Page 3 of September
“I have an extra ticket if you want. My friend was going to come with us, but he bailed.”
“No, I’m good. But, Molls, didn’t you say you were free this weekend? Your plans fell through or something?”
“Huh?” Molly asked.
“For the Saints’ game,” Juliet said.
“Do you want to come with us?” Finley offered. “It’s a cheap ticket because they’re terrible seats.”
“Who’sus?” Molly asked.
“India, me, and her brother. He’s kind of an asshole, but he’ll just stare at his phone most of the time. I don’t even know why he’s going. His friend was going to go with us, too, so that might be why. He had to bail, though, like I said.”
“I’m… not a big football fan. You’d have to spend the whole game explaining the rules to me, which doesn’t sound much fun for you.”
“You can take my ticket,” India said as she approached and was now standing next to Finley. “I hate football. She’s making me go.” She nodded toward her girlfriend.
“Hey, babe,” Finley said.
“Hey. Are you ready to go home?”
“Home?” Juliet asked. “You two live together?”
“No, but we stay at India’s place a lot. It’s closer,” Finley explained.
“And bigger,” India added. “Fin has random computer crap all over the place. I stepped on something last week and found out later that it was part of a computer she’s building. I broke it.”
“My fault. I left it on the living room floor.”
“Because your apartment is too small, babe,” India said.
“Well, I should probably head home,” Molly joined in, looking obviously hurt to Juliet but likely not the other two.
Juliet regretted asking about the game now. Molly actually loved football and knew all the rules, which was why Juliet had suggested that she go. It was how they’d become friends at work in the first place: they had both been Saints’ fans forever and had bonded over that fact. Juliet wasn’t sure why Molly had lied to Finley about not knowing the rules of the game or not liking football, but she guessed it was an easy way to get out of going to the game and being a possible third wheel to India and Finley. India was older than all of them and was a lot further along in her career than Juliet, who was twenty-seven, and Molly, who was twenty-nine. Being almost forty, India was a senior director, on her way to being a vice president, and she dressed like a vice president and held herself like that, too. The woman was elegant in a way Molly and Juliet would never be, and if that was Finley’s type, Molly was going to be heartbroken for a while.
An hour later, Juliet found herself at home, unlocking the door and meeting the excited love of her life, Carly, her three-year-old West Highland white terrier.
“Hi, baby,” she said. “Are you ready to go outside?”
Carly gave a little bark, and Juliet reached for the leash, which she kept on the table by the door. As she knelt down in front of her, Carly’s tail wagged rapidly, and she had to hold her in place to get the leash on her.
“Did you have a good day?” she asked her as if the dog would actually reply.
Done with the leash, Juliet opened the door to let Carly out and thought about the day she and her now-ex had gone to pick her up. They’d both wanted a rescue, but Juliet had wanted a bigger dog, having had her heart set on a Labrador retriever. When they’d gotten to the shelter, they had walked around and had gotten introduced to several dogs. Juliet’s ex had rushed to the all-white small dog, and that had been it. Juliet hadn’t been convinced that this was the dog for them, but after a few days together, she’d grown to love her.
In fact, if she didn’t talk to Carly tonight, Juliet would’ve gone hours without saying a word to anyone. It wouldn’t be until she got to the office tomorrow that she would say hello to the security guys in the lobby. When things had blown up with her ex-girlfriend almost immediately after they’d gotten the dog, Carly had been the perfect companion. The only demands she made of Juliet were for food, affection, and to go outside in the morning and in the evening, and those were simple things that Juliet could give her without issue.
Seeing no other dogs around, or people, for that matter, Juliet let Carly off the leash and tossed a stick she found to the end of the small courtyard. The white terrier ran after the stick, and Juliet sat on the bench, waiting for her to bring it back, not let Juliet have it, and then run off with it again, as was her dog’s favorite game. It would occupy her for at least ten minutes, giving Juliet some time to think about what she wanted for the next few years of her life.
As she watched Carly sniff at the grass in the courtyard of her building, she thought about Jordana being gone and all the work possibilities. Jordana’s role had essentially been the same idea as Juliet’s. She had covered a much larger area and hadn’t had to do the new-hire classes. She had focused on the managerand leadership courses that Juliet wanted to teach and the sales course they’d come up with together. Jordana had only been in the main office for big meetings and had spent most of her time on the road, visiting the stores and hosting classes. It wasn’t perfect, but if she could get Jordana’s job, Juliet would at least be doing something different from what she was doing now, and there was something appealing about that to her.
CHAPTER 2
“Buster!” Gwen yelled when the dog jumped up on the coffee table. “What are you doing, you crazy dog?” She laughed as he quickly jumped down.
“That’s his new thing,” Myra said as she walked into the room. “He doesn’t want to be on the couch. He wants to be on the table. We came home yesterday, and he was just sitting there.”
“We? Home?” Gwen teased Elisa’s new girlfriend.
