Page 46 of Sorry, Not Sorry
Turning over in bed, Delilah looked across to where Noah lay on his back, deep in sleep.
She plumped up her pillow and rested her head on the crook of her arm, watching the silent rise and fall of his naked chest, partly exposed by the sheet that had fallen away.
It always amazed her how Noah breathed so softly and scarcely moved during the night while she tossed and turned trying to quieten her mind.
It was hard to believe three weeks had passed since the night he’d gate-crashed her babysitting duties. Since then, he’d spent almost all his free time with her or at her flat, and it was starting to feel like the three years apart had never happened.
But if things with Noah were back on track, Delilah thought soberly, everything else in her life remained an unresolved mess.
She had ignored Arne’s calls and messages, and so far there had been no word from Polly, which suggested Arne hadn’t yet snitched on her.
Her manager had made it clear the sessions with Arne were mandatory, and if she learned Delilah had walked out of therapy, it would be inviting an inevitable firing.
Even if she looked for another counselling job, it would be problematic trying to explain why she hadn’t finished her training.
In any case, working as a counsellor would mean returning to therapy and— She shook her head and purposefully shut down any thoughts of Arne. She was done with him.
Punching the pillow as if it was responsible for her situation, Delilah flopped back onto it and mulled over her situation. Her half-hearted attempts to search online jobs boards had resulted in a ton of random jobs, but nothing of any interest and?—
‘Good morning, beautiful!’
Startled, Delilah turned to find Noah watching her with a sleepy smile. She shuffled over to close the gap between them, snuggling under the warmth of his arm and breathing in his unique Noah scent.
‘You looked like you were a million miles away,’ he growled, his voice rough with sleep. ‘What’s going through that pretty head of yours?’
She didn’t feel particularly pretty lying there without a scrap of make-up and her hair tucked into a black satin bonnet, but she wasn’t about to argue. She kissed him lightly and rested her head against his chest.
‘Just thinking I need to kickstart my job search. I can’t hang around forever waiting for Polly to take me back. I’m already weeks behind Armenique and the others on my training programme, and all this sitting around is doing my head in. It’s probably best if I look for another job.’
Noah’s deep voice rumbled through his chest. ‘Are you sure about that? I thought you loved your job. Can’t you talk to Polly and work something out?’
Delilah snuggled deeper into his arms, wondering how much detail to get into. Noah knew she had been seeing a therapist, but she had never explained it was a precondition of her job, and now she’d ditched Arne, there was no point bringing it up.
‘It’s not just Polly…’ She tailed off with a sigh. ‘I’ve tried my best but maybe relationship counselling isn’t the right direction for me. Anyway, enough about that. Let’s talk about you – what’s on your mind?’
‘Right now? Nothing much. Just enjoying lying in bed with the most incredible girl in the world in my arms.’
‘I am rather incredible, aren’t I?’ she teased, and he promptly tickled her ribs, leaving her giggling helplessly. She buried her face in the crook of his neck and mumbled, ‘I’m so glad you’ve taken the day off work. Now, you can project manage me all day instead of your sweaty construction crew.’
‘When you put it like that, how can I say no?’ He squeezed her tightly against him. ‘I’m so crazy about you,’ he said, his voice muffled by her shoulder.
She couldn’t stop the shiver that ran through her at his words, and she wrapped her arms around him and tried to push away the unwelcome prickle of unease. Moments later, when Noah rolled on top of her and kissed her deeply, she stopped thinking about anything at all.