Page 72 of September
Gwen took care of the three walks she needed to do for the day and passed her fourth round of walks off to another approved dog walker because she had a date, and she didn’t want to be scrambling to get ready for it. Working freelance for several apps gave her the kind of freedom she really enjoyed. She was able to find another walker on a list her clients approved of, and the other walker got a little extra cash. In her years of doing this work, she had never had an issue finding someone to cover for her if she didn’t want to or couldn’t take a dog for a walk.
As she walked to the streetcar stop, she saw a small blue van with a ‘For Sale’ sign in the window. Not thinking much of it, she continued to walk on, but later, when she got home and started to plan her date that night with Juliet, her mind returned to that van. It wasn’t what she would need. Far too small. It was clearly meant for a soccer family that needed the trunk to pack their gear for the games they went to and from every weekend, but it brought back something she’d thought about doing for years.
After walking dogs and pet sitting for a while, a friend of hers had recommended that she learn how to groom dogs, too. The app they both freelanced for offered those services, but since Gwen hadn’t known how to do that, she had been missing out on that potential cash for years. That had gotten her to take a course offered for people like her at a pet store, and she had learneda lot. For starters, walking dogs was easy. Washing them and trimming their nails usually wasn’t, but she could understand why the animals might not like to have a near stranger wash them and take their paws into their human hands, holding some pretty heavy-duty nail trimmers. It had to be scary for them.
She was still thinking about all that when she chose another dress since she didn’t want to wear the same one Juliet had already seen on her and hung it on the back of her bathroom door. Then, she took a shower and blow-dried her hair, but since she still had time left before she had to start getting ready, she sat down on the couch and pulled out her laptop. She hadn’t looked at the files in a long time, but after taking the course, she hadn’t listed herself as offering grooming services because she’d have to invest in the equipment to do so first. She could do the actual grooming in the client’s home, but she still needed the equipment for it, and she had gotten so popular by then that she hadn’t exactly needed the cash, either.
Gwen looked at the file she’d designed herself with little to no actual design experience. The logo wasn’t bad but could probably use some work by a real designer. It was a cartoon version of her in a Rosie the Riveter type pose, but holding on to nail trimmers instead of flexing badass muscles. Grooming by Gwendolyn didn’t have the best sound to it, but she hadn’t been a fan of Gwen’s Grooming, either. The alliteration was great, but something about the word ‘grooming’ and the business being van-based didn’t sound right to her. She would have to think of something else or launch with this if she chose to follow through.
She pulled up her bank account and checked the balance that she had in savings. Since she had to pay for her own benefits, didn’t have a 401(k) or an IRA account, and went out of pocket for some of the things she gave to her pet clients, despite her success, she didn’t have all that much saved. It was enough to take the risk on something or take a very nice, long trip.Those were her options. Yes, she could continue saving up for a house or a wedding or something, but she didn’t think either of those things would be needed anytime soon. She wanted to buy a housewithsomeone if she could, and she didn’t need a big wedding or one at all, really. She knew she would’ve been happy with having one woman for the rest of her life and spending all the money they’d saved one day on something they both wanted, whether it be that house, a kick-ass honeymoon trip, or something else entirely.
Just as she was trying to think through how much she could spend on a possible business, her phone rang, and her mom’s name appeared on the screen. Because, of course, her mother would be calling her when Gwen was thinking about taking another chance the woman would never approve of.
“Hey, Mom,” she said, closing the laptop.
“Hello, Gwendolyn,” her mom said, and Gwen knew that she was somehow in trouble.
“What did I do now?”
“I need you to talk to the kids. They’re being unreasonable.”
“Sorry. What?”
“The twins. They listen to you, so I need you to talk to them.”
“What happened?” she asked, sitting up more.
“They’re refusing to spend their fall break with their father. They told me they’re going to Elisa’s for Thanksgiving and that her new girlfriend would be hosting, too.”
“Okay. So? What would I be talking to them about?”
“They need to see their father, Gwen,” her mother said. “I was planning on having Thanksgiving at the house because they would be there. I’m cooking. Your father will be there, and I have already invited Grant. Annabelle won’t be coming, but that’s not unusual. She’s very busy, and Thanksgiving isn’t a holiday in Europe. Talk to Adele and Archie Jr. for me.”
“No, I won’t, Mom. They’re adults. They can make their own decisions. If they want to spend their breaks with their mother, that’s up to them.”
“Their mother and her new girlfriend, whom she met right after divorcing her husband? Hownewis that relationship, anyway? I assume they were already together before she left Archie.”
“What? No. Elisa didn’t cheat on Archie, Mom. She just met Myra last month. Trust me, I would know.”
“If that’s the case, they shouldn’t be co-hosting a family holiday meal. What are the odds this Myra will be around at the end of November?”
“I’d say pretty high. They’re very happy, Mom.”
“Either way… The kids should come to their father’s house for the holiday.”
“Why?”
“Their family will be there.”
“Mom, just let this go. Elisa is their mother. They want to be with her. The twins aren’t really kids anymore. They’re not happy with Archie, and they need to work this out themselves and not be pushed into some big, awkward family reunion.”
“He’s been struggling ever since he found out that the woman he loves is a lesbian, knew the whole time, and never told him,” her mother defended.
“Mom, your son is an asshole. It’s about time you realized and acknowledged that. Archie might have been in love with Elisa when they first met, I do think that’s true, but he fell out of love with her a long time ago. He cheated on her repeatedly, and when she told him that she wanted to separate, he just paraded women around, in the house they shared with their children, who were already struggling with the fact that their parents were divorcing. When he offered to let Elisa stay in the guest house for the kids’ breaks, he told her she had to park inthe back and that she couldn’t bring Myra or any other woman because he didn’t want the twinsexposedtothat. Whathewas doing was, apparently, okay, but her being with a woman wasn’t. He then yelled at her and called her names, and AJ had to step in. AJ heard that, Mom. He heard his father calling his mother horrible names that Elisa didn’t deserve, so Adele and AJ made the decision to leave and not look back. I’m sure they’ll make up one day, but they have every right to be angry with their father, who’s selfish and has always – and I meanalways– put his own needs above theirs. I’m including how he basically pressured Elisa to have sex with him in the first place, when she wasn’t ready, and got her pregnant. He’s never really been there for them. Hell,I’vebeen to more of AJ’s soccer games than he has, and I lived two hours away. He’s put himself, his ambitions, and his needs over everything, including his own family. So, no, I won’t talk to Adele or AJ for you, and you shouldn’t be trying to clean up your son’s mess. He’s almost forty years old; he can clean up after himself. And I don’t want to hear about how busy he is being a successful doctor with his own practice, or that he was the breadwinner while Elisa stayed home. Elisa stayed home when they were young, went back to work when she could, and then stopped working later because, yet again, her kids needed her since their other parent was incapable of actual parenting, which is way more than just paying for stuff.”
“I feel like you’ve been holding in that monologue for a while now,” her mother replied.
“Since I first realized that my older siblings were possibly adopted or aliens. MaybeI’mactually the adopted one or the alien because I have never fit in with this family. You’ve made that abundantly clear my entire life. In fact, the first real memory I have was you trying to make me put on that frilly red dress to go to a party, and I didn’t want to wear it because I wanted to wear pants.”
