Page 49 of Courting Trouble

‘Why?’

Cassie was dementedly annoyed. ‘Are you six?’

Joanna shrugged lightly. ‘Answer or don’t.’

Cassie tutted. ‘Because ofPetra.’

‘Because she hurt you?’

‘Yes.’

‘The woman who runs the place you currently occupy.’

Cassie frowned. ‘And?’

Joanna cocked her head. ‘We’resoclose now, Cassie.’

Cassie groaned. ‘If you think I came here to get closure with her so I could heal the wound she left and open myself up to new love with Delilah, you’redead wrong.’

Joanna smiled and said nothing. Cassie wanted to reach through the screen and slap her around the face. ‘I’m telling you, you’re wrong!’

‘I didn’t say that. You did.’

‘But you were thinking it!’ Cassie exploded.

Joanna was maddeningly calm. ‘Maybe. But you couldn’t know that unless you were, on some level, thinking it too.’ She paused. ‘Delilah and Petra aren’t the same,’ she said slowly.

‘I swear, my hand is itching to slam this laptop shut. I’m so close, you don’t even know,’ Cassie warned her.

‘Wouldn’t much matter if you did,’ Joanna said philosophically. ‘We got where we needed to get.’

‘Uggh!’ Cassie said and slammed the screen down.

She stood up and went to the window. She could hear that distant, familiar sound of tennis balls being hit in rhythm, like a clock ticking. She sighed and got her phone out, sending Joanna a text.

I’m sorry for that.

No problem,Joanna texted back.

No, I’m not a child. I shouldn’t have done that.

It’s not the first time that’s happened in a session, and I’m sure it won’t be the last,Joanna assured her.Let me know if you’d like another session. I’m sure I can find time.

Thanks.

She put her phone away and walked out of the cabin to the main lodge.

She hoped Delilah hadn’t finished eating yet. Cassie thought it might be sort of pleasant to have lunch with her.

Forty-Nine

The quinoa on her plate was stone cold. Delilah had pushed it around for a while after Petra left, making vague patterns with her fork, trying not to spiral. But the way Petra had looked at her had gotten under her skin.

She told herself she was being dramatic. As an actor, she knew better than most what that meant. But she didn’t quite believe herself.

The dining hall was loud and full now. Cutlery scraping and people chatting, phrases like ‘unforced error’ and ‘break point’ cut across the tables. But Delilah felt alone in the noise. Petra had reminded her, as if she needed it, that this was not Delilah’s world.

She was considering whether to leave when she saw Cassie. She walked in like she always did, purposeful and quiet, but something about her posture had changed. She looked… looser?