Page 26 of Catching Dreams

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. This was too much, and I didn’t even know where to start. I stood in the middle of where my bakery and home had once been. I wasn’t even open for six months, and now, it was reduced to piles around me.

We had all a nice breakfast at the church before heading out to begin going through all the debris. Tyler and the guys were going to check out the stadium and do some media clips for the MiLB tornado relief. They also planned to video call Mack and see how he was doing. He had offered to come with me, but I knew it was important for him to see the stadium and help the relief efforts there. Penelope accompanied me while her kids stayed with Tyler’s mom at the church to help make care packages for those who lost everything. Susan loved being with the kids, and I knew she was so excited to become a Gigi.

“Is this the owner?” I heard a female voice ask.

“Yes,” Penelope replied. “This was not only her business, but she lived in the apartment above.”

“I’m Becky from the Red Cross. I have a team of volunteers that have been assigned to Cupcake CurveballBakery and the Green Residence.”

I opened my eyes and saw a woman in her late 30’s with a clipboard in her hand and a kind smile. “What do you mean a team?”

Becky smiled over at me. “We’ll sift through things and see what’s salvageable, so you won’t have to do it yourself.”

“Wow,” I said, relief flooding through me. Penelope and I didn’t have to sift through everything on our own. “Thank you so much.”

Becky patted me on the shoulder and said, “Of course, sweetheart. You’ve been through a lot, and this is the least we can do. You’ll be surprised how much of your stuff will be found in other lots and how you’ll find other people's things in yours. You’ll also be surprised by what survives a natural disaster.”

“I take it this isn’t your first time helping after a tornado,” I said as I watched her team begin to work.

“Nope, my church organizes mission trips to help with natural disasters. I have helped after several tornadoes, floods, and hurricanes.”

“That’s really awesome,” Penelope said as she sifted through a pile in front of her. “Where are you from?”

“We are from Missouri,” Becky said as she began clearing out an area without looking through it. “If anything looks salvageable or important, we will put it in this area. You can go through this area and decide what you want to keep. If we have any questions, we will ask. They will be delivering a dumpster soon, and we’ll be able to just throw trash in there right away.”

I nodded and gasped as one of Becky’s volunteers held something out for me. I had never been happier that Mimi had me buy one of those fireproof boxes, even though I had totally forgotten about it because it had been in a box I had yet to unpack.

“This is natural disaster gold,” the woman holding the box said with a smile and handed it to me. I sat down on the ground and pulled open the box. I hadn’t even thought about losing what little I had left of my parents, and the fact that it was in my hands was unbelievable.

On the very top was a picture of my parents on either side of me. I was sitting in a highchair, covered in chocolate cake and frosting. In between two little red pigtails sat a tiara that read “First Birthday” on it. I gently traced my parents’ smiles with my finger.

“How do you have a picture of my parents?” a male voice asked behind me.

“That was great work!” Erick said as he and Tanner wrapped up the taping. I was walking around with Coach Snyder and a few of the Tiger players surveying the minimal tornado damage around the stadium. “Later, I would like to take some clips at your wife’s bakery. See what the damage looks like. I know viewers would like to see her, too, if she doesn’t mind being on camera.”

“I’m sure she won’t mind,” I said as a thought occurred to me. I turned to the closest former player of mine and asked if he didn’t mind taking some things to Molly. I wanted to take it myself, but they wanted to take more videos and to do some interviews. I asked him to take a camping chair and umbrella to her. I wanted her comfortable while sifting through the rubble, and I thought the umbrella would help block out the sun. Even with sunscreen on, my redheaded wife still got a sunburn.

“You got it, Stone. I still can’t believe you’re married, though,” he said before he rushed off to help Molly. I was glad I had former teammates that would rush to help her.

As he walked off, Cooper came over to me. “I was actually wanting to talk to you,” he said, almost unsure of himself.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“Well, I’ve been conditioning my arm even more and working on my throwing with Snyder. I wanted to see what you thought and what I could work on.”

“Coop, are you asking if I’ll play catch with you?” I asked.

“Yes!”

“Let’s do it!” I said, excited to play with my former teammates.

Hayden and Ivan were excited, too, and joined us on the field, along with Ian and Jude.

I got on my old catcher's gear and readjusted it to fit me. I hoped Endicott, who replaced me as the starting catcher, wouldn’t be upset.

“Ever since he got moved to the bullpen, he’s been in the gym more and is trying a lot of new stuff,” Hayden let me know as we walked to home plate.

“Good for him!” I said as I stretched a little. I took my position behind home plate and gave Cooper the nod that I was ready.

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