The Set Piece

by Catherine Lane

  “Okay.”

  “But for all of us to really be happy, you have to make it right with your mother.”

  “No.” Diego spoke so sharply that Dulce whimpered. “I’ve thought about this almost non-stop since it happened. She knew, and yet she never said anything to make it easier for me.”

  “Maybe she didn’t know how to. It’s not an easy subject to broach.” Amy thought of her own unresolved past.

  Diego said nothing, but his legs churned a little faster up the hill that they were climbing.

  “Diego, wait,” Casey said, grabbing his arm to pull him back. “Take it from me. You can’t go off to training camp carrying any demons with you. Believe me, I know. Everyone thinks that I played in that scrimmage because I was loyal to UCLA, but the truth is I was scared. I was terrified I wasn’t good enough, and I went balls out in that game to prove something to myself, something that frankly, I didn’t need to prove. Their goalie took me out, that’s a fact. But the real truth is that I took myself out way before I even walked out on that field.”

  Amy caressed her shoulder. The tense muscles softened under her touch, but Casey’s gaze bore into Diego. He was not going to escape.

  “I’m really sorry that it didn’t work out for you, Casey. So very sorry. But we’re not the same, you and I.” Diego shook his head and turned to go back up the hill. Casey detained him again.

  “Our demons are different, for sure. But you’re fooling yourself if you think you don’t have any, and they aren’t affecting your game. Just look at these last few months.”

  He shook off her arm, but didn’t move away. “I know,” he said softly, “that’s why I want Amy to stay.”

  “But this conversation is about more than Amy. In the end this is about you and how you play the game. And I’m not just talking about soccer.”

  Amy stepped up. “Remember what you told me that first night together out on the patio? How nice it was for you to have someone around that you didn’t have to pretend with? Imagine if that wasn’t a paid position. Imagine if that person really, really loved you as a mother loves a son.”

  “I don’t think I can. It’s just too hard to face that disappointment again. I mean, if there was someone, I might think about it. But there isn’t. All I want right now is a ball at my feet and a red, white, and blue jersey on my back.”

  “This might help you get there,” Casey said.

  “This feels a lot like an ultimatum,” Diego said.

  “That’s what it may feel like, but really it’s a chance to grab a little bit of peace. The weight will be off your shoulders, and you can suit up for the national team feeling free and clear. Chase away those demons.”

  “Lies can eat people alive,” Amy told him. “Trust me on that. But it’s still your choice.”

  “You’re not firing me, are you?”

  “Tammy, I have to…” Diego began. The seriousness of the coming conversation crept into his voice

  “Oh my God, you are firing me!” Tammy jumped up and pointed a finger at Amy. “It’s because of her, isn’t it?”

  Casey burst into laughter. “In a way. But it’s not what you think.”

  Tammy’s face turned bright red. “I knew it. The second she walked in this door, I knew something was up. You wanted to replace me from the beginning. Didn’t you?”

  “No, that’s not it at all,” Amy said, and threw a look at Casey that told her to behave.

  “I’m sorry.” Casey choked down her laughter.

  They all looked to Diego, who screwed his mouth up to speak, but could get no further. The last time he came out, it had been a disaster. Amy knew for so many reasons he needed a success story and hoped Tammy would be it. She nodded her encouragement to him.

  “Tammy, I need to tell you…” he faltered. Tammy sat in the exact same seat as his mother had. The coincidence of that was not lost on Amy.

  “He wants to tell you that you’re his only girl.” She finished the statement for him.

  Tammy’s eyes narrowed in suspicion, and then popped wide in delight. “She’s leaving?” She looked directly at Amy. Her excitement gave her voice a lilt that almost made it attractive.

  “No.” Diego tried again. “What we mean is I don’t like Amy in the way you think.”

  “I don’t understand.” Tammy looked back and forth between them; obviously thinking she was being played.

  “Let me try to explain.” His words came in fits and starts as he launched into the explanation of the true nature of Amy’s and Casey’s new relationship, and the way he personally fit into it.

  “They like each other and I…I…like men,” he said wrapping up the long, rambling speech. It took Tammy only a moment to comprehend his full meaning.

  “Hah!” Tammy flew to Diego’s side pulling him into a hug and kissing his cheek repeatedly. “So I am your only girl.”

  “Yes, yes.” Diego laughed, full of relief. He gently prised Tammy off him, patting her on the shoulder. Tammy’s eyes changed from rounded amazement to her usual adoring gaze, and Amy could see Diego was more confident in himself after the reception he’d received.

  “So what can I do to help?” Tammy asked. It seemed Team Diego had one more player.

  Two days later, Diego stood in front of his mother’s house, anxiously wiping his hands on his pants leg. Nervousness played over his face as he went to ring the doorbell. His finger hovered over the button.

  “You’re sure about this?” he asked one more time.

  Casey and Amy stood on either side of him. “It went well with Tammy,” Casey said.

  “Yes, but Tammy’s not my mother.” Diego’s anxiety pulsed out of him.

  “No. But when your mother accepts you for who you are, it will feel even better.” Saying it out loud made Amy believe it a little more, but they all knew they were taking a big chance here.

  “Okay. Here goes nothing.” Diego hit the button with his usual take-no-prisoners attitude. Isabella opened the door. Her eyes were guarded, but she stepped aside to let them enter.

  “Come into the kitchen, Mama.” Diego led the way, as Casey and Amy disappeared out into the backyard as agreed. The air out back was cool enough to be comfortable, and they took seats under the shaded patio. Amy crossed her fingers on her left hand, as she had every time she had taken a corner kick in her college career. She knew from experience that set pieces only went well when everyone did as they should. Isabella was like a temperamental forward. Would she step up when asked?

  Casey reached over and took her hand, and Amy shivered at the touch. They had spent several nights together in her bedroom, and their game had only become better and better, the more they practiced.

  “If this goes badly, I’m not sure Diego will recover,” Amy said.

  “I know. But we have to let it play out.”

  “How’d your parents take it?” Amy asked.

  “Well, I told them I liked girls when I was ten, so they had a long time to digest it before I started dating. They’re fine with it now. Actually, I think they’re more worried about my financial future and what I do for a living, than who I date.” Casey squeezed her hand. “I haven’t told them yet, but I’m sort of thinking of med school. It feels like it’s finally time to face my future. What do you think?”

  “I think it’s great. Will I have to call you Dr. Palmer?”

  “Only in bed.”

  Amy stifled a giggle. It seemed rude to sit outside laughing while Diego was inside having the hardest conversation of his life. Instead, she focused on Casey’s hand resting in hers, wondering at how it had almost become an extension of herself. A moment of silence hung between them.

  “You don’t think we forced him into this, do you?” Amy suddenly asked.

  “You would think so the way he’s been whining about it. But you’ve seen him play; he’s a force of nature
. He wouldn’t be in there unless he wanted to. He just needed a push.”

  “I hope so.”

  “Of course you do. You love Diego,” Casey said.

  “Wow. I guess I do.”

  Casey pulled Amy’s hand into her lap. There was something very easy and casual about the movement, almost without thought, but it spoke volumes. Diego wasn’t the only one she loved, but it was too soon to say it. Maybe even too soon to feel it, but she was moving that way for sure.

  “You know who’s going to be super excited about us getting together—besides me, of course? Mia.” Casey answered her own question. “Let’s tell her next.”

  “I thought she wanted you to be with Diego.”

  “Diego? Oh my God, no. She thought we were together. That’s what made her so upset at the golf course. I think she may be following in my footsteps in a lot of ways, if you get my meaning.”

  “Really?”

  “Yep. So are you ready to take on the job of role model as well?”

  “Um…”

  “You said you wanted to work with kids.”

  “Yeah, but as in teaching literature or helping them with homework, not guiding them through a lifestyle I know so little about myself.”

  “I think you’re doing pretty well,” Casey said.

  “That’s because we’re doing pretty well.”

  Just then Amy heard the patio door slide open. She went from comfortable and loved to flat out guilty in a heartbeat. She untangled herself from Casey and stood up to face whatever had happened inside. Casey jumped up with her, presenting a united front.

  Diego stepped outside, his face stoic, but he looked as if he might have been crying at one point.

  “How did it go?” Amy asked.

  “She went to her room. She said she couldn’t come outside.”

  “But how’d the talk go?” Amy pressed him.

  He shook his head. “Good, I guess. I don’t know. We talked more about how hurt we both were. That I didn’t trust her enough to tell her in the first place and that she didn’t help me through something so difficult when she knew all along. Come to think of it, we didn’t really talk about wanting to be with men at all.”

  “That’s a great sign,” Casey said.

  “You think?”

  “Yes. You’ll get through the hurt, for sure,” Casey said.

  “I hope so. She actually kissed my cheek before she left.”

  “See, that’s the best sign yet.”

  “Although there’s that whole Catholic thing she needs to get around, and the fact that there will never be a church wedding. And I need to know that she really has my back, no matter what comes next. Like a boyfriend, someday. I hope.” Diego nodded slightly. “That’s a real possibility thanks to you two, but first there’s a lot to deal with for both of us.”

  “The first step is always the hardest,” Amy said.

  Diego rolled his eyes slightly. If he were on the verge of being able to joke about all this, Casey was right, they hadn’t forced him into anything.

  “It’s a cliché because it’s true, you know,” Amy said and looked straight at Casey.

  “Well, there’s nothing cliché about this truth,” Casey said, “A man, his fiancée, and her girlfriend.”

  They all laughed, even Diego, who stood a little straighter as he did.

  Casey had meant it as a joke, but it occurred to Amy that life in general was messy like this—lies and truth rolled up together so tightly that often it wasn’t clear where one began and the other ended. Just like the three of them.

  “Come on,” Diego said, “There’s this place down the street that serves stuffed poblano chilies to die for. Fresh shrimp, crab, and salmon, if we’re lucky. My treat.” He led the way with his long stride. Diego was never down and out for long.

  Casey inclined her head after him. “You ready for hashtag Camiego?

  “You bet. But at home, when we are alone, it’s all about hashtag Casamy.”

  “Agreed.” Casey leaned in for a quick kiss. Her eyes shone brightly; the chill was so long gone that Amy could hardly remember what it felt like.

  “I’m going to enjoy creating that pretend Twitter account.” Amy kissed her back.

  Laughing, they followed Diego out, and into a future of their own making.

  EPILOGUE

  “I stand in front of you today proudly wearing our national team uniform, because a lot of people helped me along the way. But I am even prouder to pay it forward and to be a part of giving your children a safe and healthy place to come after school.” Diego raised his arms to encompass the small crowd and the warehouse they all stood in. “But most of the credit goes to someone very special to me, without whose vision the Torres Academic Soccer Club would never have become a reality. Let’s all give Amy Kimball a hand for keeping us on TASC!”

  The crowd applauded and surged toward Diego as he jumped off the makeshift stage. Amy, standing at the back, gave Diego a big thumbs-up, and he blew her a kiss. She grabbed it out of the air like she always did, and marveled that somewhere along the way the action had become a natural and loving one between them.

  Amy savored the moment as she took in the transformation of the warehouse. It had been a shell of a building when Knight had found it months ago. Now colorful USA Soccer and Atoms’ banners hung on the walls, and the radio blasted from huge speakers hung throughout the rafters. Parents grabbed applications at a corner table while their children ran screaming with laughter around the homework stations that Amy hoped, at some point, would support quiet study. Horowitz and Kane had donated several computers and printers, so there was actually a real chance the work would get done.

  “Oh my God. You’ve got to try these. They’re amazing.” Casey delivered a plate of soft tacos into Amy’s hand. “Where’d they come from?” She motioned to the husband and wife at the tacqueria cart outside on the small soccer field, who were assembling the tacos as fast as they could.

  “Isabella found them somewhere.”

  “Of course.” Casey nodded. “Oh my God, try the carnitas.”

  Amy looked for Isabella in the crowd. Full of smiles, she was helping the parents with the application forms. No one had been as gung-ho about TASC as Isabella. It was the vehicle that had brought her back into the center of Diego’s life. They had slowly come together over the worthy cause, and had found they’d never left each other’s hearts. Amy knew that this was a sign for all the good this place could do.

  The first few chords of a very familiar song pounded through the warehouse radio. Amy’s throat closed up. The music on the radio faded as the announcer cut in. “Get ready for the new release from the Plastic Zippers. Their latest, ‘Unfriended,’ is zipping up the charts.”

  “Did he ever respond to the invitation?” Casey asked quietly, so no one could overhear.

  “No.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Me too.” The day would have been one hundred percent perfect if Simon had been here too, but their wrecked friendship was the price of her lies. Simon was her payback, and it broke her heart to lose him like this. She gave Casey a loving look, thankful that they, at least, had made it to the other side intact.

  “Muchas gracias, mija.” A soft voice whispered into her ear. Amy turned to find Isabella beside her. “This is a wonderful thing for the community and for him…for us. Thank you for taking down the wall between us. I never knew it was there until you came along.” Her gaze shifted to her son, who was in the middle of an adoring throng.

  “You’re welcome. I’m glad it worked out.”

  “Worked out? That’s an understatement. Did he tell you he’s the starting forward in next week’s qualifier?”

  “Only about a million times.” Casey laughed. “He’s playing great.”

  “Well, I hope that he’s thanking you for that, too.
He couldn’t have managed without you. Both of you. Now we need to work on getting him a…a boy…” Isabella wasn’t quite ready to finish the phrase out loud, but Amy was pleased at how hard she was trying.

  “Someone special.” Casey rescued her. “And that will take time.”

  Amy threw her a grateful look. Casey jumped to everyone’s defense. That was just her way.

  Diego slipped out of the group and moved toward them. “What do you all look so serious about? This is a celebration.”

  “Nothing,” Amy said. “We’re just happy.”

  “Mama?”

  “Nothing. We were just chatting, cariño. But now that you’re here, I think that when you do settle down with…someone special—”

  “Mama, I’m all about the soccer right now.” Diego blushed. He was struggling with this new version of himself as much as his mother was.

  “I know. But when you do, I hope he shares a lot of the same qualities with this one.” She wrapped an arm around Amy. “Or this one.” She wrapped the other arm through Casey’s. “You’re lucky to have friends like this in your life.”

  Diego smiled. “I know. I could do a lot worse.”

  “What I’m saying here is that you couldn’t do much better.” Isabella was becoming flustered but determined to speak her mind. “So when you’re ready to think about children, think about having them with these two.”

  “Mama!”

  “What! It’s not unusual for a woman of my age to have thoughts about grandchildren.”

  “Slow down there, Isabella.” Casey laughed.

  Amy said nothing. The idea was too soon, for sure, but this unlikely group, as messy and strange as it was, was her family now. Having children and bringing even more love into this family at some point didn’t sound half bad.

  She met Casey’s gaze and mouthed the words she had been wanting to say for so long, “I love you.”

  “I love you too,” the answer came back, equally silently.