Page 46 of Double Play

“Yeah, mostly. There’s this one…” She trailed off and waved her hand in dismissal. “Never mind. I don’t want to talk about it. Hey, did you hear I might get traded to theCatfish?”

He wanted to pin her down on that particular “one,” but Dean McFarrin showed up just then with morechampagne.

Two glasses of champagne later, Jim switched to shots with various Catfish members. Several shots after that, he switched to a beer with Crush, who rarely drank anymore. After that beer, Maggie found him again. She handed him a big piece of wedding cake and a bowl of mixed nuts. Both looked delicious butblurry.

“You need some food to go with that alcohol,” she told him. “We’re going to have to pour you into that plane atthisrate.”

“I jus’ had to celebrate. Haven’t seen these guys, Imiss‘em.”

So,” Maggie asked as she settled herself on the couch next to him. “Speaking of Catfish players, I was wondering how Dwight’sdoing.”

“Dwight is doing grrrrreat.” He flourished his cake fork in the air like a conductor. “Hitting those deuces like it’s battingpractice.”

“Cool, cool. I was referring more to, well, the non-baseball side of his life. Thepersonalside.”

“Fine so far as I know,” he slurred. “Hasn’t mentioned much to me. Aren’t you guys…didn’t you…I heardyouwere…”

“Yes, we were.” Mercifully, she didn’t make him finish the sentence, which he was too buzzed to do in a family-friendly manner. “But then he went to San Diego, and…” She shrugged. “Now Idon’tknow.”

“If you don’t know, I don’t know,” he said wisely, hoping that made sense but pretty sure itdidn’t.

“Right. I guess no oneknows.”

Her downcast expression made him want to help her out. To give her something, some bit of information. “I know this. I know he’s happy ’bout the call-up. He was losing fate…face…faith.Gettin’antsy.”

“You mean after thefirsttime?”

“No no no, way before that. When you first came, around then. He thought it might be your doing, with your program. That’s why—” He broke off, vaguely aware that this wasn’t a good topic topursue.

“Whywhat?”

“Nothing.” He lifted his cake plate to hide his face, only to find it plucked from hishands.

“Jim Lieberman, you finish that sentence right thisminute.”

“Whoa.” He shrank back, shocked by her fierceness. Maggie had always struck him as reserved. Now she was roaring like a tiger. “The wine bar. That’s why we went, why he invited you. He wanted to shee, I mean, see for himself, see if, I don’t know, if you were the one holdinghimback.”

“IfIwas holdinghimback?”

“Well, your computerprogram.”

“Really. So he wanted to find out about myprogram?”

“I told him you were a whith kid. Whiz kid.” Oh God, he should probably stoptalkingnow.

Maggie’s eyes were firing daggers at him. “And if I was, he was going to fix it? With that big smile and killer charmofhis?”

“Are you mad?” Definitely he should stop talking. “Don’tbemad.”

“Oh, I’m not mad at you, Jim. Not at all. You’re a nice, straightforward, honest person.” She put down her glass with aclick.

“Th-thanks?” It sounded like a compliment, but the edge in her voice made more warning bells go off in his fuzzybrain.

Maggie stood up and smoothed the skirt of her flowered dress. “You just did me a huge favor, Jim. I sincerely do thank you. And in return, I’m going to doyouone.”

“Okay.” If she only stopped looking at him with those fierce eyes, he’d consider that afavor.

“If you love Nina the way I think you do, show it. She’s convinced herself that she doesn’t need the romance hero thing, but I know her. She loves you anyway, no matter what. But if you could show a little take-charge action sometimes, it would mean a lottoher.”

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