Red Card

Diane Holloway thought winning the Lakewood game would settle things. It didn't. Paula Wentworth was forty yards across the field — older, composed, and still the person who knew how to look at Diane like a question she hadn't finished answering. 

When coffee after the game turns into texts during the week and a phone call that lasts longer than either of them planned, Diane has to face what she's been carrying all season. Her interference with her players was never really about tactics. 

Her assistant coach said it plainly. Her sister said it differently. And the legal pad on her kitchen table is filling up with words she isn't ready to say out loud yet. The conference party is one week away. Paula will be there. And Diane is finally out of places to look that aren't straight ahead.