Page 99 of September

“No, he was actually defending me. I think he would’ve kicked some manager’s ass if he found out he’d been inappropriate or tried to intimidate me into something.”

“Well, that’s good,” Molly replied as she pulled open the door to the coffee shop.

“And Stacey was fine. It’s more that I don’t want this, Molly.”

“The job?”

“Yeah,” she replied. “I checked out of the hotel because I just wanted to be home. It was one night in a stupid hotel, and I was ready to be back with Gwen and Carly. I feel like a loser who gets homesick after twelve hours or something.”

“You’re not a loser. You just liked the job you had before Jordana left.”

They joined the line of people waiting to order their coffees.

“What am I supposed to do? Keep traveling all the time when I hate it?”

“No, I think you should talk to them about your ideas, and whether they take them or not, ask them if you can have your old job back, Jules.”

“It’s a step backwards. They’ll think I can’t handle the pressure.”

“Be honest and tell them it’s the travel and nothing to do with pressure.”

“What if they never promote me again? It’s taken me years to get this one.”

“You’ll have to take that risk, I guess, but you’ll be happier. Isn’t that the most important thing?”

CHAPTER 28

“Buster!”

Buster ran after Carly, who was going through the gate between the two backyards with more speed than Gwen had ever seen her use. She laughed and rolled her eyes.

“I think they love each other,” Elisa said.

“Boyfriend, girlfriend?” Gwen asked.

“Maybe we should plan a dog wedding for next year.”

“I think yours to Myra should probably happen first,” Gwen teased.

“Oh, God. I love her, but I’m not ready for all that.” Elisa laughed. “I think we’ll just keep working on the house until eventually, she just doesn’t go back to this one.” Elisa turned her head and nodded to Myra’s house behind them. “We’d move in here, but my place has the second floor. Did I tell you that she’s thinking of connecting the houses one day?”

“What? No,” she replied.

“It’s crazy, but they’re not that far apart from one another, and if wedoget married, it could make sense. Even if there’s no ceremony or anything, we own both lots. Might as well make use of them.”

“You could rent Myra’s place for extra money,” Gwen suggested.

“We could, but she brought up a good point about how the twins will probably have kids of their own one day. Not tomorrow. It better not be tomorrow.”

“Well, with Adele being in love with Wendy, you don’t have to worry about it happening accidentally with them. It’s just AJ.”

“I’ve had so many safe sex conversations with both of them and tried to talk about shared responsibility and how it’s not just a physical thing in the moment but should be an emotional thing between consenting adults. I only hope one of them sticks. Your brother got them both a box of condoms. Did I tell you that?”

“What? No,” Gwen said.

“He wasn’t there to drop them off at college, but he had his assistant order a gift basket thing and included a box of condoms for both of them.”

“God, he really is an asshole, isn’t he?”