Page 49 of September
“Depends. Will you be acting it out if I ask for the soap opera version? Playing all the parts with different accents?”
Juliet laughed and replied, “No, but I can give you the combo version.”
When Juliet finished telling her about her day, Gwen said, “Shit. So, you’re basically doing the job of three people? How much are they paying you? It’s not enough.”
“It’s temporary, from what my boss said. They couldn’t have predicted what happened with either of them, so I can’t blame them for that. It just sucks for me. We take our time hiring people for the corporate office for a reason, but that means that I’ll be without support for at least a few months, if not longer than that.”
“Sorry, Jules,” she replied.
“Me too,” Juliet said. “It sucks because I thought I’d have to travel some, but not every single week, so it’s making me regret the promotion.”
“Every week?”
“Yes. I did take the promotion knowing that my travel would increase, but not by this much. I hoped this promotion would lead me to another one with little to no travel. I was hoping to get my new boss’s job since he’s probablygetting promoted before Christmas when we do our annual performance reviews. I thought if I did well at this for these few months, they would promote me, too. With Jordana gone and Andrew now, too, it’s basically me or an external hire, and I’d felt pretty good about him promoting me over Andrew, even though Andrew had been here longer. Now, I know why it was me and not him.”
“But you told me that Andrew did all that stuffafterJordana was fired and that they didn’t know that they were a couple.”
“Yeah.”
“Then, they didn’t promote you over Andrew because they knew about him and Jordana. They promoted you over him because you deserved it.”
Juliet shrugged and said, “Well, either way, I’m in this now, so I’ll be gone every week for at least six weeks starting the first week of October, and that doesn’t include the rest of my travel for September, which you already know about.”
“Every week? Okay. Monday through Friday?”
“Most of the time, I’ll be back late Friday night, yes, but I might stay until Saturday morning if the drive is too long. And some Sundays, I’ll have to leave in the afternoon.”
Gwen found her own phone on the coffee table and picked it up, now in full-on work mode.
“Let me see what I can do.”
“I’m sure you can’t just take her every week I’m gone, so I’ll probably need those recommendations you were going to give me before to fill in. And I’ve talked to Molly. She can take her a few times if I need her to.”
“Well, shedidwant to visit with Carly while you were gone,” Gwen said as she stared down at her phone.
“Because she needed some puppy love. The woman she likesandher girlfriend work with us, and Molls saw the two of themkissing in the parking garage. They keep it at bay in the office, but they probably weren’t expecting anyone to see them out there.”
“That sucks,” Gwen said, looking up at her. “I’m pet sitting for two weeks in October, but they won’t come home with me or anything. It’s a ferret and a bird, so it’s mainly just feeding and hanging out, cleaning cages, and making sure that they have water. Other than that, it’s pretty much my regular walks. For now, at least.”
“How much would it cost for you to keep Carly with you while I’m gone?”
“Jules, I’ll just do that. You don’t have to pay me.”
“What? Of course, I do,” Juliet objected.
“Fine. Just the regular rate, then, if you must.”
“No way. You’re taking care of her twenty-four-seven. That’s not just a regular rate.”
“Jules, are we friends?” she asked.
“What?”
“Are we friends? New friends, but friends? It feels like we’re friends to me.”
“Oh,” Juliet said. “Well, yeah, I think we are.”
“And would you ask Molly how much she charged to take care of Carly?”
