Page 4 of Catching Dreams

Suddenly, a cacophony of different ringtones rang around us, and it almost sounded like what you would hear in an emergency room.

“Looks like the cell towers are working again!” Joe exclaimed as he reached for his own cell phone.

Ivan’s phone was ringing with the Mexican Hat Dance, and he answered it without looking to see who was calling.

“Hola?” Ivan asked as he brought his cell phone up to his ear. “Tyler!”

“Oh, crap,” I said under my breath as I looked around us.

“Yeah, this is really bad,” Hayden agreed with me. “How can we tell him we still don’t know where Molly is?”

“He wants to talk to one of you,” Ivan said as he held his phone between me and Hayden’s faces.

I took a deep breath and grabbed the phone from Ivan. “Hi, Stone.”

“Thank God you guys are okay!” Tyler exclaimed. “I don’t think I’ll be hitting this inning, so I have some time to talk. Is Molly near you? I need to hear her voice.”

“Tyler….” I took a long, deep inhale and felt the tears forming in my eyes once again. I never cried. Ever. “We can’t find her.”

“What do you mean you can’t find her?” Tyler asked with a very shaky voice.

“Cupcake Curveball.... It’s, well…. It’s gone, man. We’re standing in the rubble looking for her now. We won’t stop until we find her. We can’t find Penelope or her kids either…. Ty?.... Tyler?” I didn’t hear anything from his end of the phone.

“Hand me the phone, Son,” an older man said as he came over to me. He was almost as tall as me, and I am six foot seven. He had green eyes that bore into me, and I found myself handing him Ivan’s phone without question. “Tyler. Tyler Elliott Stone! I know you can hear me. I know this is hard, and you’re freaking out, but you need to get yourself together. I may have only met Milly once, but she is tough as nails and she wouldn’t want you to lose your crap like this.”

“Mr. Stone?” Hayden asked in shock next to me.

The man talking to our friend on the phone gave a brisk nod.

“Molly,” I could hear Tyler say through the phone, and we could tell his words were still shaky. “Her name is Molly, Dad.”

“Sorry, Son. Molly wouldn’t want you freaking out. What would she want you to do?”

“Play ball.”

“That’s right. She is so proud of you, Tyler. Son, I’m proud of you, too.”

“Wow, Dad. Thanks. That means a lot. I’ve been sucking big time. I can’t play not knowing if she's okay or not.”

“Where is that smart-mouthed cocky son of mine who said he’d make it to the major leagues?”

Damn, I thought. Ty’s dad was a jerk, but he did have a point. Ty needed to concentrate on baseball.

“You do your job and play baseball, and we’ll keep looking for her. We will find her,” Mr. Stone said gruffly with a confidence I wish I shared.

“Thanks, Dad.” Tyler’s voice sounded a little more confident.

“I’m going to hang up now, but we’ll call as soon as we find her and her friend. You just play your baseball game.”

Mr. Stone hung up the phone and handed it back to Ivan, who was speechless like the rest of us.

“Come on, men. We have two ladies and two young children to find,” Mr. Stone said as he put his work gloves back on and began sifting through the rubble.

We all shrugged our shoulders and began looking again.

They would find her. They would find them. I repeated this to myself several times as I sat in the dugout. I looked around to see all my teammates watching me expectantly. It wasn’t at all like the time when we had a no hitter. These guys all cared about my family being found and knew I was freaking out.

“The phone lines finally opened up. My old teammates are okay,” I let them know with a heavy sigh. “And my dad is there helping. They are still looking for my girl, her co-worker, and her co-worker’s kids. They have to find them.”

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