That spirit paid off wildly when he discovered that Jill was also a rabid fan, the sole heretic in that clan of Yankee worshippers. He and Jill were married eighteen months later. Ted did not propose via the scoreboard, but Jill wouldn’t have minded if he had.

“Hello, darling. I bought you a beer.” Jill held up a tall plastic cup.

Ted squeezed into his seat and swapped a cardboard tray for the drink. “And I’ve got the hot dogs.” Nathan’s—despite the recent competition, the best tube steaks offered.

They preferred the bleacher seats to the boxes along the baselines, which were packed with lawyers, stockbrokers, bond traders, and the technology gurus from Long Island City. Ted had chosen the left-field section, where they could enjoy the antics of the 7 Line Army without being in among them. The Army was more entertaining at a slight distance.

“I’m glad you could make it,” Ted said. Jill managed to join him for eight or ten games each season. Thanks to his lack of any structured schedule, Ted made it to more than twice as many.

“I’ve been abandoned. Jacqueline left for Albany this morning.”

“Oh? I thought she was at the courthouse out here this morning.” He felt only a touch of guilt at using Jill’s friendship to snoop on her partner’s whereabouts.

Jill shrugged. “Maybe. She’s never been so busy.”

“How’s she doing? Are they ever going to make her partner?” The firm had had only two female partners when Ted was there—neither of them openly gay. Ms. Clavette had survived the demise of the Commercial Real Estate department by accepting a reassignment to Trust and Estate. Ted had not been offered a berth. He’d been shown the door.

“I hope so. This thing she’s working on now might get her there.”

“Then she must be branching out from estate and trust work.” T&E was a service department, not a profit center. Partners were rarely chosen from its ranks.

“This is some big real estate deal she brought in. And why are you so interested in Jacqueline tonight?”

“Who’s pitching?” Ted said, trying evasion over admission.

“The rookie. He’s two and one. Throws nothing but heat. And why are you asking me about Jacqueline?”

“He needs a sinker,” Ted said.

“Francesa said they’ve got him working on it. Are you deliberately not answering me, or have you gone deaf?

“You’re relentless, you know that?”

“And proud of it,” she said with a grin.

“I might have to give her a call. Our paths converged. Something that I’m working on.”

“I don’t know if she’ll take your call. If a partner found out she was talking to Edward Molloy, she could get her butt kicked.”