Page 13 of Now and Again

Riley laughed. ‘Yeah, but after she has that makeover, everyone thinks she’s hot, don’t they?’

Juliet blushed. ‘Well, maybe not Ally Sheedy then.’

Riley took a long look at Juliet and said, ‘Might be dead-on, actually.’

Juliet’s lips parted in a look of shock. And then she looked away, embarrassed. ‘This potato won’t bin itself.’

Riley hadn’t meant to embarrass Juliet. She meant what she’d said. She was getting a good look at Juliet for the first time, and she was seeing that there was some serious cute underneath that long fringe. Her eyes were a blazing green, flecked with little amber sparks. Her body had a slender fragility that was quite arresting. And when she smiled, which she rarely did, it was a dazzler. It was just a shame she didn’t know it.

But Riley knew it. And part of her felt like she’d neverunknowit now. Because once you notice a thing like that, it can start to take ahold of you. It starts as an idle thought, swirling around your mind until it begins to take root as a notion. And the next stage? It becomes an embedded belief.

As Riley watched Juliet scrape flecks of potato off the board, she had this feeling that she’d just taken the first step down that long, winding path.

Seven

Juliet was dead on her feet. Mia was a hurricane of a child. She’d forgotten what the under-threes could be like. Mia needed to be watched constantly; she seemed to be ever on the lookout for trouble to get into. She never did a single thing she was asked. And she knew a selection of rather adult insults that were hard to hear coming from such a little child. Still, Juliet didn’t regret her eventual decision to see through her commitment. Not because of Mia, anyway.

But this morning, bumping into Riley at the door, bloody hell, that was awkward. They’d seen each other three times in the past week, and the discomfort seemed to grow with each encounter, even though they were only in each other’s presence for a minute, tops. But what if they had to be together for an extended period? How would that play? Would they be forced to acknowledge their history? It seemed like no one wanted to be the first to do that. But it was ten years ago, they’d been kids. They were adults now, so it didn’t matter still, did it? Whatever had been said and done, it was consigned to childhood. Dredging it up now would be like holding it against Mia that she’d… drawn all over the kitchen cabinets with a pen she’d found from somewhere.Shit.

‘Mia!’ Juliet cried, running over to the child and taking the pen back as gently as she could. She’d taken her eye off the ball. This wasn’t like Juliet at all. She took pride in being conscientious.

Mia looked at her work. ‘I was drawing,’ she told her.

‘I know, and it’s lovely. But we have to draw on paper in the future.’

‘I draw mummy,’ she said, proudly pointing at a circle with a few smudges in it. Juliet didn’t want to discourage her, so she said, ‘Oh yes. That’s very good. But I’m going to have to clean it off now.’

Mia’s face fell. She was seconds from tears. Juliet had to act fast. ‘Tell you what, why don’t I take a picture of it to show Mummy before I clean it? That way, we can still keep the picture.’

Mia thought it over. She nodded. Juliet took out her phone. She took a snap of the picture. ‘Tell you what, let’s get one with you standing next to it?’

Mia nodded and stepped next to her work, smiling proudly. Juliet grinned as she snapped Mia and her artwork. The child looked so proud of herself, it was hard not to find it cute.

‘What the hell!’ yelled a voice, and Juliet turned to see Mike, tie skew whiff, face red. ‘Why the hell are you letting Mia draw all over the house?’

Juliet was shocked into silence by the strength of his anger. By the time her brain could work again, Mike was ramping up further. ‘Unbelievable, I knew we should have looked into you properly. Letting some random into my house because my wife likes her, I must have been mad!’

Juliet found her voice at last. ‘Mr. Powell, I only looked away for a second—’

‘That doesn’t explain why you’re taking snaps of the damage like it’s all in fun. Teaching my child that it’s alright to destroy property. Property her father worked hard to pay for!’

‘I, I was about to clean it, Mia just wanted—’

‘You’re sacked,’ Mike said coldly.

Juliet was struck dumb again. Once she realised no one was going to jump out and tell her she was being punked, she put her phone away and turned to little Mia. She looked like Juliet felt, shocked shitless. ‘Mia, I’m gonna have to go now, but I want you to know I’ve had a lovely time with you, and I…’

‘What’s this?’ Amanda said, walking into the kitchen, looking at Mike and Juliet. ‘Are you going somewhere? I thought you were working till six, did I get that wrong?’

Juliet looked at Mike expectantly. He could explain for himself what this was. He seemed happy to take up the mantle. ‘She was letting Mia wreck the place! I’ve sacked her!’

Amanda blinked at her husband. She turned to Juliet. ‘What happened?’

‘It’s true that I did take my eye of Mia for a second and she wrote on the cabinet. I was about to clean it off, but Mia was proud of her work - she drewyou, you see - and I was getting a snap before I cleaned it off.’ Juliet stopped there. She’d said it now, what had happened, and she felt better for that. If this was a fireworthy offense, at least she’d said her piece.

Amanda frowned, and Juliet thought she was just as angry as Mike. But then she said, ‘Juliet, would you mind waiting for a second, so I can talk to Mike?’

Juliet paused. ‘OK, sure.’

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