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The smells from B&B wafted down the street over a block away My sto forup on cream-filled donuts and cupcakes at the shop Hello, sto at ho soar-coated drug

I pushed the backdoor open “Hey, Avery”

“Hey” There was a gentle slope to the way she said the word It held all the questions without needing to sayI can do for you?

“I’m here and ready to work”

“We’re not going to record anything today, but I figured the three of us could work on some stuff How’s that sound?”

“Perfect”

“Why don’t you go grab Max and we can get started?” Avery wrapped the apron around her waist, her bu she couldn’t wrap it around and tie it in the front like she usually did

With all the time I’d been at B&B I’d never been in Max’s store I’d passed by the outside, but she was always at Avery’s and I was usually trying to keepninety percent of the time, so tours weren’t on my to-do list

The door that connected the shops was in the front, right beside the front-of-house tables where custo that Avery and the rest of her team made

On the other side, it was like I’d been transported into a trendy industrial loft Exposed brick covered one wall and the duct work ran along the ceiling A spray-painted intricate woven flower design covered one whole wall The bright colors matched Max’s tattoos and hair color perfectly

“Max,” I called out

There were sofas and a s one side of the room

Black and gray slate serving platters were lined up alongside the massive bar, all lit up with bottles of booze and bubbly That was one way to get people to shell out a shit-ton on cakes Get the small for Laura since she’d talked about how much she loved Max’s work

I peeked into the back room

Max had headphones in The long white cables disappeared into her pocket