"Do I regret it? Retiring?"
"Yes. Did you have an option? Were you hurt too bad to go back?"
"No, I wasn't hurt too bad. I was injured, but I could have rehabbed it. I retired because I wanted to focus on opening the gym with my brother. And to answer your question… n-no… I don't regret it."
"There was some big-time hesitation there," I said after taking a bite of my burrito.
"It's a little bit of a sore point because people mention it to me a lot. They say things like 'why'd you give up'… or… 'you could've been one of the greats like your dad'."
"I bet you were great—you are great. You have to be great to make it to the pros. I can't believe you're a professional baseball player. How could you leave that out, EJ? I have a friend, the rep from our supplier, who cuts a guy's hair from the Pirates. You might know him. Cody Thompson."
"Yeah, I know Cody," EJ said, nodding.
I smiled at him. "I can't believe you're just telling me this."
"My dad's more famous than I am."
"Who's your dad?"
"Eddie Decker."
I coughed uncontrollably at that name. I tried to react and just swallowed spit wrong and choked. I had most definitely heard that name.
"He's a football player," I said. "Chicago Bears."
"Yes," EJ said.
"Your dad is Eddie Decker?"
"Yes, he is."
"Your real dad?" I asked, feeling stunned.
"Yes. Eddie Junior. That's me."
I was flabbergasted. I thought about that for a minute, and then made an odd smiling face at him. "That's a gigantic deal."
I could tell he was waiting to see how I reacted. I took another bite of my burrito, thinking about how very famous Eddie Decker was. I had heard that name constantly during football season when I was growing up.
"I’m sorry I smoked a cigarette with you," I said numbly and out of nowhere, causing him to laugh.
"Don't be sorry," he said.
"No, what if you had gotten hooked? Think about it. I might've spoiled your professional career. What if I sent you off on the track to becoming a juvenile delinquent? That would have been horrible."
He laughed at me. "Stop, I don't even think I really got any in my lungs," he said, causing both of us to laugh.
"This is too much, I'm looking you up," I said, grabbing my phone. My bag didn't have many things in it, so I easily found my phone and began typing on it. "So, what do I search? Are you under EJ Decker on the intern—oh, yep. There you are. That's insane, EJ! Whoa. Whoa." I had taken in enough numbers in the five seconds of internet exposure to know who I was dealing with here. I set my phone down and glanced at him, meeting his eyes. "You'refamous," I said in a matter-of-fact tone, staring straight at him.
His face broke into a smile, and he shook his head. He was gorgeous, and I already knew that. I also already knew that I didn't care.
"Not really. I'm just famous enough to make me paranoid of women."
"Because you think they're after you for fame and fortune?"
"It's not that Ithinkthat. I'm not making it up. It's true. I'm sorry, but the women I've been with, I can just tell that it was conditional even though they would never say that."
"Oh, no, don't worry. You'll do it. You'll find somebody." I encouraged him. "I'm usually a bad person to ask because I'm so jaded, but in this case, I think you can find someone genuine if that's what you're looking for. You're still so young. Somebody is going to be out there who rings true with your heart. Look at your brother. Did he get a good woman?"
