Page 78 of September
“You have those regulars. Their word of mouth would keep you in business.”
“Probably, but I won’t know for sure, so it’s still kind of scary. I’ve thought about offering grooming, too.”
“Like in-home grooming? God, that would be great. I hate taking Carly to the groomer. She normally likes car rides, but Iswear, she somehow senses when we’re going to the vet or to the groomer.”
“I was thinking about a van, actually. Mobile grooming,” Gwen said.
“That could be cool,” she replied. “Why don’t you do it?”
“I’d need to buy the van and probably renovate it.”
“But you don’t want to touch the trust fund because of those invisible strings?”
“Exactly,” Gwen replied.
Carly stopped and took care of her business. Then, they turned around and headed back toward Juliet’s apartment.
“Hey, tonight?”
“Yeah?” Gwen asked.
“I want to snuggle up next to you, but that doesn’t mean I want to wait forever, okay?” Juliet said.
“Okay.” Gwen chuckled. “How long is not forever to you, then?”
“I don’t know. I could see myself being ready tomorrow, the day after, or the day after that.”
“Wait. Really?” Gwen asked.
CHAPTER 22
She rolled over and saw Carly’s face staring down at her. The dog was panting and clearly ready to go out. Gwen rolled back over to where she started and saw Juliet lying there, still asleep and looking adorable. The previous night, they’d talked for a bit, but they had both been pretty tired, so they’d just watched something on the TV in Juliet’s bedroom and fallen asleep. There hadn’t even been any of the deep kissing leading to hands groping like Gwen had hoped for, but this was good, too. This was her waking up next to Juliet, a woman she was pretty crazy about already.
Despite them only having officially gone on two dates, it really felt like they’d been on at least a dozen. They’d talked about practically everything at this point and still had so much to discover about each other. Gwen knew Juliet liked beaches for vacations but preferred there be something else to do as well, like museums or shopping. She couldn’t just sit still on a beach for a week and read a book. Gwen had agreed with her on that and tried to resist planning their first vacation as a couple in her head because it was a little too soon for that. Juliet also wanted to get a second dog one day when she had a house and preferred to get a larger one next time. She said she’d be open to getting a cat as well, and when Gwen asked how she felt about lizards, Juliet said she’d be fine adopting a gecko. Thathad made Gwen smile because while she didn’t have any plans to get another gecko, Larry was part of her life now and needed to be considered. Juliet wanted a two-story house if she could find one and afford it, and she hoped to stay in New Orleans or just outside it, even if she left Southern Roastery one day. Gwen could understand that. She loved this city, too, and planned to stay here forever if she could.
With everything important lining up for the two of them, the only thing Gwen was worried about was Juliet’s travel. Part of that worry was selfish because Gwen wanted to spend as much time with Juliet as possible. The other part, which was actually the bigger part, wanted Juliet to be happy, and after only having gone on two business trips, Juliet didn’t seem all that happy.
Gwen thought she would do something nice for her, so she kissed her sweetly on the forehead and slipped out of bed with Carly in tow. Then, having dressed quickly and quietly, she grabbed the leash, and Carly followed her outside. Their walk was for one purpose, and it wasn’t a long walk around the block. Carly would get that later. After a few minutes of sniffing around for the right spot, the dog did her thing, and they were back upstairs, where Gwen dumped some dry food in her bowl and refilled her water. With Carly addressed, she went back to the bedroom and saw that Juliet was just starting to wake up.
“Why are you over there?” Juliet asked.
“I took Carly out,” she replied.
“Gwen, you didn’t have to do that,” Juliet said. “Come back to bed.”
Gwen removed her jeans, changed back into the sweats she’d borrowed, and Juliet’s eyes were wide open now. Gwen smirked at her, which made Julietglareat her.
“You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”
“You told me to come back to bed. This is me coming back to bed,” she replied with a wicked eyebrow before she slipped beneath the sheets. “Problem?”
“I now know the color of your underwear, so, yeah, I’d say problem. I’ll be thinking about that all day,” Juliet replied, rolling over and burrowing into Gwen’s side.
“You’re the one who wanted to sleep last night. I didn’t even get to make out with you.” She wrapped her arm around Juliet’s shoulders and pulled her in closer. “Good morning, by the way.”
Juliet leaned a little and kissed Gwen’s cheek.
“Good morning. I’ll give you a proper kiss in a minute. Should I get up and get her food?”
