Page 26 of Double Play
A sharp pang hit him at the mention of Lieberman’s suddenly bright future. That was him, a mere week ago. How quickly thingschanged.
Then he glanced over at Maggie. Two weeks ago, he hadn’t even known her. Now she was looking at him with an expression that promised all sorts of magic. Sometimes, changewasgood.
He turned back to Nina. “Honey, if you think Jim Lieberman is going to let a little thing like the time-space vortex get in his way, you don’t know that dude. How many times has he texted you since he leftKilby?”
Nina pointedly brought her bottle of beer to her lips and refused to answer hisquestion.
Message received. Trevor’s little sister was all grown up and he should mind his ownbusiness.
10
The next day,Dwight showed up at Maggie and Nina’s apartment with a bag of muffins from a local bakery. Nina was still shut up in her room, although Maggie caught the murmur of a phone call. Ever since Lieberman had left for San Diego, they’d been FaceTiming and Skyping and chatting on the phone at all hours of the day andnight.
Maggie had dressed extra carefully for this excursion. She wore a sleeveless pink top that showed just the tiniest bit of her tummy and a pair of hip-hugger shorts that ended just above her knees. Clothes weren’t generally her area of expertise, but Dwight always dressed so well. Not in a flashy way, but he had an easy, casual style that just somehow alwaysworked.
Her efforts paid off when she let him into the apartment. Appreciation gleamed in his eyes and tugged up one corner of his mouth. He wore baggy dark denim shorts and an open-collared shirt in a shade of purple few men wouldattempt.
She set a few muffins on the kitchen counter for Nina. “Let’s eat these on the way. I don’t want tobelate.”
“Are you going to tell me what we’redoing?”
“You’ll see. It’s sort of like a pep talk.” She smiled at him, happy to see the shadows from last night gone from his face. “Are you feelingbetter?”
“I am now.” He grinned back, and a sense of mutual delight hummed between them. “Let me ask you something beforewego.”
She slipped on her sunglasses and looked around for hershoulderbag.
“Do you have aboyfriend?”
Her head whipped around in surprise. “What? Why? No. Idon’t.Why?”
“Because I like you. But I don’t want to like you too much if you’re involved withsomeone.”
She felt heat rise in her face. “Are you always thisdirect?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He cocked his head at her. “Are you always this easilyembarrassed?”
Now her cheeks were positively burning. “Probably. And no, I don’t have aboyfriend.”
He held out his hand. “Come on. Let’s get outside before you set this place on fire with thatblush.”
But when she took his hand, she decidedthatcontact would be more likely to set the place on fire than her blush. Prickles of awareness ran up her arm and skittered right to hernipples.
They walked to his car. “What about you, do you have agirlfriend?”
“That would be pretty low if I did, coming over here to takeyouout.”
“But this isn’t …” She hadn’t been thinking of it as a date—or had she? She’d certainly put plenty of thought into heroutfit.
“I’m single, you’re single, I like you…I guess the ball’s in your court. It’s a date if you want it to be.” He opened the passenger door of his Audi with a flourish. “If you don’t, that’s cool. I’ll try again some other time. Unless you say drop it, dude. Then I’ll wait a littlelonger.”
His smile flashed bright in his dark face, completely irresistible. “It’s a date, then. But it’s probably not the kind of date you usually go on.” She slid into the passenger seat. He closed the door and loped around to theotherside.
“What kind of date do you think I usually go on?” he asked as he startedtheAudi.
She squinted at him. “Dancing, maybe? Parties with lots of supermodels. Clubs with laser-lightshows.”
The rich sound of his laughter filled the car. “Okay, you got me. I’ve been to a few of those. I am a ballplayer, after all. But that’s not my favorite kind of date. I like to play it out of the box. Like, there’s a performance tonight at the Kilby Playhouse that sounds good.As You Like It, one of my favorite plays. Would you like to gowithme?”