid will manage the new office.”

“Probably,” Enid added. “I go back and forth on it because Mel is still in the planning stages, but if I don’t, I’ll have a ton of people from school I can recommend who will do a great job.”

“Oh, please; you’ll do it,” Jill said. “You love working in that office with us. We’re fun and make all those numbers you stare at interesting.”

“Hey, Ilikethe numbers I stare at,” Enid argued.