I can do it with a broken heart (Lando Norris)

42. You Need To Calm Down

And I ain't trying to mess with your self-expression
But I've learned the lesson that stressin'
And obsessin' 'bout somebody else is no fun
And snakes and stones never broke my bones

Lando had set off to MTC early the next morning, leaving Hannah to spend the day at home with his family. The start of the new season was drawing ever closer and he had a lot of work to do to get prepared.

Hannah was sat on his bed, cross-legged in front of the laptop waiting for a Zoom call from Alice to talk about her next steps. She wanted to get it sorted before she headed off with Lando so she could relax and just enjoy being there to support him.

Her phone rang beside her, a New York area code and she picked it up. "Hey Alice, sorry I thought you said Zoom?"

"It's Cassie." Came the flat reply from the other end of the phone.

"Oh..." was all Hannah could muster.

"I watched your interview," Cassie told her. "This new girl you've hired is good, I'll give her that. I can't quite believe you managed to spin it to go your way for now."

"I didn't have a lot of choice." Hannah reminded her. "A book, Cassie? Seriously."

"I haven't got a job, Hannah. And thanks to you I've got no real prospects of getting anyone else to hire me any time soon. And Joe just-" she trailed off.

"I'm not talking to you about him," Hannah said. "And as for the rest of this, I think we both know the only person you have to blame is yourself."

There was a snort of laughter from the other end of the call. "Even now, you can't see it, can you?"

"See what?"

"I gave up my entire life for your career, Hannah," Cassie yelled. "I was at your beck and call twenty-four-seven for a decade because you seem to be completely incapable of doing anything for yourself. How many nights did I have to pick you up off the floor after you and Joe had argued and you'd had too much to drink? I checked you into rehab, made sure you stuck with it, keeping tabs on everything you were doing, making sure you produced a half-decent sounding album and then arranged this entire tour and you never even so much as said thank you!"

Hannah let out a sigh of disbelief. "I'm sorry if you felt that way Cassie, but I can assure you it was never my intention. And either way, I don't think it excuses what you did."

"You just can't let me have anything, can you?" Cassie shot back at her. "You go and let Joe believe he's got another shot with you and suddenly he's not interested in me, I write a book and you sue me..."

"What did you think was going to happen, Cassie?" Hannah asked, trying to remind herself to stay calm. "It's my life, Cassie. It's not your story to tell."

The sound of the incoming call on her laptop was a welcome relief. As much as she wanted answers from Cassie, this conversation was clearly doing nothing other than going around in ever-frustrating circles.

"I have to go," Hannah said.

"I'll see you in court then I guess." Cassie snapped, hanging up the phone.

Hannah took a deep breath, turning to her laptop as she connected to the call with Alice.

"Hi, Alice." She smiled warmly. "Sorry about that, how are you?"

"That's alright, I'm good. I've just been checking online and the reaction to the interview is really positive." Alice smiled.
"It's gained a particularly positive response from mental health charities, they're praising you and Lando for both being so honest and reminding people it's okay."