Page 40 of September
“But I haven’t heard about your day yet, except for the whole steamer-wand-of-death part, and I have a story about a poodle with pink bows to tell you about.”
Juliet laughed and said, “Okay. I’d like that.”
CHAPTER 12
She looked frantically around her apartment. It was fine. Yeah, it was fine. Then, Gwen turned and went back into her bedroom. It wasn’t that she expected Juliet to go in there, but if she asked for the tour, Gwen wanted to be ready for that. The bed had been made, and she’d placed the decorative pillows her mother had insisted on buying her in between the main pillows. Were they even called main pillows? She didn’t know. She normally slept with one under her head and the other between her legs to help with proper spine and hip alignment, which made her sound like an old person, and she silently chastised herself for that just as the doorbell rang. Gwen turned toward the door in surprise as if she hadn’t been expecting a guest.
“Carly, is it a mess?” she asked, but Carly just tilted her head and gave her a confused expression. “Carly, your mom is here,” she whispered.
Carly’s tail did start to wag at the word ‘mom,’ which made Gwen smile before she took a deep breath and walked over to the door. There, she took another breath and opened it.
“Hi,” she said.
“Hey,” Juliet replied with a wide smile.
“Um… Do you want to come in?”
“Yeah,” Juliet said with a laugh.
“She’s over there.”
“Who is?”
“Um… Carly, your dog,” Gwen replied with a laugh of her own.
“Oh, right,” Juliet said.
When Carly bounded over to them and jumped all over Juliet’s legs, Gwen stood back and let them reunite, smiling as she looked down at the two of them. Juliet had positioned herself on the floor, and Carly was jumping in her lap. Gwen leaned back against her sofa, crossed her arms over her chest, and took in the moment just as Juliet looked up at her with an even wider smile on her face.
“Hi, baby. Did you have fun hanging out with Gwen?”
“You’re so happy right now, aren’t you?” Gwen asked.
“Yes, I am. I missed her so much. I know it was only a few days, but she’s kind of the love of my life, you know? Not in a weird way.”
“I get it. I don’t know that Larry is the love ofmylife, but he’s a cool dude and important to me,” she said.
“WhereisLarry? I want to meet him.”
“Oh, he’s hanging out up there.” Gwen nodded toward the top of the small refrigerator, where Larry’s tank was sitting. “Because of Carly’s ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound,” she explained.
“I’m sorry. Did she try to get him or something?” Juliet asked as she stood and turned around.
“No. She behaved,” Gwen replied. “I put him up there for safety. He likes being by himself anyway. He’s a good pet in that he really only needs that thing to be kept clean and to have food and water.”
“Oh, he’s cute,” Juliet said as she leaned over the fridge and into Larry’s tank. “He’s so tiny.”
“He’s about two inches long,” she replied and walked over to stand next to her.
“How are animals this tiny?” Juliet asked.
Gwen smiled at Juliet smiling at Larry while Carly kind of danced around them, still very excited that Juliet was back with her. In Gwen’s opinion, that was one of the best things about dogs: they loved their humans so much that their excitement made coming home to them so much better.
“Has she gone out?” Juliet asked.
“Yeah, but it’s been about an hour. You coming home probably has her tiny doggy bladder going crazy.”
“Do you want to walk with me as I walk her, or should we maybe get out of your hair?”
