Epilogue
Six months later.
“This is Matt with Channel 3 News, coming to you live from the store that started it all, Seduction and Snacks. Seduction and Snacks has grown far beyond the little corner business that two best friends decided to open together almost eight years ago. With the combination of delicious chocolates, cookies, and sex toys, Seduction and Snacks is the perfect store to satisfy your sweet tooth or your bedroom cravings. We’re here today to speak to the women who came up with this idea, as well as their friends and family who have supported them along the way. Welcome, everyone!”
Seated in a straight line are all three couples: Carter and Claire, Liz and Jim, and Drew and Jenny. Sitting on the floor by their feet are each of the couple’s respective children: Gavin and Sophia, Charlotte, Molly, and Ava, and Veronica and Billy.
“Claire, did you ever think that the store you had always dreamed about owning would one day turn into a household name and that you would have locations all over the United States?”
Claire laughs and shakes her head in disbelief while Carter reaches over and covers the hand resting on her thigh with his own.
“This is far beyond my hopes and dreams. Opening just this store by itself was something I never thought would happen. And then to have it take off like it did and to be able to franchise it? I still can’t even wrap my head around it,” Claire states.
“I know you’ve done several interviews about how you and your husband met, and every time I hear that story, it still makes me smile. How are the two of you handling the success along with raising a family?”
Carter lifts Claire’s hand to his lips and places a soft kiss on her fingers. Claire stares happily into his eyes before finally turning back to the camera.
“We’re handling it together, one day at a time. Having the support of such amazing friends and family makes things a lot easier,” Claire states.
“And we really are pretty amazing,” their friend Drew chimes in from down the row. “Well, except for that punk sitting down there surrounded by little girls.”
Drew laughs and points at ten-year-old Gavin, who gives him a dirty look.
“Shut up or I will cut your mother,” Gavin tells him.
“You don’t talk about Eileen Parrit! Eileen Parrit is a saint!” Drew argues.
“So, Liz, did you ever think there would be such a high demand for a store that sells sex toys?”
Jim leans over and places a kiss on Liz’s cheek, and she smiles at the camera.
“As long as there are people having sex, there will always be a need for sex toys,” Liz tells us.
“What’s ‘having sex’?” Liz and Jim’s five-year-old, Ava, asks.
“It’s gross. And people yell like they are in pain. I think it has something to do with killing each other,” Gavin tells her.
“Ooooh, that’s scary. I’m never having the sex,” Ava replies as she goes back to playing with one of the toys her parents brought for her.
“Why do they only pay attention when we’re talking about something they shouldn’t hear?” Jim whispers to Liz.
“Because children are assholes,” Drew whispers back.
“I heard that,” Gavin replies without even turning around.
“Good, because you’re the biggest asshole!” Drew whispers loudly.
“Will you stop calling my son an asshole?!” Claire scolds Drew.
Drew immediately bows his head in remorse when Claire gives him a dirty look.
“Oooooh, you just got schooled by my mommy,” Gavin taunts with a laugh.
Carter quickly leans forward and clamps a hand over Gavin’s mouth while Drew sticks his tongue out at him and gets a smack in the arm from his wife.
“Jenny, you’re credited with putting Seduction and Snacks on the map with all of your amazing marketing and promotion skills. Can you tell us a little bit about that?”
Drew leans back in his chair and throws his arm around the back of Jenny’s and plays with a strand of her hair.
“Um, well, I don’t think I was the one who put Seduction and Snacks on the map. I’m pretty sure it had something to do with the state of Ohio and where they built the building. I could be wrong though. I did send a flyer to our mayor so maybe that made him add it to the map. Not sure,” she says with a shrug.
“You guys have stuck together as friends and been through quite a lot together in the last few years. Where do you see yourselves ten years from now?”
The couples all look at one another, and there are a few smiles and some laughs exchanged.
“In ten years, we’ll still be friends. We’ll still be talking about sex all the time and doing inappropriate things in public,” Jim tells us with a chuckle.
“In ten years, I hope I’m living next door to my best friend so I can just walk over there if I need her. Even if Seduction and Snacks is no longer around, at least I’ll still have her. And sex toys,” Liz says with a smile.
“Awwww, you’re going to make me cry!” Claire tells Liz.
“And you’re going to make me puke. Cut it out!” Drew yells at them.
“In ten years, I hope I’m still waking up every morning next to my soul mate,” Carter admits with a smile in Claire’s direction.
“What is this, Lifestyles of the Gay and Sappy? Come on!” Drew complains.
“In ten years, I hope they have a Skittles remover and I can still put my feet behind my head in a hammock,” Jenny tells everyone.
“In ten years I hope I’ve forgotten every part of that sentence,” Jim states.
“In ten years, I’ll still be banging my hot wife. Hopefully by then they will have invented honey that isn’t so sticky and corn stalks that don’t chafe so much when you tie them to your penis,” Drew states.
“In ten years, I hope Drew stops talking about his penis and the weird things he does with it,” Claire says with a roll of her eyes. “But we’ll definitely still be friends. We’ll all have teenagers then and will need as much support as we can get,” she laughs.
“In ten years I’ll be twenty. I’ll be able to carry a gun and pistol whip Drew,” Gavin says.
“You can’t carry a gun at twenty! And anyway, I will still be bigger than you in ten years, kid,” Drew argues.
“Yeah, but you’ll be old. And you’ll probably need a walker and someone to change your poopy diaper,” Gavin argues back.
“How the hell do you even know what pistol whip means?” Claire asks in shock.
“PlayStation. Duh,” Gavin replies back.
“I’m not going to have poopy diapers, YOU’RE going to have poopy diapers,” Drew tells Gavin.
“You can’t even spell poopy,” Gavin replies in a bored voice as his sister Sophia climbs onto his lap and gets comfortable.
“I can spell poopy!” Sophia announces.
“It’s called SPOOPY!” Drew and Jenny’s daughter Veronica announces proudly.
“SPOOP!” Billy shouts from his place on the floor in between Jim’s daughters.
Everyone stares down at Billy in shock.
“Did he just say spoop?” Liz whispers.
“What the hell is spoop?” Carter asks.
“Oh my God, our son’s first word is spoop?!” Jenny screeches as she smacks Drew’s arm.
“This is NOT my fault. It’s Jackson’s fault!” Drew argues.
“Do I really have to put that in his baby book? I CANNOT write the word 'spoop',” Jenny says.
“I can. I know how to spell spoop,” Gavin tells her.
“So do any of you have plans for more children?”
All three couples chime in at once and without any hesitation.
“OH HELL NO!”
“As we close our interview with the women who started Seduction and Snacks and their loving families, I think it’s clear to everyone that this group will remain friends for a very long time. They will continue to follow their dreams and watch their business grow into something none of them ever saw coming. They will also share in the joys of watching their children grow up together and form their own close-knit friendships and who knows, maybe one of them will have a story of their own to tell us down the road. I have a feeling we haven’t heard the last from the gang at Seduction and Snacks!”