Page 53 of Now and Again

‘I do. But it’sMia’sbirthday.’

Juliet’s teeth were practically grinding with antipathy. Why on earth was India here? She couldn’t give a damn about Mia, that was clear. So why would she take time from her little social whirl to come and slum it at a kid’s party? And her timing was as good as ever. What had Riley been about to say? India had said something to her about… what? ‘Hey, Riley and I were just talking about the old days,’ Juliet said boldly.

‘Oh?’ India said, her eyebrow arching slowly up.

‘Yes. She was just about to tell me something?’ She turned to Riley on that question. Riley’s lips parted. ‘Oh, err… Yeah. I was just…’ She gave a light laugh. ‘Well, we could alltalkabout it, right? It was so long ago,’ she said, catching India’s eye. ‘We could just air it out now?’

India’s face didn’t move. ‘Oh,that? I’d rather not.’

Riley looked surprised. ‘Oh. Sorry. I thought it might be OK. But I guess you’re not ready to…’

It didn’t matter if Riley had decided to respect India’s feelings: there was no reason Juliet had to.She decided to cut out the middleman, and she turned her body away from Riley, focusing entirely on India. ‘Come on, what is it?’

India snorted through her nose. ‘Look, forget it, alright?’

‘No. It sounded like maybe this involved something about me. I think I’ve got a right to know what’s being said about me.’ Juliet tossed a glance to Riley to see how she was handling this. But she looked neutral. She was allowing it. ‘Go on, let’s hear it,’ Juliet demanded.

India paused, and Juliet thought she’d simply refuse again. But then she said, ‘I told her about that time at the end of the year. When you hit me round the face with that book. That’s all.’

‘Oh,’ Juliet said. ‘That.’

‘Right,’ India said. ‘So, anyway, we can forget it, can’t we? Forgive and forget, right?’

Juliet shrugged. ‘You don’t have to forgive me. I don’t regret it.’

India bit the inside of her cheek, looking sourly unsurprised. But Riley was appalled. ‘Juliet.Jesus.’

Juliet didn’t want Riley to think she was just being a bitch, so she prepared herself to get into it. All of it. ‘Well, it felt justified. After what she said about what you two—’

The end of that sentence never came. Because India turned suddenly, saying, ‘My earring fell out!’ and as she bent over, her entire body concertinaed over, creating twice as much India in the area. That excess amount of India happened to overlap with where Juliet was stood. And physics has taught us that an unstoppable force cannot exist in the same place as an immovable object. One must stop being immovable or the other unstoppable. Juliet lost the battle, becoming a movable object. And as she rapidly moved (or was pushed, depending on your take), she found herself flying in the direction of another immovable object.

SPLOSH!

Juliet came up from the pool, gasping and choking. She could see the entire party had frozen to look at her flailing around in the pool. Kids, parents. And Riley.

‘Christ!’ screamed Riley, clutching her face.

‘Whoops,’ said India.

‘Happy birthday to you!’ sang Amanda, coming out of the kitchen.

Everyone turned to her. She hadn’t spotted Juliet in the pool and she implored, ‘Well, sing!’ Everyone looked a bit stuck about whether this was the moment. But after half a second, they all caved to the pressure ofHappy Birthday.

Juliet hauled herself out of the pool and let herself through the gate and walked across the patio, her clothes heavy with water, as everyone kept singing. She locked eyes with Riley, then India, then Amanda, who finally saw the catastrophe. ‘Haaaappppyyyy…What the hell…’ Amanda sang and said, looking at her soaking nanny.

Right then, Mia - who up till then had been admiring a toddler-sized electric Porsche with a huge bow on it that was to be officially presented later – saw the open pool gate, said excitedly, ‘Can I swim?’

She didn’t wait for an answer, running through the open gate and jumping confidently into the pool. ‘Mia!’ Amanda screeched, running to the pool and jumping in to get her small daughter, the cake going in the water with her. She swam-walked over to Mia and dragged her to the edge.

But of course, Amanda hadn’t locked the gate behind her either in her panic. Ten other kids followed Mia’s example, running free and jumping into the water with whoops of delight.Theywere also followed by parents who ran to the pool and leaped in to grab their kids from too-deep water.

Juliet looked down in horror at a pool full of people grappling with their kids in the water, the cake a floating, soggy mess. But what she was really looking at was a ruined party.

She happened to glance over at Mike. He was paying no attention to the pool mess; his eyes were locked on Juliet. They were ablaze. ‘Right. That’s it. You’redefinitelyfired this time.’

Twenty-Four

Riley wanted to punch India in the fucking throat. This was all her fault. If she hadn’t been such a clumsy idiot, none of this would have happened.

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