Page 44 of Now and Again

Riley went to stand. ‘Nope,’ Juliet said, pushing her gently down. ‘Stay off it. Just in case.’

‘You don’t have to take care of me,’ Riley said. ‘No one pays you for that.’

‘Guess it’s more of a hobby, then,’ Juliet said with a small, cheeky smile.

Riley settled herself. She wasn’t going to argue with Juliet. ‘Hey, Mia? Come over here and colour with me.’

Mia jumped up and brought her supplies to the coffee table, spreading out. She pulled a random picture from her colouring book and handed it to Riley. ‘Thanks, kid,’ Riley said. She casually began to colour in her picture of a giraffe eating a leaf from a tree.

‘Hey, is there a picture I can do?’ Juliet asked. Mia barely looked up, just handed a sheet to Juliet, and got back to work.

A few minutes later, Riley realised she wasn’t thinking about the stress of work, nor how angry she was at her dad. She was simply making a giraffe yellow and brown. So this was why adult colouring was a thing? It really did soothe your cares away. She hadn’t felt this chill in a good long while.

‘Look, I made my unicorn blue,’ Juliet said, holding up her picture. Mia appraised it. ‘You missed the horn.’ She went back to her pony. Juliet shrugged at Riley. ‘Everyone’s a critic.’

And Riley wondered if it was only the colouring making her feel good.

Nineteen

Juliet stretched her arms and yawned as she came out of Mia’s room. The girl was down for the night, and Juliet was knackered. Her days weren’t usually this long. She could sort of see now why Amanda had asked Riley to pitch in.

She went downstairs to see Riley tapping on her phone. ‘I’m getting pizza. What’s your topping?’

Juliet took a small pause before saying, ‘I likeHawaiian.’

Riley raised a cynical eyebrow. ‘I’m not saying I won’t order it for you, but I want you to know, I don’t think that’s an acceptable answer to that question.’ She tapped it in.

Juliet chuckled. ‘Don’t even start on the pineapple. I’ve heard it all. I’m not wavering.’

‘It’s fruit,’ Riley shrugged. ‘That’s the beginning and end of my argument.’

Juliet was well prepared for that one. ‘What do you think a tomato is?’

Riley tutted. ‘Yeah, but… It’s… a different fruit.’

Juliet laughed. ‘Sure is.’

Riley snorted. ‘Fine. But everyone knows that no one has the pineapple, because it’s just not right.’

‘So why is it always on the menu? Shouldn’t it have died off by now if no one eats it?’

‘You have an answer for everything.’

‘People who eat pineapple on their pizza get used to defending the choice,’ Juliet explained. ‘But we consider it worth the fight.’

Riley tapped a couple more times on her phone and said, ‘There. Your freak pizza is on its way.’

‘What are you having?’

‘Pepperoni, like a normal person,’ Riley told her dryly.

Juliet tutted. ‘Exactly. It’s a safe choice. You’ll never know the pleasure of the pineapple. You don’t have the guts.’

Riley smiled. ‘I’m OK with that.’

Twenty minutes later, the pizzas arrived, and they sat down to eat in the living room, off their laps. Riley put the TV on. ‘You have a preference?’

‘Anything good on Netflix?’

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