“Diego said that?”
“Yep.”
Rob grimaced and grabbed a white towel draped over a nearby machine and wiped his dripping forehead. “Fine. One really good exercise you can do in the water—”
“No. I was hoping we could go to the pool. To actually do the exercises.”
“You’re kidding?”
“No. I’m a doer. I learn by doing, not by listening. So it has to be out there.” She gave her words the sing-song rhythm of one who is sure of herself.
“Whatever.” He snapped his towel back onto the machine’s handle.
Amy turned away with Rob following. Just as he seemed to be making a detour to his bag she slid her arm through his.
“This is going to be so much fun. You know, I want to get in really good shape for Diego.” She dropped her voice to a whisper as she directed him out the door. “And our wedding night.”
In the hallway, her shoulders dropped in relief. The rest was up to Casey. The heat had not yet become unbearable as she led Rob to the edge of the pool. She raised her face expectantly. “So the one really good exercise is…”
“Aren’t you going to get in?” he asked. “I thought you were a doer.”
She groaned silently as her own words came back to bite her. “Of course.” She really had only one option if she wanted to give Casey as much time as possible. She turned to the pool and jumped in, fully clothed, feet first. “Okay, so the one good exercise is…?”
Rob stared at her incredulously. He looked so shocked she had to stifle the laugh that rose in her throat. She treaded the cool water, aware she looked absolutely ridiculous, and hoped Casey was having better luck rifling through his bag.
“The exercise?” she prompted.
“There’s the Spiderman, where you climb the wall of the pool like Spiderman climbs up buildings. Stand at the edge, tread water with your hands and climb up the wall with your feet.”
Amy, the doer, moved to the wall. “Oh, I like it. I can feel it in my core.”
“And then there’s one where you’ll need a noodle.” He kicked the bright purple cylindrical foam into the water. “Stand upright, press straight down on the noodle with both hands, and lean forward until you’re on an even incline. That’s it. Keep your head above water. Now stay that like that for two minutes.”
Amy maintained the plank position and marveled that certified or not, Rob knew his stuff. The muscles of her stomach and back tightened and her sore hips loosened up. She fought the current of the water, as she actually tried to perfect the exercise.
Then, from the patio windows behind Rob’s back she saw Casey slashing the side of her hand across her throat. Time to cut loose.
“Okay. That’s great. Thank you.” Amy released the noodle and it popped to the surface with a splash.
“You know two exercises aren’t going to make Diego like you.” Rob sneered down at her.
“Excuse me?” She flinched at the real venom in his voice.
“I know a couple more,” Rob backtracked quickly.
“No. Two’s good.”
“Tell Diego I’ll see him tomorrow.” He disappeared inside without waiting for an answer.
Amy dog-paddled to the shallow end. Despite being able to run most people into the ground on the soccer field, she was not a good swimmer. She climbed out, water streaming off her clothes.
Casey slunk into the patio from the side gate. “He’s gone?”
Amy nodded.
“What the hell?” Casey asked, laughing while Amy stood dripping all over the patio.
“I lied to get him out here, and then I had to jump in the pool to prove myself.” Amy looked down at water running off her shorts and T-shirt and started laughing, too. “What’d you find in there?”
“Nothing,” Casey said. “Nothing but sweaty, gross clothes, and towels that smelled like they’ve never been washed.”
“Great. So I did all this for dirty laundry.” She squeezed out her top. Water streamed to the flagstones.
“I don’t know. I’d say turnabout is fair play. I can see why you pushed me in that first day…” Casey’s gaze slowly roamed her body and goosebumps rose up on Amy’s skin. “I finally get to see you dripping wet.”
“I don’t know. I was pretty wet last night.” Amy blushed at her boldness but met Casey’s look head on.
Desire smoldered between them, and suddenly, Amy didn’t care about her wet clothes, or Rob’s weirdness and his photoshopping.
Casey took a step toward her and then stiffened as her gaze drifted over Amy’s shoulder.
“Hi, Diego,” she called softly.
Amy spun around to see Diego, larger than life, striding out onto the patio. “Oh, great! You’re here, Casey. You obviously got my text,” he said.
Casey nodded, hiding her surprise.
Amy plastered a fake smile on her face. “You’re back early. We didn’t expect you ’til later.” She cringed. Her first sentence and already a mistake. She should have said “I,” not “we.”
This was going to be too easy to screw up. Or maybe she wanted a way out? She pushed the thought out of her head as soon as it entered. Not possible.
“I flew back ahead of the team. I have great news!” Diego beamed and took her in his arms. He instantly recoiled. “You’re all wet. What happened?”
“I… I…” For the life of her she couldn’t think of a lie.
“I dared her to jump in with her clothes on.” Casey saved her. Now she was treading the path of lies. “We were just goofing about.”
“Okay. Glad to see you’re having fun,” Diego said dismissively. “Where’s Tammy? I want to tell all three of you together.”
“Let’s go find her.” Casey turned Diego back to the house and gave him a gentle push forward. Behind his back, she caught Amy’s eye and mouthed, “You okay?”
Amy nodded, but she wasn’t sure. Diego’s unexpected arrival had given her the jitters. Whatever the news was, she could roll with it. But she wasn’t ready to give up her precious, truthful moments with Casey for the lies of her public life.
Casey touched her shoulder in a quick caress and they followed Diego indoors.
Tammy came rushing out of her apartment into the kitchen with an apology already flowing from her lips.
“You’re home. I’m so sorry. If I knew you’d be home early, I would’ve been ready. Give me a second.” She cast Casey a withering look. “No one told me.”
She flew into action, pulling the carrot cake from the pantry and making cups of coffee all at once. Amy stood under the air conditioning in her damp clothes, wondering if she could catch pneumonia in the middle of a heatwave. She should go up and change, but she was on the job now.
Casey sat down at the table and crossed her arms defensively across her chest.
Diego, oblivious to the women in his life and the way they felt about him and each other, stood easily at the kitchen island, beaming from ear to ear, chatting about the game and his goal.
Amy caught Casey’s eyes once, and she dropped her head as Diego prattled on. Finally, they sat around the table with coffee and cake before them.
Diego reached out and cupped Amy’s hand for show. “I’m bursting. I can’t wait to tell you all.”
They stared expectantly at him.
“I got the call,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. “The national team. They want me at the training camp next week.”
“Oh, Diego! That’s amazing.” Tammy jumped up and rushed to enfold him in a bear hug.
Casey was next in line with a kiss on the check and a simple, but warm, “That’s truly wonderful.”
Amy stood back from the rest watching until Diego circled her with his arms and dropped his head in for the kiss. Amy stiffened. It was only acting on both their parts. But now as his lips met hers she couldn�
��t help but feel as if she were cheating on Casey in some bizarre way.
“Oh my God. You’re really wet,” Diego said as he released her.
“You should go change,” Casey said, so sharply that everyone turned to look at her. “I mean she’s dripping all over the floor.”
“Sorry, Tammy. I just wanted to hear Diego’s news.” Amy apologized.
“No worries.” Tammy said with uncharacteristic charity.
“Go change. I want to drive over to my mother’s to tell the family the news. I already told her, but I made her swear that I could tell everyone else. Will you come with me?”
“Of course.”
With a happy nod, Diego, her boss, released her from the kitchen. It took everything that Amy had, not to look at Casey on her way out, especially when she heard Diego issue all sorts of intricate instructions to her for a busy working day.
Isabella opened the door with a wide grin that mirrored her son’s. She immediately took him into her arms with an excited squeak. “Gracias a dios, hijo mío! Te lo merecías.”
“Don’t jinx it, Mama. I haven’t made the team yet.” Diego laughed happily, but his tone suggested that in his mind he was already wearing the red, white, and blue of the national uniform.
“Come in. Everyone’s here.” Isabella stood back for them to enter. She cupped Amy’s cheek as they crossed paths. “His good luck charm.”
Nausea whirled in her stomach, but she managed a wan smile. This was so much different from the first time she had come here. Then she had been pretending to be someone that she wasn’t; now she was pretending to be someone she didn’t want to be. She wasn’t entirely sure what the difference was, but clearly it involved a stomach that did flip-flops.
Luckily, the attention wasn’t on her, and she managed to stay in the background, even sidling up to where Abuelita sat on her throne in the living room. The language barrier would ensure that she could disappear into her own thoughts, which were whirling around herself and Casey and their predicament. Who knew when or if they would have any alone time together to discuss how to manage the unmanageable.
When everyone raised a glass to Diego’s success, Abuelita’s bony hand reached for hers. She squeezed it lovingly. Amy fought back tears. She was the woman who had survived her parents’ death without crying even once, and now this simple touch from an old lady was almost enough to send her over the edge? What the hell was going on here?
Abuelita squeezed her hand again when she noticed Amy’s eyes filling up. “Qué lindo que sientes tanta emoción por eí.”
Amy didn’t understand a word of what she said, but got the tone immediately. Abuelita’s approval came with another rush of nausea.
The afternoon couldn’t end too soon for Amy, but Diego’s family, who grabbed any excuse to come together, celebrated long into the afternoon. She allowed herself to look at her phone only twice. No texts from Casey. When the summer light started to fade in the backyard, Isabella asked, “What does everyone want on their pizza?”
Amy bit her lip rather than respond. There was no way she could choke down a slice with her stomach still rolling.
“We can’t stay, Mama. We have that thing, right, Amy?”
Amy blanked. What thing did they have?
Isabella noted Amy’s expression. “Don’t make her lie, cariño. See how uncomfortable she is telling fibs for you? If you both want to be alone to celebrate, just tell us. We can take it.”
“No it’s not that, although it does sound tempting.” Diego rushed the last part out almost too quickly. “Isn’t your friend playing at the Roadhouse? Is that tonight? Did I get it wrong?”
“Simon? He is playing, I forgot all about that! We need to go. I mean I’d like to go, if you still want to.” It was the last place she wanted to go, but she had the tickets in her wallet and it would get her out of this frying pan.
“You kids have fun tonight.” Isabella directed them to the door. “Oh, Amy, are we still on for tomorrow? At your house?”
That’s right. She wanted to come over to set the date for the wedding. “Of course, Isabella.” Another thing to get out of.
In the car, Amy expertly stuffed her hair back down her blouse while Diego chattered on about his future. As she half-listened, she twisted the engagement ring she had put back on earlier. The big, fake diamond glittered in the street lamps that were just starting to flicker on. It felt heavy on her finger.
Diego shifted in his seat. “You know, maybe Casey can come out and join us. I need to go over that paperwork I asked her to get, and tomorrow I have a session with Rob and then practice with the Atoms. That wouldn’t be too weird, would it? They’ve got tables there right?”
He wasn’t really asking her, but Amy’s heart soared anyway when she gave her answer. “A little weird, maybe, but you need to use your time wisely now.”
“Yeah. We’ll just have to make sure that whoever Paul sends out to take those Facebook pictures gets the fun part of the evening not the work part.”
“We can totally make that happen.” She would see Casey tonight after all. She stopped fidgeting with her ring.
The Roadhouse was right off the freeway just outside of the Los Angeles county line. It looked like nothing special from the outside: a big wooden warehouse with a dilapidated sign built into the roof and a huge, free parking lot. Amy wouldn’t have given the place a second look if Simon hadn’t talked about it non-stop from almost the moment she’d met him.
“You’re either going up or coming down if you play at the Roadhouse,” Simon had said at least a million times. The intimate club was known for booking the next great band before they hit the big time, and Simon had spent most of his few free nights there studying the acts. A gig here was his dream come true, and Knight had delivered on it. Simon must be over the moon. Maybe they could push the restart button on their friendship tonight? She’d love for that to happen. She was missing him too much.
“Who are you guys?” The middle-aged rocker at the front door gave Amy an appreciative look as he took the two VIP tickets from Diego’s outstretched hand.
“He’s the VIP,” Amy said.
“Really? Who are you, dude?”
“Diego Torres.”
“Who?”
“The pro soccer player?” Amy jumped in. The last thing she needed was a moody Diego.
“Cool, you know Pele?” The man’s voice sounded like he had smoked way too many cigarettes.
“No. I’ve never met him.”
“Oh.” His gaze returned to Amy and lingered on her body.
“Where are we sitting?” Impatience crept into Diego’s voice.
“Over here, dude.” The man lead them through the standing crowd to a roped off section with tables and chairs. Their table was only a few feet from the stage.
“Here you go Mr…VIP.”
“Look, we’re going to need another ticket.” Diego handed over a wad of cash. “Could you leave it at the door for a Casey Palmer.”
“Um.” Amy looked around the club. “Can we have that table over there?” She pointed to the one other empty table in the back of the VIP section. It was up by the bar. She wasn’t sure of how Simon would feel about her coming here at all. And here she was, right in his face. She would hate to put him off his game on his big night. Besides, she was pretty fragile herself and hiding by the bar didn’t sound half bad, especially if Diego wanted to sneak in some paperwork.
“That one’s a restricted view. This is the one that’s reserved for you. It’s our best table.” The man’s face crinkled with confusion.
“Then we’ll take it.” Diego sat down as if he owned the place. “Two Perriers please. I’m in training,” he added as if the man needed an explanation.
Amy sighed and joined him, twisting her ring as she sat down. The lights dimmed.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the Roa
dhouse is proud to present Plastic Zippers!”
Simon and his bandmates rushed onto the stage. Amy was close enough to see the excitement blazing from his eyes. He lifted up his guitar, stared into the audience and struck his first cord to wild applause.
Amy had heard Simon play countless times, but never with such energy or passion. Talk about moving forward. He’d found what he loved to do in life, and the crowd was eating up every note he played. At the end of the first song, they cheered loud and hard.
“Thank you! Thank you. Believe me, we’re so, so happy to be here.” Simon’s English accent rang out over the sound system. The crowd applauded. He seemed to grow at least two inches on the stage as he surveyed the crowd with a smile a mile wide. Then his gaze hit Amy sitting directly below him. His smile vanished.
Amy met his stare and shrugged in a “how could I not come” way. His answer was loud and clear. Simon looked away as if he hadn’t seen her at all.
The opening riff for the next song rang out, and Amy’s heart dropped. This day was turning into a disaster.
“Maybe we should go.” She turned to Diego, shouting to make herself heard over the music. She tugged at her blouse. The heat of all these people crowded together was becoming overwhelming.
“Why? Your friend’s pretty good. And there should be a photographer here somewhere.” Diego yelled back at her and slung his arm around the back of her chair. He took Amy’s hand and dropped it on his thigh. His muscles were hard and strong and so very different from the sleekness of Casey’s. She was like a panther to his bull. “Besides, we need to wait for Casey,” he added.
Amy flinched in her seat, her nails almost digging into Diego’s leg. Diego’s mentioning Casey the exact moment she was thinking about her drove her deeper into her funk.
“I think I’m going to need a real drink,” she said, looking around for a waiter.
The Roadhouse special, a frozen mojito, went down far too easily. Amy hadn’t had anything to eat all day, and when the rum and lime hit her stomach, she sat back a little easier and let Simon’s music roll over her. Booze. No wonder they called it liquid courage.
The Set Piece Page 16