Page 76 of Courting Trouble

‘You asked.’

Delilah smiled. ‘So, anything I ask, you’d just tell me?’

Cassie thought that over. She wasn’t a robot. She could tell a white lie if needed. But she wouldn’t lie to Delilah. She simply wouldn’t want to. ‘I think so.’

‘OK. Do you think I can play her? Tamsin?’

Cassie nodded, happy to get such a softball. ‘Yep. I think you can.’

Delilah looked oddly taken aback. ‘You do?’

‘I’m not in your world. I don’t know acting. But I could see it, and that’s all I can say. I…’ Cassie stopped short.

‘What?’ Delilah asked, absolutely hungry for that dropped sentence.

Cassie wasn’t sure. It felt like too much.

‘You said you’d answer any question.’

Cassie knew she was trapped now. She had to say it. ‘Fine. I… I believe in you.’

Delilah blinked, and for a moment, Cassie thought she might have said too much. The words hung between them, heavier than either of them expected. Delilah’s lips quirked, not quite a smile. Her eyes lingered on Cassie in that way that made it impossible to look away.

‘I like having you on my side.’

Cassie swallowed. ‘I’ve always been on your side,’ she said.

Delilah’s lips curved further, and she shifted slightly closer. ‘What about when I pranged your car?’

That was less of a softball. Though it would have been so easy to simply apologise for that, to say,You caught me in a bad moment.But Cassie didn’t do that.

‘Yeah, I was in a very fucking bad mood at that moment. And I took that out on you.’

Delilah nodded, still smiling. ‘OK. Well, try not to do that again, if you don’t mind?’

Cassie let out a self-conscious laugh. ‘I’ll… try.’

Delilah’s eyes held hers. ‘Good. Because that’s a really hard glare you’ve got. I was a bit terrified.’

Cassie felt heat rise to her cheeks and looked down at her bottle, twisting it between her hands. ‘I could probably do worse,’ she said quietly, almost to herself.

Delilah’s eyebrow lifted, but her expression stayed calm, measured. ‘Worse?’

‘Yeah,’ Cassie said, voice low, careful. ‘I mean… I’m sort of an arsehole. I doknowthat about myself.’

Delilah watched her, head tilted. ‘You don’t scare me anymore, Cassie.’

Cassie shrugged, trying to sound casual, but her heart was hammering. ‘No?’

Delilah’s gaze softened. ‘Nope,’ she said, making the P pop.

Cassie didn’t know whether to feel relieved or more exposed. ‘Good to know,’ she murmured, almost inaudible.

They talked then, easier than before. Not just tennis, but anything that drifted to the surface. It was mostly Delilah who let things spill. She spoke about the films that had stayed with her, the music she loved, the worst jobs she’d stumbled through. Cassie offered less, choosing her words carefully, but still enough to keep the conversation alive.

But underneath it all, fear lingered. She wasn’t sure she was enough for this. Enough for Delilah. Retired tennis pro with a dodgy elbow. Could she keep up with someone like Delilah? Someone vibrant, so bloodyalive?

The thought of it ending—of returning to an empty apartment and routine life, withoutthis—made her heart hurt.