Page 22 of Small Town CEO Grump

“That’s a good plan,” I said, impressed by his rationale. “I’m going to get a strawberry sundae. What about you, Jenna?”

“Apple pie, with ice cream,” she said. “It’s my favorite!”

The server came and took our order, and then I asked Tyler to tell me his thoughts on his game. I was impressed by how detailed his analysis was, and how much knowledge he had about the game.

When he finished sharing his thoughts I looked over at Jenna and she was beaming with pride.

“Wow,” I said. You really know your stuff!”

Tyler nodded. “This is my fourth year playing,” he said, his tone very serious.

I held back a smile. “Well, as long as you keep this level of commitment and interest in the game, you are going to become one amazing player. You’re already very good, and I can tell that you are going to get even better.”

“Thank you,” Tyler said. “I hope so.”

I looked over at Jenna and raised my eyebrows, silently asking her for permission to tell him about my plan of helping him work on his pitching. She nodded her head slightly and smiled.

“Well, your mom told me that you are also working on pitching,” I said. “Do you like pitching?”

Tyler nodded his head enthusiastically. “Yes,” he said. “I really like pitching. I just need to learn how to throw faster in order to be able to pitch in a game. I know that I will get there, but I really want to be a pitcher as soon as I can.”

“Well, if you are interested I can help you work on pitching,” I said.

“You can?” he asked. “But I thought you played center field.”

“That’s the position that I played when I was in college, but when I was going up and all through high school I was also a pitcher,” I explained.

“Oh! Why did you stop pitching? I thought that it was something that everyone wants to do.” Tyler was clearly confused.

“Well, when it came time for me to go to college I had to focus on what position I would want to play once I was there. College teams have players who don’t do anything other than pitch. And as much as I enjoyed pitching, I was better at center field, so that was where I focused my time.”

“Oh, cool. I didn’t know it worked that way. But you would help teach me how to pitch?” he asked.

I nodded. “Absolutely,” I said. “I would love to. I think it would be a lot of fun, and I know you would learn quickly. Your mom told me how much you worked on that play you made tonight. I know that if you spend some time working on pitching, you will be able to pitch in a game before you know it.”

“Can I, Mama?” Tyler asked, turning to Jenna. “Can I work on my pitching?”

“Of course you can,” Jenna said. “We will work it out.”

“Yay! Thank you,” Tyler said. He turned and faced me. “Sir, I don’t know what your name is.”

“My name is Ryan,” I said.

“Mr. Ryan?” Tyler repeated.

I shook my head. “You don’t need to call me Mr. Ryan. You may call me Ryan.”

Tyler’s eyes got wide. “But you’re a grownup and I am supposed to call all grownups Mister or Miss or Coach. I have never called a grownup by their real name.”

“Bubba, remember what Gramps taught you? That you always call a grown up by Mister or Miss or Coach until that grownup tells you that you can call them by their first name?” Jenna said.

“Oh yeah!” Tyler said. “I forgot about that! Probably because no grown up has ever told me that I can call them by their name before. Until now.”

He turned to look at me and I could see that he was nervous, but I knew that he was determined to call me by my first name.

“Okay, Ryan,” he said. “I will call you that.”

“Good,” I said, smiling. “I am glad we have that settled now.”

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