Page 28 of September
A few minutes later, Gwen and Carly were standing by the car as Juliet put her bags in the trunk. Carly was practically bouncing when the door opened. She probably thought she would be going for a ride with her mom, but instead, Juliet tossed her purse into the passenger seat, closed the door, and knelt in front of Carly to pet her and kiss her on the top of her head.
“I’m going to miss you so much. I love you.”
Gwen watched that exchange and got an idea, hoping Juliet would be okay with it.
CHAPTER 9
It had been a long day of driving for her, with two stops at stores along the way. She had met with a couple of managers to introduce herself as Jordana’s sort-of-replacement and talked to them about their hiring needs and schedule, making notes of everything because she would have to find room in October and beyond to train everyone they planned to hire. Juliet wasn’t sure how they would cover everything, being one trainer down, and with the reorganization, they wouldn’t be hiring a replacement to handle her original workload, so that meant they would be doing more with fewer people.
With food service being a high-turnover industry, even though Southern Roastery was a good company to work for, with good benefits and flexible schedules, they didn’t always keep the good talent for long. A lot of college students picked up jobs for the summer and left when school started back up, or thought they could stay, but when their classes resumed, they would realize that they could no longer handle being at work by six in the morning if they intended on getting all their schoolwork and requisite partying done.
After her two stops, she arrived at the store she would be training for the next few days just to check in with everyone and let them know that she’d be there the following day. They were all nice and welcoming, but Juliet was exhausted and more thanready to get to her hotel, which wasn’t fancy, but it at least had a bed and a shower. Having checked in, she got up to her floor and followed the hotel’s awful patterned carpet that did a good job at hiding all the stains people undoubtedly covered it in. When she found her room, she rolled her bag inside, wondering why all hotel doors were so hard to keep open when people needed to bring in all of their stuff. She let it slam shut, which was rude to everyone else, but she hadn’t had an extra hand to keep it from closing. Her purse was heavier than it had been when she’d left that morning, now filled with paperwork she’d been handed by the managers of the stores she had visited. Her backpack was dropped onto the desk with the lamp no one ever used, and her roller was picked up and placed on the luggage rack, which she’d found stored in the tiny closet. She’d worry about unpacking later. First, she needed to get out of these clothes and take a long, hot shower.
Juliet pulled her toiletry bag out of the suitcase, grabbed a pair of sweats, fresh underwear, and a shirt, and then turned on the water. She waited for it to get hot, but it didn’t. It got lukewarm instead. She thought about taking a shower in the morning, but the water temperature wouldn’t get any hotter after everyone else had takentheirmorning showers. Juliet jumped in, cleaned up, and got out quickly, wrapping herself in a towel and returning to the bed, where she saw her phone light up with a notification. She picked it up and saw that it was a message from Gwen. Worried about Carly, she clicked into it right away.
Gwen Benedetti: I thought I could just text you instead of going through the app since you gave me your number last night. I hope that’s okay.
Juliet replied that it was fine and asked after Carly.
Gwen Benedetti: She’s fine. I actually have a surprise for you, but if you don’t want it, just say so, and it’s gone.
Juliet sat on the end of the bed, wondering at the surprise, and replied, asking Gwen what she was talking about.
Gwen Benedetti: Can you download an app for me and use the username and password I’m putting here?
Then, in Gwen’s next text message, there was a link to an app and a username and password listed that made Juliet laugh. The username was Carlyisthebestestdog, and the password was Carlymisseshermommy. It was easy to remember but very long. Juliet clicked on the link and realized what it was to. It was to one of those pet camera apps. She quickly downloaded it and logged in. Once she did, she saw the inside of her apartment, but a very specific part of it. It was Carly lying on her bed, chewing on a bone.
Gwen Benedetti: Is it okay? I have two of them, but I just aimed one right at her so that nothing else in your apartment could be seen.
Juliet laughed and messaged her back.
Gwen Benedetti: Can I call you?
Juliet replied and waited once more.
“Hi. Where did you even get those? And how much do I owe you for this? I can–”
“Hold on there,” Gwen replied, interrupting her with laughter. “You don’t owe me anything. I had them already. And, honestly, you can keep them. I got them from the app I work for. They get them from the manufacturer. I’m supposed to rep them when I talk to clients, and I do mention them sometimes, but I honestly didn’t think about it until I saw you with Carly at your car. I get samples for stuff all the time because I’m one of the top walkers in the city. These cameras were free, and the app is on a trial for thirty days. After that, you’d have to pay for the service if you want to keep it, but that’s up to you. You can change the username and passwords, obviously. I just watched you sayinggoodbye to her this morning, and I know you’re worried about her, so I thought this might help.”
“It’s amazing. Thank you, Gwen.”
“There’s no audio on this model. Sorry.”
“No, don’t be. It’s great to just see her.”
“Do you want to talk to her, though? I still have to set up the second camera, and I can move this one if you want it to show more of the living room.”
“You’re there?”
“Yeah. I just got the camera set up and wanted to see if you were done for the day to check it out.”
“Can I talk to her?” she asked.
“Yeah. Hold on.”
Juliet waited for a second and heard her phone making a sound she wasn’t expecting.
“Are you trying to FaceTime me?”
