Page 54 of Double Play

Dwight spewed his Coke across his plateofmeat.

Maggie grabbed his hand. “Oh my God! You have an injury? Why didn’t you saysomething?”

He shook his head, using a napkin to dab Coke off his face. “No, that’s Lieberman covering for me so I could come here. Shh, I gotta here moreaboutthis.”

Maggie covered her mouth to keep her laughter from distracting from what Lieberman was saying. The reporter was asking more about Dwight’scondition.

“It’s a fluke thing, definitely temporary. I only recognized it because of my neurology background. Luckily, I was right there and I got him some help and he should be back with us fortomorrow’sgame.”

“Can you give us the exact name of Dwight’s condition? Is it congenital,isit—”

Lieberman wiped his forehead, looking flustered. “I’m not his doctor, so I really shouldn’t. I mean, doctor-patient confidentiality prevents me from…actually, there’s something else even more important I wanted to say, since I’m on TV. Am I stillonTV?”

“You’re still on,” the reporter, a tomboyish brunette,confirmed.

“In that case, I’d just like to say that there’s a girl here, and I love her with every cell of my body, every neuron in my brain, and every aorta in myheart,and—”

Dwight grabbed Maggie’s hand. “What’s hedoing?”

“I think he’sproposing.”

“Sounds more like an anatomylesson.”

“Shhh.” She hushed him. “I wanttohear.”

On the TV, Lieberman gave himself a little rap on the head. “Sorry, that’s not coming out right. Anyway, I love you and I want tomarryyou.”

The camera shifted so it was looking straight at the reporter. Her face creased with confusion. “You want tomarryme?”

“What?No!”

The camera swung back to an appalled Jim Lieberman. By now, a small knot of other Friars players had gathered nearby, watching andsmirking.

“Nina Stark. She’s the one I want to marry. I already pre-proposed, but I wanted to make a big gesture and do it right and…” He dug into the back pocket of his baseball pants. “I even have a ring. Where’s the ring?” With his hand in his back pocket, he turned in a circle, rotating around like a dog chasingitstail.

Maggie dropped her head into her hands and groaned. “Poor Lieberman. It’s almost like he triestoohard.”

“You think?” But Dwight was grinning instead of groaning. “Thing is, he’s cute. You watch. Nina’s going to eatthisup.”

The camera panned to the stands and quick-snapped to Trevor Stark, whose back was to the camera. He was reaching into the stands to help someone climb out. He swung her around and lowered her to the dirt track that circled the baseballdiamond.

Nina.

As soon as her feet touched the ground, she launched herself across the field toward Lieberman. “Jim! Yes! I say yes! Can you hear me, Jim?” She tripped over third base as she hurtled across the field, nearly falling headlong onto the grass. Mike Solo darted to her side andcaughther.

Maggie covered her face with both hands and watched between her spread fingers. “I…can’t…”

Dwight was laughing so hard his face was turning a richer shade of brown. “Only Lieberman,” he choked. “Gotta lovethatdude.”

Eli Anderson also came to Nina’s rescue, and the two of them carried her between them, her feet dangling inches above the grass. Grinning, they set her on the field in front of Lieberman. Nina looked shyly at the camera and furtively poked at her hair, which was standing up intufts.

Jim dropped to his knees in frontofher.

“Nina, will you be my bride? I lost the ring, but I know it’s somewhere on this field, and so are we, so that counts, right? From now on, every time I step on this field, every time I step off, and every moment in between, wherever I am, I want to know that I have the honor and privilege of calling you my wife. Someday. It doesn’t have to be right away. We can still wait as long asyouwant.”

Maggie drew in a long breath. Tears sprang to her eyes. “Oh Lieberman. That wasbeautiful!”

Nina obviously thought so too, because her hands were clasped under her chin and a waterfall of tears ran down her face. “Of course I’ll marry you! I love you so much, Jim. I want to be with you from now until forever, and every moment inbetween.”

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