Page 41 of Courting Trouble
After all, hadn’t Cassie gone out of her way to help her? More than she would for most? Foranyone?
She told herself it was because she was making decent money every hour she spent with her. That was all. But deep down, she knew better.
She shouldn’t have come here. There was too much personal shit spread around this place. Delilah was going to see too much. She was going to see Cassie’s mushy little centre. Cassie couldn’t have that. She was supposed to be solid.
But lying there in the dark, her mind racing, a small knot in her stomach, Cassie couldn’t help but wonder if it was too late. What if Delilah had already seen her?
A truly horrific thought.
Forty-Three
Delilah blinked awake to the sound of birds.
Not city pigeons and traffic and the tinny whine of a neighbour’s alarm, but actual birdsong. Full-throated and obnoxiously chipper. She lay there for a moment, resisting the call of the cold floor and the inevitable sweat of the day ahead.
But after a minute, the claustrophobia of the lower bunk was too much, and she got up. Cassie was right. This place really discouraged malingering.
She glanced at the top bunk, but it was empty, the bed already made, military tight.
Delilah yawned, rubbing sleep from her eyes, and checked the time on her phone. It was barely gone six. Her shoulder still ached faintly, a dull little throb from yesterday’s drills. She stretched it cautiously, then dressed quickly. Then realised the front door was open a crack. She stepped outside and squinted against the early light.
Cassie was out front, barefoot on the patch of lawn in front of the cabin, arms raised overhead in a stretch that set the muscles along her back rippling under her vest. Delilah hesitated, leaning against the doorframe, frozen by the sight. Heat pricked Delilah’s cheeks, and she looked away, furious with herself for leering like some creep at the gym.
She was quick to shake it off. She was not here forthat, she told herself for the tenth time.
And Cassie certainly wasn’t. She was paying some sort of price to be here, Delilah could see. Not that she’d say so in a million years. Still, Delilah noticed, and she appreciated it. And appreciation didn’t include ogling.
Cassie glanced over her shoulder and caught her watching.
‘You’re up early,’ she said.
‘So are you.’
Cassie didn’t reply. She bent low into a hamstring stretch, gaze fixed on the ground.
‘I didn’t realise you were a morning person,’ Delilah said, trying to break the ice.
Cassie rolled her eyes. ‘I’m not. I just didn’t see the point of staying in bed pretending.’
Delilah offered a small smile. ‘That bad, eh?’
Cassie straightened and looked at her for a moment. ‘It’s just the mattress.’
Delilah nodded. ‘Not exactly Tempur-Pedic.’
Cassie smiled thinly. ‘You stretch yet?’
Delilah shrugged. ‘Was gonna do it now.’
‘Then do it.’
They stood side by side for a while in silence, moving through warm-ups in sync. Cassie didn’t speak, but Delilah watched her carefully. Whatever was bothering her, it wasn’t small. And it wasn’t new.
Delilah wished she could ask. But she knew better. If she asked, Cassie would slam shut harder than her little brother’s laptop that time she barged into his room without knocking.
Still, it was hard. Hard to like someone as much as she liked Cassie and feel the door bang shut every time she got near. Cassie had gone above and beyond for her, but she’d drawn a line in the sand early, and Delilah had learned to respect it.
Mostly.
