Page 14 of Courting Trouble

They hobbled back to the car in near silence. Delilah expected to be dropped at home and left in peace. Instead, Cassie started scribbling in a notepad and ripped out the page, handing it to her.

‘What’s this?’

‘Homework.’

Delilah blinked at her. ‘You’re giving me homework?’

‘Watch these matches. You’ll learn something.’

Delilah narrowed her eyes. ‘You areobsessed.’

‘And now you’re behind schedule.’

Delilah looked down at the list, then back at Cassie. She sighed. ‘You know, some might call you a tyrant.’

Cassie started the engine. ‘Be grateful. That’s exactly what you need.’

Delilah tried not to smile and failed.

Sixteen

Cassie checked her watch. Delilah was late.

Delilah had texted to ask for an extra day for her ankle—it’s still a bit tender—and Cassie felt that was probably bollocks. She was almost certain Delilah hadn’t touched the homework she’d set either. She’d been thrilled to be injured. Cassie was pretty sure she’d get another text in a minute, asking for a further day. She checked her phone in case it had already come through.

‘Sorry, sorry, traffic!’ Delilah said, dashing onto the court, a little breathless.’

Cassie looked up, surprised to see Delilah, bright-eyed and all the rest of it.

‘That’s OK,’ Cassie said.

Delilah smiled and dropped her bag. ‘Bet you thought I wasn’t coming.’

Cassie pushed down her smile. She tilted her head. ‘Ankle?’

‘Good enough.’ She did a small hop to demonstrate. ‘Didn’t push it. Did the homework, though.’

‘Did you?’ Cassie asked, unable to hide her surprise.

‘You sound sceptical.’

‘Honesty, I was assuming you’d watch the first five minutes of one match, get bored, and end up on Netflix.’

Delilah snorted. ‘Thanks, Coach.’

Cassie crossed her arms. ‘So? What did you watch?’

Delilah pulled her phone to check her notes.

‘Serena vs Halep, 2019 Wimbledon, as you requested. Then Federer vs Nadal, 2008 final. And I watched Swiatek at the French Open last year. She’s unreal. You can actually see the point where her opponent realises it’s over.’

Cassie blinked.

Delilah went on. ‘I tried to watch some older stuff too, like Navratilova, but it’s hard to find good footage—it’s all about twelve pixels—you can’t really get the detail. Same problem with Tamsin Rowe, of course, but I watched those anyway.’ Delilah paused for breath. ‘And then I watched some volleying drills, found them on YouTube—’

‘You watched doublesvolleying drills?’

Delilah shrugged. ‘Why not? I didn’t have anything else to do.’