Page 40 of Catching Dreams

“It’s very nice to meet you, Mr. Schroeder.” I said in awe that he had heard of me.

“Please, call me Harry. Hopefully, before we know it, you’ll call me Coach Harry.”

Molly squeezed my hand, and I grinned down at her. “Mr. Sch- I mean, Harry, this is my wife, Molly.”

“Nice to meet you, young lady,” he said and shook her hand. “Good luck with those babies. We were all relieved to hear that you had missed the tornado.”

“Thank you, sir. It’s nice to meet you, too. You have a very good team this year. Fallon looks confident in center field, and Monroe and Miller are an amazing team at the corners.”

“Ah, so your wife is a baseball fan,” Coach Schroeder said, obviously impressed. “That will help you along the way as it’s very hard to be the wife of a baseball player.”

“I am very lucky,” I said and kissed Molly’s temple.

“This is my wife, Jodi,” he said, and we all shook hands with his much younger wife, who looked like a model.

“I am not a baseball fan,” Jodi said with a giggle. “I think the game is boring, but I do love this man.”

Harold just laughed and said, “I did notice Molly didn’t mention how amazing Hamilton is behind the plate.” Molly just shrugged but didn’t comment. I knew she wasn’t a fan of how Russell Hamilton, the current catcher for the Coyotes, played baseball. I wasn’t a fan of his, either. He was very argumentative with the umpires and thought he knew everything. “You know, the cocky man is a free agent at the end of the season, and the trade deadline is coming up. Soon, we’ll be a 40-man roster, and a lot of guys will be called up.”

“Honey, we need to see some other people,” his wife said. “Networking is the part of being your wife that I enjoy.”

“We’ll be seeing you soon,” Schroeder said as he shook my hand one more time. “Henderson here says that you are big on watching your own players’ and opponents’ film, and you’re always the first one at the stadium and the last to leave. That is the kind of player I want on my team. Don’t change.”

“Thank you, sir,” I said, and I watched as he and his wife left the church. “Holy cow.”

“You may be in the major’s before we know it, son,” Henderson said with a laugh. “Don’t forget, you’re mine again starting tomorrow. Looking forward to having you back.”

After the funeral, Mack brought Nico back to our motel room in Trinity Falls. He had other things he wanted to pick up from their home, so it was perfect timing for him to drive back to Cincinnati.

Nico was very excited to see the kittens, and I watched as Mack made a fist with one hand and stroked it gently with his other hand. Nico nodded, picked up the small black kitten, and stroked him softly.

“What did you just sign to him?” Molly asked. “I really want to learn sign language.”

“It was ‘gentle,’” Mack said, smiling at his son. “That was one of the first signs we learned together. He is quickly catching on to sign language. I’m pretty sure he thinks it’s a game.”

Nico played gently and even laughed a little with all of the kittens. I did have to chuckle as I noticed my wife kept putting two of the kittens in Nico’s lap but steered the multi-colored kitten away from him. I had a feeling that was the one Molly wanted to keep.

Nico ended up picking the gray striped tabby kitten. Nico formed both his hands into claw shapes in front of his face and made a clawing motion moving backwards and to the side. Mack nodded in understanding and told us, “It looks like our new kitten is named Tiger.”

Molly did end up keeping the multi-colored kitten and named him Peanut. She says it was because he had some fur on his paw that looked peanut shaped, but I think it was because she couldn’t eat peanuts around me. I was just glad I wasn’t allergic to her kitten, Peanut.

Penelope’s kids ended up naming the all-black female cat Stormi since it had survived the storm. I thought it was an appropriate name for the kitten.

The next day, Molly and I hugged Penelope, her kids, and my former teammates goodbye. Dominic and my wife gave each other an extra long hug. “Take care of her,” he told me and gave me a hug.

“Always,” I said.

“Don’t forget what the doctor said,” Penelope added. “If you have any cramping or possible contractions, go to an urgent care or emergency room. You and the babies are very important. We’ll take care of Peanut and Stormi for you while you’re gone.”

“You better send me pictures of the kittens all the time!” Molly smiled and hugged her friend tightly. “I know, and we’ll be fine. Don’t worry about us. You start asking around for people who need birthday cupcakes or baby shower desserts. I’m only going to be gone for a few weeks, then we can start making money again.”

We climbed into her car to drive towards Crestwood to meet up with the Lightning. During the drive, I enjoyed talking to my wife and playing random road trip games that she said they had played on their way to surprise me. I still couldn’t believe that it was only a week ago.

Molly’s phone gave the text notification sound. “Your mom said their plane just left. We should get to them in perfect time.”

My family had left to go back to Tennessee a few days ago. Mom and Dad were flying into the biggest airport near Crestwood, and we would pick them up to take them to the game on our way. I was so excited my dad was coming to a game. I couldn’t remember the last game he had been to one.

Julia and Rob were needed back at the hospital, and I had appreciated them coming to help with the injured after the tornado. Carter and Alec were staying back to keep the auto shop open. Carter said he had a meeting with a realtor to look at possible locations for his tattoo shop. I was really excited about my brother going in with 4 or 5 other tattoo artists to open up a shop. Dad was very relieved he was still going to work at the auto shop while doing tattoos on the side.

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