Page 10 of Small Town CEO Grump

Just then my phone buzzed, and I looked down to see that my mom had sent a text.

I smiled and showed it to Tyler, and his face lit up as he read:

This is for Tyler: Good luck at your game Tyler! Gramps and I are so excited for you, and we know that you will do great. We are proud of you, and we love you! Love, Grams

Tyler grabbed his gear out of the trunk of the car, I grabbed my outdoor chair, and we headed into the park. He found his team and went to warm up with them while I found my spot and settled in.

I pulled out a book that I had brought with me, and I read while I waited for the game to start. 20 minutes later, I was distracted by the conversation around me.

“Who is that out talking to the coach? He is one handsome man.”

“Seriously! He's so tall and chiseled. He looks like an athlete.”

“He wasn't at the parent meeting, that's for sure. I would've remembered him.”

“I know, right? And we've never seen him here before!”

I smiled as I glanced over to the two moms who were sitting near me, excitedly talking and giggling. I had only briefly met them at the parent meeting, but they were clearly very good friends whose sons had been playing together since they started t-ball.

I looked out to the field to see who they were talking about, and I was astonished to see that I knew the tall, handsome man.

Why on Earth is Ryan at this game? I thought. And why is he on the field?

I watched for a moment as the head coach introduced Ryan to the other coaches, and they all gathered around, excited to hear what Ryan had to say. I resisted the temptation to pull out my phone and search Ryan's name to see if I could find out more about his history with baseball. The thought had come to mind a few times, but I felt it would be an invasion of his privacy, and I did not do it. However, this was a very interesting development.

I tried to turn my attention back to my book, but to no avail. The conversation around me was too entertaining. The moms kept gushing about the handsome stranger on the ballfield, and the dads tried to pretend they didn't hear what their wives were saying.

A little while later the team cleared the field and went to the dugout. I watched as Ryan shook hands with the coaches, then picked up an outdoor chair of his own, and started walking over towards where we were all sitting. He spotted me, waved and smiled, and came over to me.

“Hey,” he said, opening his chair. “Is it alright if I sit here with you?”

“Of course,” I said, scooting my chair down a bit to make room for him.

I glanced over to see the moms next to me staring at us, their expressions a mixture of confusion and a tinge of jealousy.

Once Ryan was settled I turned to him and asked the obvious question.

“I don't want this to sound rude, but I can't think of a nice way to say it. What are you doing here?”

Ryan laughed, and I realized he was even more handsome when he smiled.

“That's a fair question,” he said. “And I can see how it might look a little creepy. I knew you were coming here to this game, and suddenly I showed up to it.”

I shook my head. “No, I didn't think it was anything creepy. I am just confused.”

“Really?” Ryan said. “Not at all creepy?” His eyes were sparkling, and I could see that he was teasing me.

“Okay, fine,” I admitted. “Just a bit creepy.”

“I knew it,” Ryan said, laughing once again. “But, the coach and I are friends. We played together at Penn State.”

“Oh, wow,” I said. “What a small world!”

“Yep. When he heard I was coming to town to be here semi-permanently, he invited me to come and check out one of his games. I figured I might see you here at the ballpark, but I didn't realize that your son is actually on his team. This is a fun coincidence.”

“Indeed!”

Our team took the field, and I felt a surge of pride as I watched Tyler run to his position. He was tall for his age, and no one would have been able to tell that he was a year or two younger than the rest of the guys on his team.

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