Page 60 of Now and Again

‘I need to talk to you,’ he said. He sounded different too. Quieter.

‘What about?’ Juliet asked, letting herself into the empty house, everyone out for the day. She turned in the door to finish the conversation. She didn’t want Mike in there, judging her sister’s house. But he said, ‘Can I come in?’

Defeated as he was, Juliet didn’t know how to say no to him. ‘Fine. Tea?’

Mike nodded. Juliet walked through to the kitchen, expecting Mike to sit down in the living room. But he followed her. He looked odd in the little kitchen, in his fancy suit. He watched her while she put the kettle on and got two mugs out. ‘How’s Mia?’ Juliet asked.

‘She’s… she’s not happy, actually. No one is. That’s what I’ve come about.’

‘Oh?’ Juliet said, suddenly knowing what this was. Mike had come to offer Juliet her job back. That was a twist. Mike had seemed to relish giving her her walking papers. But she could see something had changed in him.

‘Yes, you see…’ he began, but the kettle hit its peak, and Juliet couldn’t hear anything else over the boiling water. ‘I didn’t catch that,’ she said.

‘I said Amanda’s left me!’ Mike said far too loudly as the kettle clicked off.

Juliet didn’t know what to say to that, so she just made the tea and handed him a cup. He stood there, blowing on it, glancing around the kitchen. ‘This looks like the place I grew up in.’

Juliet nearly lost her grip on her tea. ‘You didn’t grow up rich?’

‘I was born two streets away. Jackson Road,’ he told her.

‘Right,’ Juliet said, acclimating.

‘It’s not easy getting out of somewhere like this, is it?’ he said.

‘There’s nothing wrong with somewhere likethis,’ Juliet told him sharply. She was surprised by her own tone.

‘Sorry,’ he said. It was the biggest shock of all, an apology from Mike Powell. ‘I didn’t mean to offend you.’

‘It’s a bit late for that.’

Mike sighed and shook his head at himself. ‘It might be too late for a lot of things. But I can’t just… I let one family go. I can’t do it again,’ he sighed and rubbed his temples. ‘I love Amanda and Mia. In my way. Amanda, she let me… She did her best to love who I was. Who Iam. But you were the final straw. She can’t forgive me for getting rid of you. So youhaveto come back. It’s the only way to fix things.’

Juliet stiffened, despite the homily. He was still throwing out orders. ‘I don’t have to doanything, Mike.’

Mike realised his mistake. ‘I didn’t mean it like…’

There was a knock at the front door. They both looked toward it, visible from the kitchen. ‘Better get that,’ she said, putting her mug down on the side. She walked through and opened the door. ‘Amanda?’

Amanda looked hassled. ‘Thank god you’re here. I’ve left Mike, I’m starting on my own, and I need you to come back!’

Juliet struggled to form a response. ‘Errr….’

‘Amanda?’ Mike said, appearing behind Juliet.

Amanda’s eyes went round. ‘Mike? What the hell are you doing here?’

‘I’ve come to get Juliet back,’ he told her.

‘What do you mean,you’regetting her back?I’mgetting her back! She can work for me wherever I land up now.’

‘No…I’mgetting her back. For us. I’m fixing what I did!’

Amanda, livid, walked right into the house. Juliet simply stood aside.

‘Mike, if you thought this would fix everything, you’re wrong. It was the last thing, that’s all. This - you and me - doesn’t work. You don’t want to be married. We got pregnant, and we tried. But this isn’t for you. You don’t know how to be with someone like that. And I can’t have Mia being around it anymore.’

Mike looked as though he’d been slapped. ‘You’re the best person I’ve ever known.’

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