Page 36 of Double Play

“Yes, he does,” Crush saidfirmly.

Dwight could have hugged the man. He straightened up and realized he’d ditched his glove somewhere along the way.Ohwell.

“Dwight, if you need anything, you call me,” Wendy was saying. “Anything at all. I have lots of strings I can pull inthistown.”

He nodded gratefully, then jogged after the paramedics. They transported Maggie past gawking fans and stands selling hot dogs and beer. The vendors flashed him thumbs-ups and shouted encouragement to him. Baseball had never seemed so irrelevant—and yet so much like afamily.

14

Maggie came backto consciousness in a familiar place—a bed in the ER. Dwight, wearing his baseball uniform, was talking to a female doctor she didn’trecognize.

She cleared her throat and immediately drew their attention. Dwight rushed over and crouched next to her. “You’re okay, sweetheart.Everything’sokay.”

Her glance slid to the doctor, who was also smiling. “You got dehydrated and overheated, it seems. You experienced an episode of syncope, but it seems unrelated to your heart condition. Some oxygen and some fluids and you’ll be goodtogo.”

She drew in a breath. Her chest still felt tight, but that was probably just anxiety. “Dr. Hill should probably checkmeout.”

“I talked to him on the phone and shared all the test results with him. He agrees that you can go home, but he’d like to see you in the nextfewdays.”

Maggie nodded with relief. She hated spending nights in the hospital. She’d probably be tired for the next few days, but she’d much rather restathome.

After the doctor left, she pushed herself into a sitting position. Dwight tried to help, but he did it awkwardly. He didn’t have the experience herparentsdid.

Ugh, she couldn’t believe he’d witnessed a fainting spell. A lot of other people probably had too. The last thing she remembered was watching a pitcher warm up and someone telling her to kissthefish.

Delusional,clearly.

She sighed. “I need to call my parents. I promised I’d let them know if I had anyepisodes.”

Dwight still hovered over her, big and healthy and smelling of the outdoors. Now that he’d gotten a taste of her true situation, he’d probably run for the hills. She wanted to cry, but not right now, not in frontofhim.

“Your purse is at the stadium,” he told her. “Nina has it. Want to use myphone?”

He handed it to her and she dialed her parents’ number. Except she hit the wrong button and suddenly she was FaceTiming them. From the hospital bed. Crap, just what she didn’t want to do—terrifythem.

“Help me, Dwight. Can you get it offFaceTime?”

But it was too late. Her mother had already answered. “Maggie, is that you? Where are you? Is that a hospital? Whoareyou?”

Dwight shot her a look of alarm as he tried to fix the FaceTime situation. She beckoned to him to hand the phone back, then angled the phone so her mother could see bothofthem.

“This is…” She hesitated. Should she call him her boyfriend? Her lover? “This is Dwight. He’s…uh…we’re…uh… We’re seeing each other,” she said. “Dating.”

Apause. “Tim!”

Of course her mother would call for backup. Her father appeared in the next second. A reserved man plagued by nervous tics and an ulcer, he didn’t respond well tosurprises.

“Maggie is in the hospital and she’s dating someone,” her motherexplained.

“You make it sound like there’s a cause and effect relationship there.” Maggie struggled to sit up again while Dwight held the phone for her. “It’s not Dwight’s fault I’m here. I was at the game and I got overheated. The doctor says my heart is fine, so there’s no need toworry.”

Her parents didn’t look any less worried. “Whatgame?”

“Baseball. Dwight is a Catfish, the team I’m working with. He’s a centerfielder.”

She shot Dwight a panicked plea for help. This conversation was already tiring her out. She sank back on the pillow as Dwight angled the phone moretowardhim.

“Hi, I’m Dwight Conner. I’m a big fan of yourdaughter.”

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