Page 30 of Courting Trouble

‘I don’t know how that’s going to shake out. I just miss the training. I miss your…’

Cassie stopped breathing.

‘…particular brand of hard-arsery.’

Cassie let the breath go. ‘Sure. You’re paid through the week, right?’ she said quickly.

She started the car, wondering what Joanna would say about all this. There was one word she often used that could be helpful.

Boundaries.

Thirty-One

Delilah adjusted the grip on her racket, glad to have it back in her hand. She served. Not terribly. Not well either. The ball hit the edge of the net and bounced back towards her.

‘Again,’ Cassie called.

She retrieved the ball and did it again. This time, it cleared. Just.

They fell into a rhythm. Forehands. Backhands. Corrections murmured between shots.

Then, Delilah lunged for a cross-court backhand and made it. It was wild, messy, barely in. But in.

Cassie just raised an eyebrow. ‘Well. That almost looked like tennis.’

Delilah laughed, breathless. Then she stopped laughing. ‘Hey, Cassie?’

Cassie raised an eyebrow. ‘Mm?’

She hesitated. ‘I said a lot, didn’t I? Yesterday.’

Cassie shrugged. ‘You said what needed saying.’

Delilah wasn’t sure Cassie was getting it. She tried again. ‘It was probably a bit much for you to have to listen to.’

‘Are you feeling like I read your diary?’ Cassie asked dryly.

Delilah flushed.

‘Look, it’s not my business. I just teach you tennis.’

That embarrassed Delilah even more. She supposed she’d thought that Cassie’s intervention meant something, that maybe they were more than just teacher and student. Maybe even friends. At least friendly. Because Cassie had said Delilah was her friend to Rena Rowe, hadn’t she? Had Delilah misheard her?

‘I wasn’t—’ she began. ‘I didn’t mean it to sound like—’

‘I didn’t know the movie was about her sexuality,’ Cassie said suddenly.

‘Amongst other things,’ Delilah said evenly.

Cassie bounced a ball twice. ‘Tennis has always been weird about queer players. Which is weird, seeing as there are so many of us.’

Cassie hit the next shot hard, ending the conversation with a thwack.

Delilah didn’t chase it. She just stood there, heart doing something weird in her chest.

Us. Cassie was queer.

‘The hell was that? You didn’t even bother going after it!’ Cassie admonished.