Page 8 of Courting Trouble

Cassie, of course, did not need a lift. Her own car was right next to Delilah’s. ‘Look, we probably should have had this talk before, but how long has it been since you picked up a racket?’

‘Before today?’

‘Yes.’

‘Never.’

‘Oh.’

‘Yes.’

‘And they hired you to play tennis legendTamsin Rowe?’ Cassie was compelled to ask.

‘They don’t know about my lack of tennis skills. My agent bullshitted them. And now I have to make her lie true or I lose the gig,’ she said, honestly.

‘I see.’ Cassie sighed. ‘Look, I know this sucks.’

‘I suck, you mean.’

Cassie considered pretending otherwise. She really did. But what was the point? Cassie had no gift for fake encouragement. Delilah would spot a bad performance pretty quickly, given her skill set.

‘Yes,’ she said plainly. ‘You’re the worst I’ve ever seen. I’ve genuinely seen better toddlers.’

Delilah’s head lifted. Her eyes were wet, her eyeliner smudged, but there was a flicker of disbelief behind the tears. ‘Wow,’ she said, a laugh falling out of her.

Cassie let the corner of her mouth curl, just slightly. Kept her tone dry. ‘Yeah, wow. But you know what? Toddlers learn. They fall over, cry, and then get back up.’

Delilah blinked at her, still sniffly, but listening.

‘You really thinkIcan learn?’ she asked.

Cassie shrugged. ‘I think if you don’t keep going, the end of the story is that you suck at this. If you do keep going, you might get to tell yourself something else.’

‘What?’

‘That you can learn. That you can improve. Or at least, that you’re not a quitter.’

They sat in silence. Just the faint hum of traffic and a dog barking somewhere distant.

Delilah wiped her cheeks, her voice small but steady. ‘This is so embarrassing.’

‘I’m sure.’

‘I hate that feeling.’

‘Mmm hmm.’

‘Any way you can make it go away?’

‘Nope.’ Cassie shook her head. ‘You’re a beginner and you’re bad. The good news is that you literally couldn’t get worse. You can only get better.’

It was possibly the least inspiring pep talk in history, but Cassie meant it. If they could both just name the thing—that Delilah sucked—then maybe it wouldn’t sting so badly.

‘Am I the worst you’ve ever seen?’ Delilah asked, starting to smile.

Cassie nodded. ‘Yes. Which is odd.’

‘Odd?’