Page 63 of Now and Again

Riley was struggling to look at Juliet. ‘It means Amanda’s a nosy mare, that’s what it means. She’s also right,’ she added. ‘I fucked up. I don’t know if it’s too late for me either. Maybe a decade too late. But I came to explain some things. In the hopes… Well, I’ll explain, and then you can decide.’

Juliet gripped her tea. ‘OK,’ she said, feeling nervous for reasons she couldn’t understand.

‘You were right about India. She did it. She pushed you in that pool on purpose.’

Juliet didn’t quite know how to react to that, but she was not exactly ready to forgive or forget. ‘I’m well aware of that. I didn’t need you to confirm it.’

Riley sighed. ‘You’re still angry.’

‘No shit.’

‘Is it weird that I find that encouraging?’ Riley asked.

‘Encouraging how?’ Juliet snapped.

‘I probably shouldn’t have said that,’ Riley said with a nervous chuckle. ‘I’m just kind of… I’m having to retcon some of my life, and it’s putting me in a real spin.’ She shrugged. ‘But you don’t… You don’t care about that, do you?’

‘Care about what, Riley? You haven’t told me anything… except what I already knew. But if this is an apology, just…’ Juliet slumped down in her chair. ‘You know what, I don’t need any more apologies. Just get on with your life and consider me dealt with.’

‘No, no, I don’t…’ Riley stood up. ‘I don’t want to consider youdealt with. I’ve had this…’ Riley took a gulpy breath and looked at the floor for a moment. Then she gave Juliet a very hard, focused look that caused several goose bumps to pop on her arms. It pissed her off, but she couldn’t fight her own body.

Riley started talking again, in a great, panicked rush. ‘Shit, I’m just gonna go for it. I’ve had this mad crush on you since I was eighteen. I don’t think I ever got over it.’

Juliet felt several things at that moment. Some of which were entirely antithetical. Excitement and anger. Rage and joy. Hope and despair. She didn’t know what was going to win until she stood and said, ‘Don’t youdare!’

Riley looked slightly frightened. ‘What?’

‘Do notcome into my home, well, my sister’s home but kind of mine for the moment, and plonk this load of crap on me! Because I’ve been chasing you for months, despite the bloody horrid way you treated me when we were young—’

Riley stood excitably. ‘No, wait! That’s the other thing! You’ve got that wrong! We both did.’

It was a good start to a story that lasted several minutes and included several apologies. Juliet was flabbergasted, not just by Riley’s admissions of guilt, but by how much of it relied on Juliet’s shortcomings. Riley had made mistakes, but so had she. They’d both been lied to, but both had been all too ready to believe the lies.

Juliet understood, at last, that they were both, well, total fucking idiots.

‘So, you never told India anything I told you?’

‘God, no,’ Riley said. ‘And you thought I saw your, erm, chest? That I was laughing at you?’

‘Yep.’

‘Well, I didn’t,’ Riley assured her.

‘I know. No one saw it, I found that out later, but then India…’ She trailed off. No point going back over it.

Juliet didn’t know what to do. So she sat back down and sipped her tea. ‘Fuck,’ she muttered into the mug. ‘That’s… What… How… What do we… I mean, what does this…’

‘Do you think I’m just like India?’ Riley asked suddenly.

‘What?’

‘Because that’s been making me sad for a decade now. Notcompletelybecause of you, but somewhat. I just need to ask you if you think I’m just some spoiled, boring daddy’s girl. That’s the most real thing I know how to ask right now, and it’s horrible to actually say the words…’

Juliet put her tea down, open-mouthed. ‘Riley? Are you… Have you fallen on your head? You’re the most…’ Juliet paused and thought and understood what this meant and why it was being asked. She couldn’t bear Riley to go on under this misconception for a second longer. ‘I know why you’re asking that. Because I’ve said some things to you in anger because I was hurt back then. And now. But…’ Juliet put her hand on her heart while she caught her breath. ‘You’reitto me. You always have been. Nothing about you ever bored me for a single second.’

Riley’s expression went quite beyond relief.

Juliet put her tea down, stood, and went to Riley. She knelt in front of her and softly took her hand. ‘You’reRiley Powell. You’re not like anyone else. Not anyone.’

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