Page 70 of September
“Can we try now? I’m starving,” Juliet said.
“Want to go grab something with me?” Finley asked. “I’m on my lunch break.”
“Molls?” Juliet asked.
“Uh…” Molly glanced at the calendar on her screen. “Sure. I have an hour. Can we make it fast?”
“Sure. I only have an hour, too,” Finley replied with a smile.
“Oh, shoot,” Juliet said, pretending to look at her own schedule now. “I can’t go, after all. I’ve got a meeting in ten minutes.”
“You do, do you?” Molly glared at her.
“Yes. Sorry. Can you two go and grab something for me?”
“Liver and onions?” Molly joked, but the glare she was still giving Juliet told her that if the restaurant they ended up atservedliver and onions, Molly would bring that back for her.
“Just whatever,” Juliet said. “I’m not picky.”
“Cool. Ready?” Finley asked.
“Is India going to come with us?” Molly asked, standing up.
“No, she’s in meetings all day.”
“Okay. Well, wherever you want to go is fine with me, then,” Molly said and glared at Juliet once more. “This conversation isn’t over, Juliet.”
“Can’t wait,” Juliet replied with a smile as they walked away.
Since she didn’t actually have a meeting in ten minutes, she went to the kitchen and grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl they stocked daily. That would hold her over until Molly came back with whatever food she’d gotten for her, assuming itwas something Juliet would actually eat. She knew she probably shouldn’t have suggested Molly go out with Finley alone, and she wasn’t ever going to encourage Finley to cheat on her girlfriend with anyone, especially Molly, who was the sweetest, but there was just something about Finley’s relationship with India that made her feel like it wasn’t meant to last. She wanted Finley to get to know Molly and hoped Molly would actually give Finley a chance to really see her because if it didn’t work out with India, Juliet hoped Finley would wise up to how great Molly was.
Juliet finished eating the banana at her desk and began booking her travel for her October trips, but every time she clicked on a hotel to book a room, she found herself dying a little inside. She’d only been on two trips so far, but she was already exhausted. She wasn’t eating right, she was working from her hotel room whenever she wasn’t on the phone with Gwen because she didn’t have anything else to do, and she wasn’t happy. She clicked to book anyway, though, and tried to think about how this was the right plan for her future with Southern Roastery. If she were to move up in the company at some point, she had to go through this job first or maybe recertify to make herself ready for another job like Molly’s, should it become available. She supposed she could do that online on those nights when she had nothing to do in the hotel room, but that didn’t really make her happy, either. She smiled when she thought about whatwouldmake her happy and picked up her phone.
“Hey. I just dropped off your baby girl at your place,” Gwen said when she answered the call.
“Nope. Not a dog convo,” Juliet replied.
“What? Wait. Aren’t you at work?”
“I didn’t call to get an update on Carly. I called to ask you out again.”
“Oh. Well, you did that already, right after you had your tongue down my mouth this morning. And I’m pretty sure you asked before that, too.”
Juliet smiled at the memory of waking up next to Gwen that morning, kissing her, and wanting more, but knowing they couldn’t have it yet because she had to get to work. Last night, they’d made out like teenagers on Gwen’s sofa for well over an hour before they’d had to pull apart because hands had started to move places neither of them had been ready for. Gwen had then hopped in the shower to cool off while Juliet had made them each a decaf coffee from Gwen’s pod machine since she hadn’t thought of getting Gwen any decaf from Southern prior to that. She would definitely remedy that soon because the coffee that had come out of that machine had been awful. She also planned on asking Gwen when her birthday was because she would be getting her a much better coffee machine as a gift for both of them.
After climbing into bed last night, Juliet had stared at Gwen’s swollen lips and hadn’t been able to resist kissing her until she had climbed on top of her and moved her own lips to Gwen’s neck. When Gwen had rolled them over shortly after and kissed down her stomach, Juliet had almost asked her to take off her borrowed pants and touch her, but she hadn’t wanted their first time to happen just because she’d lost her self-control. She wanted them both to be ready for it.
On that note, she really needed to refocus her mind on their morning activities instead, when she had kissed Gwen goodbye and asked her out, because that was a safer memory for her to recall while she was at work.
“I did. That’s true,” she said.
“So, when?” Gwen asked.
“Tonight?”
“So soon? You must really like me.”
“I do. But I also want to squeeze in as much time together as we can before I have to leave again.”
