Page 7 of Double Play

“But the way you said it gave me chills. Was that when you were dealing with your heartissues?”

Nina’s artless question made Maggie wish she was back at her computer messing with parameters. She’d never asked her roommate to keep her medical situation private, so she couldn’t blame her. Maybe it didn’t matter—no one at the table looked anything butfriendly.

She glanced back at Dwight, who was watching her warmly. “It’s okay, Maggie. You can tell our nosy asses to bug off. We won’t hold itagainstyou.”

She smiled, and somehow it didn’t seem like such a big deal anymore, now that Dwight had magically lightened the tension. “Yes, it was because of my heart. I was born with a heart defect,” she explained. “I spent a lot of time at home. Most of my teenage years, I was homeschooled.” She took a soothing sip of her water. “I read a lot. All of my knowledge about real high school comes from books and movies. And sometimes strange phrasings slip out because I only know the written way, not the spoken way. I also got hooked on televised baseball games. The Red Sox, for better or worse. And there you go, all my weirdnessexplained.”

It wasn’t the most embarrassing secret a person could confess. But even so, her face burned with awareness. The other three people at this table had no doubt experienced perfectly normal childhoods. They probably thought she was a freak. Which she was, in a way. She knew that, and didn’t mind because what choice was there? A person could only be whatever they were. It wasn’t as if you could pick fromamenu.

“You didn’t miss much,” Lieberman said after a short, possibly stunned silence. “The only good thing about high school was baseball. And chess club,” he added after amoment.

“I hated high school,” Nina said. “I was the smallest person in my class and everyone treated me like amascot.”

Dwight reached over and patted her on the head. “What was your school mascot, atigercub?”

She glared at him and swatted his hand away. “Exactly what I’m talkingabout.”

“I said ‘tiger’ because they’re fierce, girl.” He shook out his hand as if she’d bitten it. “Ain’t a Catfish around who doesn’t know how fierce you are. Just like yourbrother.”

Lieberman’s whole body jerked, as if he’d suddenly remembered she was related to the infamous Trevor Stark. As they all watched, he physically leaned away from Nina, like some kind ofpendulum.

Nina stared at him. “Oh my God. You’re scared ofTrevor.”

“He did spend time in juvie,” Lieberman pointed out. “He’s like a junkyard dog about hisfamily.”

“He’s in California, forheaven’ssake.”

“But there’s airplanes…” His voice trailed off as even he realized how ridiculous thatsounded.

She slid off the stool and shouldered her bag. “I need to get some air. Sorry, Maggie, I don’t mean to ruin your evening, you should stay and have fun. And you,” she pointed to Lieberman, “better not follow me if you can’t handle mybrother.”

Lieberman’s face crumpled as she stalked towardthedoor.

Maggie froze. What should she do now? Did Nina want some space or did she want company? If she was upset, maybe she needed afriendlyear.

She started to slide off the stool, but Dwight stopped her with a hand on her thigh.On her thigh.Right above the knee, and only with the intention of halting her departure, but still—hot awareness vaulted through her nervoussystem.

He was addressing Lieberman now. “You gotta go after her, man. Youheardher.”

“She told me not to!” In despair, the younger guy dragged his hands through his hair. When he was done, it looked like a squirrel had run acrosshishead.

“No, she didn’t. She said if you follow her, it’ll prove you’re not afraid ofTrevor.”

“She did?” He looked from Dwight to Maggie and back. Maggie offered him a sympathetic face. She wasn’t a hundred percent sure that Dwight was right—or wrong. Social dynamics were not her area of expertise. She preferred to bedirect.

“Just trust me, Beebs. She wants you to follow her. She wants you to stand up to Trev. Even if he beats your ass. And if he does, I’ll back you up. Dude needs to lighten up. Now go, do your thing. Work your magic. We’ll be here if you crashandburn.”

“Nice. You always know whattosay.”

Dwight laughed softly as Lieberman shot toward the door. Maggie’s attention was more focused on his warm hand, which he now lifted off her thigh. The place where he’d touched her tingledwithheat.

“Sorry about that,” he told her. “I wanted to make sure Beebs got his shot. He’s been screwing it up formonths.”

“Right, good call. I know shelikeshim.”

“He’s a good guy. He just needs a kick intheass.”

Now that they were alone, her awareness of him intensified a thousand percent. His muscles pushed against the fabric of his shirt, and his skin glowed with deep, vibrant color. She swallowed, her mouth suddenly lacking in saliva. “I should probablygotoo.”

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