“That’s not what I mean.”

I wanted him to knock some sense in to me like he was famous for. Tell me I was insane for thinking I could do something like this; call me an ass**le for having my head in the clouds.

My dad closed the fuse box and turned around to stare up at the ceiling.

“You know how when you were in college I was paying your room and board every month?” he asked as he checked out all of the light fixtures. “Well, for the past five years, I’ve been putting that money into a savings account every month just in case you needed it one day. With the interest it’s earned, it’s a little over fifty thousand right now.”

My mouth dropped open in shock and Liz, who was standing close by and not even trying to pretend that she wasn’t eavesdropping, started squealing loud enough to break the sound barrier. She jumped up and down and flung her arms around my dad while I stood there trying to process what he’d just told me.

“Mr. Morgan, if you weren’t my best friend’s father I would totally hump your leg right now,” Liz told him excitedly.

“There’s a…I have…my dog’s at the vet,” my dad stuttered awkwardly as he pulled himself away from Liz and walked out of the store.

“You’re dad doesn’t have a dog,” Liz stated as the bell over the door jingled with his departure.

“Nope. Your dry humping threats have finally made him go insane.”

It took another hour for Liz to convince me that it wasn’t selfish to take the money my dad offered. It was money he put away for me to do with as I wished, so why shouldn’t I use it to start up the business I’ve always dreamed of? With money worries out of the way for the time being, Liz asked me to make up a tray of items to take to the party she booked me to do tomorrow afternoon. Jenny, a friend of her cousin, was having it and she was a computer designer. She offered to help Liz with brochures and flyers and things like that. Liz let her know I would be doing her party and that I would need help creating something to advertise my store as well. She agreed to help us out as long as she got to test out some free samples. I'd let her sample my vagina if she did this for me.

After the party, I was going to head over to Liz and Jim’s house for dinner and some wine so we could talk more and come up with names for our business.

Our business. I repeated those words over and over to myself as I drove home from the store, trying to make it sink in. It was all happening so fast. Just two days ago the idea of owning my own business was a pipe dream that I figured was years and years away from ever happening.

I pulled into my driveway and quietly unbuckled a sleeping Gavin so I could take him in the house and lay him down. As I lifted him out of his car seat and held his head to my shoulder, he wrapped his arms around my neck and squeezed.

"You hafta mow the lawn wiffa snake marshmallow," he mumbled sleepily. "I slipped on a penny."

I let out a chuckle at my son's sleep-talking habits as I walked into the house and got him situated in his bed.

I wonder if he talks in his sleep too.

Liz sufficiently took my mind off of Gavin’s father all morning, but now that I was alone with my thoughts, his reappearance in my life screamed through my head and it was all I could think about. For all I knew, he could have been passing through town and I'll never see or hear from him again. He was too drunk to remember me the first time we met, and obviously history was repeating itself. He had no clue who I was last night.

I refused to admit it stung a little that I hadn't made any kind of impact on him almost five years ago, when I had to live with a reminder of him every single day.

7. Open Mouth, Insert Vodka

She rested her elbows against the bar and leaned closer to me. I was mesmerized by her eyes. They looked like pools of Hershey's chocolate syrup. It was her. All these years and I could finally see her face. She was just as stunning as I remembered.

"I've been looking everywhere for you," I said.

She laughed and goose bumps rose on my arms. I remember that laugh; it was like music to my ears. She reached across the top of the bar and ran her hand down my arm and rested it on top of my own.

"Do your shot glasses usually talk to you?" she asked with a smile.

"Wait, you're the girl from the bar," I said in confusion.

"Am I?" she asked with a smirk.

She leaned completely across the top of the bar and pressed her cheek to mine, her lips close to my ear.

"Ask me what my favorite movie is," she whispered.

I turned my head and slid my nose against her cheek. She still smelled like chocolate. But that didn't make sense. Someone started knocking on the door to the bar and she pulled away and whipped her head around in that direction. She started backing up as the banging continued.

"Wait! Don't go. Just tell me your name," I pleaded.

She kept backing away and I stared at her face, memorizing every single detail: brown eyes, thick chestnut hair, full-heart-shaped lips, and a dimple on each cheek.

That's what the girl from the bar looked like. But this one had the same eyes and the same voice as MY girl. What the hell is going on?

"Please, tell me your name!" I yelled after her.

I jerked awake to the sound of banging and my heart pounding like I just ran a marathon. I slid my hand through my hair and flopped back down, trying to remember what I had just been dreaming about. It was right there at the edge of my consciousness but I just couldn't grasp onto it. There was something I needed to remember about that dream. I closed my eyes and tried to bring it back. The silence lasted for two seconds before the pounding against my front door started again and interrupted my thoughts.