We sit in silence for a few moments, the only sounds coming from the restaurant kitchen and Jessa’s pen writing on the notebook.
“What if you do something bingo-style mixed with a scavenger hunt and then have people submit pictures for it?” Jessa asks. “Take a picture at a park. Visit a museum, etcetera. Then we can relate it to lacrosse somehow.”
Clark points his finger at Jessa and nods. “That would be cool. We can have a celebration for the winners. Or all the participants. We want to bring people to the celebration, not turn them away.”
I grin, nodding. I hadn’t thought about how much youth lacrosse helped shape me into the guy I am today until we did a clinic last year. With my crazy schedule, I forgot about that for a moment, but I love that Clark wants to include the kids. They’re the ones we need to influence to help foster a love of the game early.
“Have you asked the financial team if there’s a budget for something like this?” Laney asks.
Clark shakes his head, and Jessa gives Laney a small smile. “That’s something we need to figure out. There’s been a few position openings over the past several months, including the CFO. They didn’t love the idea of bringing in anothersports team to SMG when the baseball team was announced and most of them took jobs elsewhere. It would be nice to know the budget to plan better. Maybe we’ll get some ideas of what we want to do at the final event? Then we can adjust it depending on the funds available.”
“I’d be willing to put in some,” Clark says. “I mean, I’d love to give back to kids in the community.”
I feel bad that I’m not able to extend a monetary offering as well. Clark, as a star player for the Lancers, landed several sponsorships last year for a handful of lacrosse companies. He quit working at the fire station to do lacrosse full-time. I’m not quite to his status, but a guy can dream.
Jessa nods. “That’s great, but we might as well see what the group has in their budget for things like this. I doubt the Lancers have ever used any, so it won’t be hard to pitch.”
“What about stations that kids can join in?” I ask. “Maybe challenge a pro? Then we can have food and giveaway bags or swag bags for people.”
“You could make it a lacrosse carnival,” Laney says. “See who does the fastest shot, who can go through defenders, or gets a good score on an obstacle course.”
Clark nods. “Perfect. We can get a bunch of Lancer apparel for the kids and adults to wear. Shirts, hats, sweatshirts.”
Jessa finishes writing something and lifts her pen. “When are you hoping to do this?”
Clark pulls out his phone, and I do the same.
“Our first game starts in about four weeks. Once the season is in full swing, it’ll be hard to do anything. So maybe two weeks?”
That’s a tight timeline, but then again, I rarely plan events.
“That’ll be a challenge,” Laney says, glancing at her phone. I watch as her fingers tap away at the screen to pull up her calendar app, the light blue polish on her fingers catching the light. “What if you do it the day before the first game? Get people to the stadium and enjoy the surroundings.”
I nod. “That would be great. They can be around for opening day, and it gives them more time to participate in the scavenger hunt. If they’ve traveled from far away, it can be a weekend trip.”
Jessa raises her pen one more time and says, “I’ll make a note to check in with the financial team. But I think we can get the promo work going by this weekend to send out the challenges and then do the rest of the planning once we know numbers.”
We all nod. That isn’t the worst thing in the world.
I enjoy pitching ideas, and it was surprisingly easy to bounce off of the ideas Laney had.
Once out at the car, Clark holds the door open forJessa to get back into the driver’s seat, and I’m not sure what I should do. I mean, this isn’t a date, so do I open the door for Laney?
My three older sisters would die if they knew I hadn’t been a gentleman, even to someone I barely know.
I open the door for her on the passenger side, and she gives me a wide-eyed look, as if this was the wrong idea. But I won’t worry about that, not when it’s better to err on the side of kindness.
I’m not excited to be stuck in the backseat again, but our house is only a few miles away.
It’s only when I get in that I hear Clark and Jessa talking about where to take Laney.
“I’ll be fine,” she says.
“Why don’t you stay at Jessa’s tonight?” Clark says. “We can take you to your apartment tomorrow to get whatever you need.”
Laney looks like she’s trying to decide and then says, “I don’t want to be a burden.”
Jessa turns to her. “Are you nervous about sleeping in your apartment tonight?”
