by Natasha West
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 of Happy 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. They were 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’re definitely fired 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.
The party was called off, and everyone had gone home. They were too wet to continue. Mia couldn’t have cared less; she was currently tooling around the back garden in her new little car, having the time of her life, blissfully unaware of the consequences of her little impromptu dip. Amanda was watching her from a lawn chair, soggy and tired. She wasn’t fighting this battle with her husband; Riley was disappointed to see. Then again, Riley sort of got it. You had to pick your battles with her dad. Maybe this was a battle too far for Amanda.
‘How much money did this party cost? Total waste,’ Mike said, pouring himself a drink in the kitchen while Riley watched him. He was doing his fucking stupid thing with the whisky and the two drops of spring water. He took a sip as though it gave him life.
‘Dad, it wasn’t her fault,’ Riley said, but her dad didn’t hear. ‘I knew that girl was going to be a problem. All that stuff on the first day, I should have listened to my instincts. But no. Mike’s the bad guy. And now look. I had work colleagues here. Chris Billings had to jump in the pool in his TAG Heuer.’
Riley didn’t know what the hell he was talking about. ‘His what?’
‘It’s an expensive watch, Riley. Don’t pretend you don’t know that.’
That pissed Riley right off, but she was trying not to get waylaid on the point. ‘I don’t know shit about watches. And what does that have to do with Juliet? It wasn’t even her fault—’
At that moment, Juliet, case in hand, popped her head around the door. ‘Riley, don’t bother. I’m just gonna go.’ She sped off before Riley had a chance to respond.
Riley looked back at her dad, but there was no remorse there. ‘You know what? The way you treat people, I can’t take it anymore. Don’t expect me to come back here again.’
Her dad smirked. ‘Sure. Until the next time you need a handout.’
That was Riley’s limit. She’d finally had it with him. She’d always known one day there’d be an eruption. This was the moment. She went for the nuclear option. ‘I know you think you’ve got a second chance with Amanda and Mia. But you haven’t changed at all. And you’ll fuck it up the same as you did with Mum and me. Amanda’s gonna get sick of your shit. And Mia? She’ll end up like me. Hating everything you are.’
The smirk dropped off Mike’s face, and that one second was as close as Riley had ever come to getting satisfaction from him. Until he said, ‘You only hate me because I gave you everything. Because now you’ve got nothing to hide behind if you fuck up your life. Every advantage and look at you. Wasting time at some charity that pays shit so you can pretend you’re better than me while you live off my charity? Now living off your friend? You’re a fucking child.’
Riley turned and walked out, her blood pumping hard in her ears. She thought that might be the last time she would ever speak to her father.
Outside, Juliet was only just reaching the end of the driveway. Riley jogged to catch up to her. ‘Hey!’
Juliet turned in surprise. She didn’t look happy to see Riley. ‘What?’
‘I just wanted to… Where are you going?’
‘My sister’s offered me the sofa. She says I can have it in exchange for some childcare. Not a bad deal, I guess.’
Riley sighed. ‘This wasn’t your fault.’
‘Well, I did leave the pool gate open at a kid’s party,’ Juliet said philosophically.
‘It was India. If she hadn’t bumped you into the pool, it never would have happened.’
Juliet paused. ‘You saw that?’
‘I mean, I don’t think it was intentional,’ Riley added quickly. ‘She’s just a bit… She doesn’t think.’
‘So, you didn’t see anything?’ Juliet sighed, turning away.
‘What does that mean?’
‘What I mean is that your friend is a bad person. But maybe you already know that, and you just don’t care. Maybe you’re more like her than I wanted to understand,’ Juliet said, walking away.
Riley was left dumbfounded in the driveway. All this time, she’d known this was going to happen. Ten years and here they were again. Juliet Sullivan had laid waste to her. Made her small and silly and nothing.
Nothing ever changed.
Twenty-Five
Juliet had had it. She’d been sacked. Again. This time, she was alright for it to stick. Except she hadn’t even been able to say goodbye to Mia. That poor little girl, she wouldn’t understand where Juliet had gone. Juliet felt the rip too, felt torn away from Mia. They’d been together constantly for months. Yet with a click of Mike Sullivan’s fingers, Juliet would probably never see Mia again.
She had to get away from this house and these people and the way they made her feel. It was just the same thing, time and again. Literally. She’d been shoved in yet another pool and been embarrassed, again. And what did Riley think about it? She only wanted to stick up for her precious India. India, who was only a bumbling idiot, not a mean, vicious, spiteful, cruel monster of a person who had been screwing her forever. If that was the side Riley wanted to take, then it was true, wasn’t it? Riley was no better. She was the same girl who’d made her feel worthless when she was eighteen.
Juliet had been silly to imagine change was possible, that people ever grew, that her life wasn’t always at the mercy of the rich and whatever mood they happened to be in. You could imagine they cared about you when the light was right. But then the sun set. And you were just staff. Amanda hadn’t even fought for her this time; she’d just let it happen. But Amanda wasn’t the person she was angry at. Not even Mike, really. He was who she’d always thought him to be—a cutthroat arsehole with no kindness or compassion in him. His actions couldn’t have been more predictable. No, at the crux of her anger was Riley. Always Riley.
Juliet’s rage powered her legs right thro
ugh monied Westover, all the way to Tothmore, barely seeing the scenery change. But of course, it had. More houses, smaller, dingier, packed tighter together. Home.
Juliet knocked on the door of number eight, Smith road. Her sister opened the door with her five-year-old on her shoulders. ‘Aunty Juliet!’ Becca cried. Before Juliet could respond, Becca swung her son off her shoulders and popped him down onto the floor of the hall. ‘Can you take him? I need a spray tan, stat!’ and she was running past Juliet, out into the street, sprinting quite impressively on a pair of wicked heels, jumping on a bus that seemed to be waiting for her. Juliet watched her ride off down the street before turning to her nephew, who frowned at his vanishing mother. ‘She said she has to go because she looks like a day-old corpse,’ little Logan told Juliet.
Juliet smiled. ‘Yeah, well… You hungry? Shall we see what your mother’s got in?’
Logan nodded, and they went into the kitchen. It was amazing how quickly this transition had happened. One minute, Juliet was Mia’s carer, now she was Logan’s. It was at that moment, Juliet realised something. She couldn’t continue to be a private nanny. That life wasn’t for her anymore. In the homes of the rich, building a rapport with a child, a bond, feeling part of a family, until you were no longer of use and you got a boot out the door. It was breaking Juliet’s heart too much to be wrenched from the lives of these kids. She was going back to working in nurseries. The money was dreadful, but at least she wouldn’t have to go through this again. The kids were a gaggle, and though you got attached, it wasn’t the same. When they left, there wasn’t the heartbreak.
She had to go back to her old life. Be a Tothmore girl. Born and raised. No more Westover, no more rich people. No more Riley.
Twenty-Six
Riley was at work, looking at a design for a poster campaign to raise awareness in the city. But her mind wasn’t on the job because she was getting a steady stream of texts from India that were ripping her attention away every few minutes. Had Riley seen her Louboutin hot pink spiked velour trainers? Because India was due at a spin class in twenty minutes and she simply had to have them. Riley had not seen them and shuddered to imagine such a thing. Could Riley pick up a few basic things on her way home tonight that turned out to be forty items long and included such not even slightly basic things as truffle salt? Sure. Did Riley remember that time at school when Pete Wilks asked the janitor out on a dare, and she said yes? No, Riley couldn’t, and she had to imagine she’d locked that one up tight in the memory vault because it was dreadful. What did Riley think about doing another double date with some much better-standard guys she knew from somewhere or other? Thanks, but no thanks.
India was wearing Riley thin.
Riley was back in the same position she’d been in before. It was time to find somewhere to live. She was back on the apps, scouring, looking for anything half-decent. Any place she could afford wouldn’t be as nice as India’s, but at least she wouldn’t feel like she was under the thumb of her roommate. That was all she wanted anymore: just her freedom back, freedom from this misery. First Noah and all that business, then controlling Nick, then her bastard dad, now needy India. She’d had enough of the lot of them.
Riley had to wonder if she’d be able to deal with India better if she wasn’t so down about what had happened at Mia’s birthday. First, that terrible argument with her dad, and then…
No. She refused to think about that. It could join Pete Wilks and the janitor in the vault of dreadful memories locked up tight.
The phone beeped again, and Riley ignored it for a minute, thinking it was just more India. But it was Amanda, asking how she was. Riley was torn. She wasn’t sure whether this was just Amanda asking after her, or if it was actually the start of a relationship rescue attempt of the kind that Amanda was famed for.
In the end, she couldn’t leave her hanging, so she answered with the lie that she was fine. The reply surprised her.
I’m not doing so well.
Riley didn’t mess about this time and shot her back an instant reply.
What’s wrong?
Mia’s upset that Juliet’s gone, and so am I.
Riley frowned at her phone. What are you going to do about it?
What can I do? Your dad has made his mind up. I want to see his point of view, but I just don’t. I’m trying not to be angry at him.
That sounded bad.
You’re allowed to be angry. He was horrible.
Her reply shocked Riley.
Yes, he was. And now I’m probably going to lose my job because I had to take emergency leave to be with Mia. I can’t find anyone I trust like Juliet. I don’t want to resent being at home. But it’s hard. I love my daughter, but I really liked working.
Then why don’t you get Juliet back?
I don’t think she’d come back, even if Mike changed his mind. And he doesn’t listen to me, so that’s that.
Jesus. Something had flipped in that household since Riley had left. Amanda never said a word against her husband. But this had been the straw that had broken her back. Riley had prophesied something like this in that last conversation with her dad, but she hadn’t thought it would come quite so soon. It didn’t make her happy to be right.
Would you talk to him? Amanda texted.
If he ever listened to me, he won’t now.
Why?
Amanda didn’t know? How the hell didn’t she know?
We had a fight. The day of the party. Didn’t he tell you?
He never said a word.
It got ugly. We both said some bad things to each other.
That makes a lot of sense. He’s been in a terrible mood.
Riley wouldn’t take responsibility for that. That would have nothing to do with me. He doesn’t give a shit about what I think.
He cares about your opinion more than you might imagine.
Riley wasn’t having any guilt trips. I doubt that. But even if it was true, that doesn’t mean I have to listen to his shit.
No. It doesn’t. Maybe neither of us do.
Riley couldn’t think what to say to that, so she said nothing, and Amanda didn’t say any more either.
***
‘India, I said no. I have it in my texts; there’s a written record of it. NO. It’s right fucking here,’ Riley said, holding up her phone for dramatic emphasis. She’d only been back five minutes, and any plans to be more patient with India were out of the window.
India sighed. ‘I thought it was just banter. We both know you never do stuff unless I force you to do it. I’ve already confirmed with the guys.’
Riley tried to rein in her rage. She was living rent-free under India’s roof, and Riley had to remind herself she was grateful for that. ‘India,’ she said slowly and quietly. ‘I don’t need to be forced to do anything. I live my life exactly as I want to. And that includes finding my own dates.’
India guffawed. ‘You live like a nun. I’m just trying to make sure your hymen doesn’t grow back or whatever.’
‘Has it ever occurred to you that I don’t need as much sex as you do, India?’ Riley asked.
‘Are you slut-shaming me?’ India asked, folding her arms across her chest.
‘On the contrary. You’re prude-shaming me,’ Riley told her.
India moaned. ‘Jesus. It’s one hour. One or two drinks.’
‘Here. So I can’t even leave when I want to.’
‘I guess you’ll just have to try for a change,’ India smirked.
‘You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you? Why?’ Riley asked. ‘Why do you care one way or the other if I’m seeing anyone?’
‘I just want you to be happy,’ India said. For a moment, Riley felt slightly guilty for questioning her motives. But then India added, ‘Which is never gonna happen if you keep picking up rubbish.’
‘Rubbish?’ Riley repeated quietly, angrily. ‘What the hell does that mean?’
India looked like she wasn’t sure she should have said that last part. But then she s
hrugged. ‘You’re my bestie, you know I think you’re... Well, you know, great and everything,’ she said quickly, with moderate awkwardness. India didn’t really go in for compliments as a general rule. Riley didn’t get a chance to appreciate the brief warmth, however, because India was quick to cancel it out. ‘But you do have this tendency to… date down,’ she finished.
Riley was agape. ‘Date down?’