Meredith called the next day. Evan answered before the machine could get it—anything to distract him from Charlie, who was stretched out on the couch as they watched TV. Evan wasn’t quite sure what they were watching—some Ben Stiller flick—but his mind was on his friend and the innocence in his laugh, the way it made everything come rushing back bright and clear, all the days they had shared together on the road with the team, all the evenings playing on minor league fields, all the late nights spent in anonymous hotel rooms, all the moments he had believed he lost somewhere along the way.
Now they were back, the good times here again, flooding his mind and filling his soul and when the phone rang, he almost tripped in his haste to answer it. “Hello?”
A long pause, and Evan was about to
