Page 35 of Double Play

For instance, she didn’t mention Dwight. In her eyes, her relationship with Dwight was kind of a privatemiracle.

If Dwight got called up again, would the girls be chasing him the way they chasedLieberman?

Dwight had unstoppable charisma and a smile like sunshine. Women would be melting athisfeet.

And hecouldget called up. No one knew it better than she did. She’d finally run the data on him again, and found something fascinating. Based on his previous history going from one level to the next, if he got called up a second time, he would do much better than the first time. Her system didn’t predict exact batting averages and so forth. It just assigned a number, a quantification of performance. The first time, he’d scored a two. If he got called up again, she predicted that he’d manage aseven.

Since her arrival in Kilby, her computer model kept getting more accurate. Now it produced accurate predictions ninety-five percent of the time. With that kind of success rate, she fully expected the Friars to be calling on her services soon. If they asked about Dwight, she’d present her results. That meant Dwight could be back in San Diego anydaynow.

* * *

Maggie didn’t usually havetime to watch the games from the stands, preferring to watch the closed-circuit feed while she worked. But Dwight kept bugging her to watch in person at least once in a while. So one day she took Crush up on his offer of a front row seat on the thirdbaseline.

“You can join Wendy and me in the owner’s box, but it’s further from the action. You probably want to be right in the mix. Maybe catch a fly ball or flirt with one of the players…not naming any names.” He winked one bright hazel eye at her. Crush could get away with that kind of comment because of his general irreverence about everything—includingherwork.

But he was finally losing his skepticism, she believed. So far, three players she’d recommended were playing for the Catfish and doing great. Her success rate spoke foritself.

“Thanks, Crush. But don’t you really mean to say that you’ll have more opportunity to play footsie with themayor?”

“Oh, burn.” He swept her a bow. “The girl’s got somespunk.”

So as she took her seat in the front row, she waved at Crush and Wendy Trent in the owner’s box. His arm was slung around the blond beauty’s shoulders as she chatted with a constituent. Crush smiled at Maggie from behind hissunglasses.

Squinting in the bright sun, she adjusted the visor of the Catfish baseball cap she’d snagged from the promotions office. The heat beat down on the stadium, players and fans alike. How did the ballplayers stand it out there? Leaning forward, she saw a fan blowing air through the Catfish dugout. She couldn’t see Dwight, but knowing he was somewhere in there, really just a few yards away, made hersmile.

She stuck a straw into her jumbo Sprite and settled back to enjoy her first baseball game in which she knew one of the players personally.Verypersonally.

Why couldn’the have played this well in San Diego? After six innings, Dwight had three hits and two RBIs. In the third inning, he got the supreme joy of racing around third base toward home while Maggie screamed along with the rest of the crowd. Nothing like scoring a run in front of the woman you wanted to impress. It was the best feeling in theworld.

Now he was out in center field, waiting while the middle relief pitcher took his warmup pitches. Man, it was hot today. He checked the temperature on the Jumbotron over his shoulder. A hundred and two degrees. About right, judging by the sweat slicking his face. The promotions camera was doing its “Kiss the Catfish” segment. A graphic of the Catfish logo filled half the screen. It had puffy, kissable lips. Audience members were supposed to pretend to kiss thecartoonfish.

Silly fun—but he was here to play, not “play.” He was about to look away when he saw the camera stop on Maggie. Her face filled the screen. And she didn’t lookright.

Too red. He’d never seen her that flushed. Was it a camera thing? She was sweating, too, and wore a confused expression. Maybe that was because she’d never done the Kiss the Catfish segmentbefore.

Or maybe it wasbecause…

Before he even realized it, he’d launched across the field toward the third base line. He passed the new shortstop, T.J., at third, heard Duke yelling his name. He ignored them all, staying completely focused on Maggie’s face. Her head swayed back andforth.

“Maggie!” he yelled. She didn’t respond. She was starting to slump in her seat. “Call nine-one-one!” he yelled to the dugout, then again to the people in the stands. “Nine-one-one, now!” Oblivious to the clamor around him, he swung on to the top of the dugout and climbed over the railing. Just in time to catch her in his arms before shefainted.

God, her face was so red, and she was soaking with sweat. He lifted her in his arms. “Clear the way,” he yelled at the rest of the row. Everyone made room for him as he edged his way toward the exit. He had to get her out of the sun. When he reached the shaded walkway that led into the vending areas, he stopped. He squatted down and settled her into his lap. He checked her pulse, which was beating fast and crazy. He fanned his hand across her face to coolherdown.

“Maggie, you’re gonna be all right, baby girl. Paramedics are on their way. Stay with me, sweetheart.” His heart clenched so hard he wondered ifhewas the one having hearttrouble.

Footsteps pounded up the walkway. Finally—theparamedics.

“She has a heart condition,” he told them frantically. “High risk of syncope.” God, he’d remembered that word—fricking miracle. “Her meds are on thatbracelet.”

“We got it from here.” Two burly EMTs took her from his lap and lifted her onto a gurney. One of them put an oxygen mask on her. “What’shername?”

“Maggie Blythe. The hospital knows about her. Her doctor is…” He racked his brains for the man Maggie had mentioned. “Steve something? He’s a topcardiologist.”

“All right, we’ll call it in. Do you want to ridewithher?”

“Uh…” He was supposed to be playing a baseball game. But suddenly that didn’t matteratall.

He looked around and saw that Crush and Wendy had come down from theowner’sbox.

---