Chapter 18
Eighteen
She stayed still a moment longer than she needed to, watching Delilah bounce on the spot with that daft grin on her face.
It was a terrible shot. Every part of the technique was wrong. Her footwork was non-existent, the swing was all elbow, and the ball had only cleared the net by blind luck. But it had landed in. And Cassie had seen something much better.
That look in Delilah’s eyes.
Cassie picked up the next ball and turned away, hiding the small smile tugging at her mouth. She hadn’t seen that look in a long time. Years, maybe. Not in this place.
Her day job had become a blur of polite boredom: private sessions with people in their fifties who called her ‘coach’ like it meant something, while the reality was, they were more concerned with getting steps on their fitness tracker than truly learning to play.
They didn’t care about strategy, or form, or footwork.
They weren’t there to get better. They were there to perform the idea of tennis.
Cassie went through the motions and took the money. Somewhere in all that, she’d gone a little numb. Until Delilah.
She was terrible. No question. But she tried. She’d come back every time Cassie thought she’d finally had enough. And now, somehow, she’d stopped being awful.
Not good. Not even OK. But… not awful.
And more than that, she wanted to do this now. Cassie could see it in her. That rush of hitting the shot and feeling it ripple up the arm, the chest, the spine. That first real thrill.
Cassie had forgotten how it felt to see that. It was second-hand joy, but it damn near felt like the real thing.
Cassie looked up. Delilah was still grinning at her like a fool.
‘You want to go again?’ she asked, already knowing the answer.
Delilah nodded, flushed and sweaty. ‘Let’s see if I can do it twice.’
Cassie smiled, almost to herself.
‘It’s not about doing it twice,’ she said, tossing the ball into the air.
‘It’s about wanting to.’
She served, taking it easy this time.
Delilah lunged and connected. It wasn’t in, but it was close.
Cassie watched the ball hit the net and bounce back to Delilah. Delilah swore softly under her breath.
Cassie collected the ball. ‘Again,’ she said.
Delilah nodded.
Cassie reset her stance. For the first time in a long while, she felt like something was happening.
She tossed the next ball. Delilah was already moving.