Chapter 38

Julian could swear that Tony looked straight at Nina and winked. He looked between the two and finally shook off the absurd notion.

Mitch struck out the next batter and the Tide was up to bat. Nina clutched her hands like an anxious mother. Todd Cameron, the lead off, looked up at Nina as he headed to the plate, grinned and waved. Nina waved and blew him a kiss.

Julian stared but didn’t say anything. Things just got stranger and stranger. He was willing to put the first off as a fluke, but when the third batter came up and gave Nina a thumbs-up, he wondered what the hell he was missing.

After the batter flied out to center field, advancing the two runners on a sacrifice, Julian leaned over, intending to ask Nina exactly what he was missing out on, but she put her hand on his arm and squeezed hard.

“Just a minute. Tony is up!” she said excitedly

Her fingers dug into his arm like little daggers, but he didn’t pry her away. He was too interested to see wha