Page 18 of It Started With a Scarf

"Who's that?" said, Anna, one of Joan's daughters.

"Eddie Decker's son!" Patrick said.

"They're twins."

"Yeah, he's got those twins."

Everyone was chiming in.

"Who is this guy?" Anna asked.

"Don't tell me you don't know who Eddie Decker is," Joan's son, Brandon, said to his sister.

"She knows who that is," Deb said.

"I do know who it is," Anna replied. "I was confused. I didn't realize you were saying he came in the store."

"Mitzy 'bout died," Patrick said. "It was Eddie's son who came in, Dominic, and let me tell you. She had a field day with that poor young man! She would not let him put her down. She kept rubbing her cheeks on his chest and whining. I've never seen anything like it. She's eight years old, and Joan brings her into the store all the time. I've never seen her do that to anybody."

"Caroline Decker loves that line of flannel loungewear I have. She bought twelve sets of it for people at her son's business. That was a big sale for us. I'm really thankful for that. I'm sorry for her son, though. Mitzy really put on a show. I watched it back on the security footage."

"No kidding," Patrick said.

"How'd you get Mitzy from the guy?" Anna asked.

"Let me assure you, it was an ordeal!" Patrick said. "She almost bit me! The guy stood there and held her while I took his stuff to the car. He tried to help me, but she wouldn't even let him put her down. She threw an absolute fit! She usually doesn't even like men, and with this one, it was like she had to be connected to him or she would die!"

"I can't get her to come near me," Brandon said.

"Me neither," Deb's husband agreed.

"Well, Mitzy was freaking out about this guy. I had to apologize to him. We might even send Caroline an email with some store credit to apologize."

"Was it that big of a deal?" Deb asked skeptically.

"It would be warranted after yesterday," Patrick said nodding. "She squealed like he had hurt her when he put her down. He felt really bad. It was traumatic for all of us. He asked if she needed a vet."

They laughed.

"What did you say?" Nessa asked.

"I said I didn't know because I didn't. She was there, yelping and yelping, and then once he went outside and closed the door, she jumped up and started scratching at it. She yelped as she scratched, and she scratched so hard that I thought her little arms were going to fall off. I thought she might seriously burn a hole through that glass door… or hurt herself. Eddie Decker's son stared at me helplessly through the door, wondering if he should come back and get her. He probably still wonders if she's okay to this day."

"Mitzyyy!" Nessa said, laughing at the story. "Did you fall in love?"

"I think she did," Patrick said plainly.

"I don't know who he is," Nessa said. "You're talking about Eddie Decker as if he's a household name."

"He is," Frank assured her along with a few others.

"Maybe not if you're not from Chicago," Joan said. "He's a football player. He was. He's retired. He played for the Chicago Bears."

"Really famous," Frank added.

"His face was on Wheaties boxes all through the nineties," Patrick said.

"His boys are big athletes, too," Joan added. "One of them went on to be a professional baseball player."

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