The Trade Read Online Free Page A

down in the empty seat beside
him. His pulse rate jumped.
    "No silly,” she said. "The malts are to ice
your hand, they'll be better than that nasty old beer, and the
beers are for the pain.”
    "I’m not sure three will be enough," Jay
managed.
    "We'll just have to wait and see then won't
we?" she answered. Jay liked the way she said 'we'.
    "Tonia Taggert,” she said, introducing
herself.
    "Jay Calloway,” he replied. “Forgive me if I
don’t shake…”
    The newly introduced couple raised and
touched their beers together.
    “ Wait silly. You have to do
that again. You have to look someone right in the eye when you
toast. If you don’t, it’s seven years of bad luck.”
    She raised her beer again, found and held his
eyes with hers, and softly said “cheers”.

    Six innings and three beers later Jay had
discovered that beer could indeed dull the pain of a hard line
drive. The big lead the Reds held also helped. But it was the
beautiful girl beside him that did the most. She'd had a few beers
of her own.
    "So Jay. The game's almost over. You want to
split now and beat the traffic?” Tonia Taggert asked. Jay wasn't
sure he'd heard what he'd heard. For the last four innings he'd
been trying to figure out how to ask Tonia for her number.
    "I um uh, came in a cab,” he replied. He saw
her eyes drop just the tiniest bit. He wondered if she thought he
was giving her the brush off. Jay wondered if she thought he was
married or involved or gay or something.
    "But if you're driving, sure I'll take off
now with you,” he added. He saw the spark come back to her
eyes.
    "Maybe I can buy you some dinner, thank you
for saving my ass,” she offered. Jay didn't need much convincing,
the mention of her ass was exciting enough.
    "You’ve already done enough, but, if you
insist,” he answered.
    “ I insist.”
    “ Fine. Then anywhere's fine
with me. After all this beer I could sure go for a pizza though,”
he said.
    "Pizza?" she breathed wistfully. “My
favorite, but I never ever get to have it any more. Okay. For you,
anything.”

    The pizza was excellent. Over mounds of
cheese and loaves of hot garlic bread Jay managed to tell Tonia his
life story, carefully leaving out any mention of the CIA. She
listened attentively. They both had another beer and then he
realized he'd talked all night and learned almost nothing about
Tonia Taggert. Like her phone number.
    “ So what about you?" Jay
asked.
    "What about me?" she asked back. He saw her
chin lift and tilt to the side. Her corn silk blonde hair swished
over one shoulder.
    "What do you do? I mean, besides watch
baseball and eat pizza? What's your favorite TV show? Where do you
work, where do you live?" he asked all at once.
    “ Well,” she started. Her
finger drifted to her lips as she started to think about her
answer. Jay noted the gentle fullness of her rich red lips. He knew
the color was lipstick but he dreamed of them being that color
forever. He wondered what it would be like to kiss her. It had been
six months since his last date and that had been a set up with a
flat-chested sorority girl that his favorite student, C. Daniel
Kinchon, had arranged as a pity date for Jay. He'd been too busy
ever since. Computer viruses, video games, golf, and graduation, in
that order, had taken up all his time. Girls were a long way down
the list, especially since he knew he would be moving. Jay half
listened to Tonia's answers, half dreamed about hugging her and
kissing her.
    He tried to nod and murmur in all the right
places. New York City was working its way back towards the top of
his list.
    "You're not even listening to me,” she
pouted. "You're thinking about something else aren't you. What is
it? Football? Money? Getting me naked? You men are all alike,” she
said. She shifted her seat back as if planning to leave. Jay acted
quickly.
    "Tell me more about your little brother,” Jay
blurted out. During his mental drifting he’d still caught something
about her kid brother