1980

"Amanda was on her way out of the dime store when she saw it — the display of colorful winter scarves near the end of the first aisle. Immediately she reversed in her tracks and started towards them. Her younger son Jamie had nearly caused a family civil war the week before at Thanksgiving dinner, when he'd innocently confessed to Joe's mother that the scarf she'd spent weeks knitting for him had gone missing at school. Thankfully, the scarf had turned up in the Lost And Found bin at his school, but it wasn't the first time one of the boys had had to go searching for scarves or gloves they'd misplaced or forgotten somewhere.

This was the perfect solution. Instead of risking the safety of another cherished gift, she could pick up some cheap scarves and gloves for the boys and have an easy supply of replacements for the next time one of them went missing. It would cost next to nothing and, more importantly, avoid the headache from her in-laws. Amanda reached up for a colorful green-and-yellow plaid scarf she knew Jamie would love, only to bump the arm of a man reaching for the same one. She drew back, startled.

"I'm sorry..." she began at the same time as the man said, "Oh, excuse me!" They both chuckled ruefully and he motioned towards the rack. "You go ahead."

She smiled her thanks and reached for the scarf before looking back at the man. Tall and good looking with light brown hair, he already had three or four scarves folded over his arm, and she grinned in recognition. "Are you stocking up for your kids too?" she asked.

The man's hazel eyes grew wide with shock and a hint of dismay. "What? No — I mean, I don't have kids. I'm not married," he said quickly. "I'm just trying to get a head start on Christmas shopping since I'm going to be going out of town in a couple of weeks."

Amanda raised her eyebrows. "How many people are you buying for?" she questioned.

"Well, most of them are for work, but look." The man held out an attractive scarf in a pattern of lavender and purple. "I bought this one for my girlfriend."

Amanda raised her eyebrows. "You bought a scarf for your girlfriend for Christmas?"

The man shrugged defensively. "Well, we haven't been dating that long."

"Uh-huh." Amanda tried to smile encouragingly. "It is a pretty pattern." And it was certainly a step up from a blender or something ridiculous like that. "Is purple her favorite color?"

"Well, she wears it quite a bit..." He broke off with a slight chuckle. "To tell you the truth, I've never asked her. But her winter coat is purple, so this will go with that."

"Then that's probably the perfect choice," Amanda said quickly. She held up the scarf she was holding. "My sons love bright colors. They're always losing their scarves and gloves, so this seemed like a good idea."

The man grinned. "Yeah, I remember getting in trouble for that more than once too." He cleared his throat. "I should probably get going." He quickly grabbed another scarf from the rack without looking and moved to go down the aisle. "Nice meeting you."

"You too," Amanda called after him, but he was already partway down the aisle. She watched him walk away before shaking her head and turning back to the scarf display. I pity the poor woman that gets stuck with him for a husband...