Free Seduction and Snacks by Tara Sivec

freaking business. She was out of her mind. Forcing me to meet her at the shop was cheating as far as I was concerned. Liz was smart though, I’ll give her that. She knew this would take my mind off of my other situation .
    Butler was a small college town that had a town square right in the heart of it where all of the mom-and-pop-type stores were located. Andrea’s Bakery was situated on the busiest corner. I had to clamp down my excitement as I buckled Gavin into his car seat and headed towards downtown. I would not get my hopes up about this yet. There were entirely too many things to work out and consider. How much rent would I have to pay Liz? What would Gavin and I do about healthcare? Would Liz and I be partners with this whole thing or two separate entities just sharing a space? Could our friendship survive something like this? Would Gavin have to skip college and spend his life as a male prostitute just to make end’s meet because I stuck every penny into a business that tanked?
    Fuck, this was going to throw me into a panic attack.
    "Are we going to Auntie Wiz’s house?" Gavin asked from the backseat, looking out his window at the cars and houses we passed.
    I looked at him in the rearview mirror and reminded myself that whatever I did was all for him. He deserved the best life, and I was determined to give that to him.
    "No, bud, we're not going to her house. But we are going to see her," I told him as I pulled up in front of the building a few minutes later.
    I sat in the car for a minute staring at our building. It was right on the corner and windows took up the entire front of the store, wrapping around to take up the whole other side as well. It was the perfect corner store where we could each have our own window displays. Andrea’s Bakery had recently been repainted bright white and had brand new flower boxes installed beneath the windows overflowing with Gerbera daisies in every color. It looked beautiful.
    Our building, our window displays. Jesus, I'm already thinking of it as mine. Liz is an evil genius and I haven’t even walked inside yet.
    Speaking of the she-devil, Liz stepped out of one of the doors, holding it open with her hip.
    "Stop gawking and get your ass in here," she yelled out to me, before turning around and walking back inside.
    Gavin unfastened his seat belt and tried to open his door but the childproof lock prevented him from doing so.
    "Come on, Mommy," he complained. "Auntie Wiz said to get our ass in dare."
    "Gavin, language," I said, rolling my eyes at his refusal to listen as I got out and walked around to open his door. I grabbed his hand and helped him jump down out of the car.
    "Be good, you got it?" I asked as we walked up onto the sidewalk. "Don't run, don't yell, don't touch anything and stop saying bad words or you're going home to take a nap."
    "Naps can suck it."
    I will not sell him to gypsies. I will not sell him to gypsies.
    A bell dinged above the door as I opened it, and Gavin yanked his hand out of mine to go running into Liz’s arms.
    "Ooooooh, my handsome man is here!" Liz squealed as she scooped him up and swung him around. "What's new, little man?" she asked as she set him down on top of the counter next to her.
    "Mommy don't feel good today and I got a big wiener!"
    Liz barked out a laugh.
    "Gavin, please. Enough with the wiener talk," I complained
    "But, Mommy, look," he said as he attempted to unbutton his jeans. "My wiener is really big and tall right now and it feels funny."
    "Ooookay," I said as I quickly walked over and stopped him from whipping it out. "No one needs to see it and remember what I told you the other night?”
    Gavin nodded in understanding and I slid him down off of the counter and told him to go look out the front window to count the cars that go by. When his face and hands were plastered against the window, I turned to face Liz who was silently laughing with her hand over her mouth.
    "It's not funny," I hissed at her in a loud whisper.