Page 80 of Any Kind of Life

“Things haven’t been good?” Caz placed a hand on Juliet’s knee, a look of understanding in her eyes. “I know they haven’t. I can tell.”

Juliet frowned. “How?”

“You’ve looked better. I won’t lie.”

Juliet snorted. She appreciated Caz’s honesty. It made a change from most people tiptoeing around her. “Thank you. That was just what I needed to hear.”

“I mean, you still look better than all of us here put together, but I don’t know. You’re not yourself.”

“No, I know. It doesn’t help that I’m not sleeping.” Juliet craved a good night’s sleep. She knew once she had conquered that, she would be feeling far better. “I just can’t settle once I lie down.”

“Have you thought about speaking to the doctor?”

“No. I don’t really want to medicate unless I absolutely have to. My body has taken plenty of it lately.” Juliet rarely took anything more than a paracetamol for a headache. If she could avoid sleeping tablets, she absolutely would. “I think I’m just coming to terms with everything. Poor Paige probably thought I was losing the plot this morning.”

Caz looked over to Paige and smiled. “I bet she’s been great.”

“Oh, she has. I don’t know what I’d have done without her. But this morning was a little bit touch and go with my mind. I…thought I’d seen Cara down on the street.”

“Ah.” Caz nodded slowly. “I guess that’s to be expected, given what you’ve been through. And then the fact that she offed herself probably doesn’t help. She’s taken the chance for you to find closure away in some way.”

Juliet didn’t need to sit through a trial for closure. Honestly, if someone was capable of trying to kill her, why waste taxpayers’ money by housing her in a prison? If Cara felt that suicide was the only way out of this, then that was her choice and her choice alone. Juliet wouldn’t lose any sleep over it. No, she was just losing sleep for every other reason. “Does it make me a terrible person to be happy she’s dead?”

“Well, if it does, that makes two of us.” Caz laughed, then sipped her wine. “I don’t think it makes you a terrible person at all. She put you through hell. Why should you find it in your heart to forgive her or care about her?”

“You’re right.”

“Edie has been asking about you.” Caz crossed her legs, smiling at Paige and Hannah as they carried more bottles of wine and the cheese board through to the living room.

“Oh, has she made any plans for her birthday yet? Paige was telling me that she’s really excited to do something.”

Hannah groaned. “Please, no talk of Edie’s birthday tonight. It’s all I seem to think about. Even when I get into bed, I’m trying to plan it.”

“She hasn’t decided what she’s doing yet?” Paige asked. “Her birthday is weeks away.”

Caz held up her hands. “I give up with it all. You know she’s only going to end up at the cinema or something.”

Juliet suddenly had a bright idea. She wasn’t sure any of them would go for it, but she could mention it anyway. “How about the bar?”

Hannah frowned. “I know you’re all for fun, but my child is turning sixteen, Juliet. Not eighteen.”

Juliet rolled her eyes as she waved a hand between them. “I know that. She stabbed me; she didn’t give me a lobotomy.” She sat forward, her hands clasped together. “Paige can take care of a few special mocktails and…the real stuff for us lot. I don’t know what else, but we can figure it out.”

“B-babe.” Paige’s face had drained of all colour as Juliet looked up at her. “You haven’t been to the bar yet. I think it’s a bit ambitious to offer something like that when you don’t know how you’ll react to being back there.”

“I told you, Paige. She’s not taking that bar from me. No way.”

“And I agree, but it might be kinda soon.”

Caz suddenly sat forward on the couch. “How about we agree to the bar but have a backup plan just in case? We won’t tell Edie about The Hideout, and it can be a surprise.”

Juliet grinned. “I love that idea. That it’ll be a surprise.”

“Perfect. Problem solved!”

Paige slumped into a seat on the couch opposite Juliet and Caz and puffed out her cheeks. “Guess I’ll just go with the majority then.”

Juliet watched Paige as she muttered something under her breath and shook her head. Why was Paige so against the idea? It surely couldn’t just be about Juliet and going back there again. Whatever it was, she would speak to her later about it.