Page 36 of Now and Again

‘Nowhere to rush off too,’ Riley admitted. ‘Which is sort of pathetic.’

‘Look who you’re talking to. I came from my parents’ place to here. And nowhere in between.’

Riley shrugged. ‘The outside world isn’t all that.’

‘Did you…’ Juliet began tentatively. She had a change of heart about where the sentence was going, but it was too late. Riley was on it. ‘Did I what?’

‘How come you ended up here at all?’ Juliet asked, worried it was too personal.

Riley looked untroubled. ‘It’s a long story. But I guess it boils down to a breakup.’

‘You were living with someone.’

‘Yup. Noah.’

‘How long?’ Juliet asked, trying not to look as interested as she felt.

‘About a year and a half. The living together was a year of it.’

‘Didn’t work out, though, I take it?’

‘It did not,’ Riley said, taking a big sip.

‘How come?’ Juliet asked, feeling like she was pushing it.

Riley opened her mouth and closed it, trying to summon an explanation. Eventually, she simply said, ‘I didn’t love him.’

Juliet paused. ‘That’s sad. For both of you.’

‘I just wish I’d realised before I moved in. But once we were living together, I felt obligated to make it work. And it just got more and more obvious that it wasn’t... going anywhere.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘That makes me sound pretty selfish, doesn’t it?’

Juliet shook her head. ‘No. Maybe just a bit…’

‘What?’ Riley asked.

‘Unconnected to your feelings,’ Juliet said hesitantly. Was that too much?

But Riley laughed easily. ‘That’s probably exactly right.’

Juliet took another sip of her drink and was quite astonished to see Riley’s shoulders shaking with silent laughter.

‘What’s so hilarious?’ Juliet asked, already infected with Riley’s laugh. She was amused, and she didn’t even know why.

Riley shook her head, letting the laugh free. ‘It’s nothing, I just… I think I owe Amanda an apology.’

‘For what?’ Juliet laughed.

‘She said something about you and me having midnight chats about boys, and I told her we weren’t twelve. But here we are…’ She lapsed into laughter again. ‘Christ. You never really grow up, do you? Your face just gets more creases.’

Juliet snorted. ‘That’s probably true.’

‘Well, anyway, let’s talk aboutyourlove life for a sec. I could do without the spotlight.’

Juliet let out a slow whistle. ‘Oh, you wanna talk pathetic? Nuns get more action.’ She was glad to have said that. She sort of wanted to let Riley know she was single.

‘But there’ve been… people. Right?’ Riley asked.

‘There’s been some... people. Yes,’ Juliet admitted. ‘Though barely worth the plural.’

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