Page 71 of Check You Out

Xander comes forward and leans against the counter. “Hey Lil’ Nicky, are Angie and Darren actually dating? Because she was really mean to him today.”

“They broke up again. I think. Who knows with them.” She reaches forward. “That’s the tea I was bringing you! They broke up at the café yesterday, so we all got to see it. It was very dramatic.”

Dan points to Nicole. “Hey, you’re anti-three bean soup lady.”

She blinks. “Can we not repeat that conversation? I get enough shit from my brother.”

Meeting Aidan’s gentle gaze, I step closer to him, breathing in the scent of coffee and cinnamon. He’s so close, and yet the inches between seem like miles. Why does his dad have to be here? Even if Xander and Nicole were here, I would at least give him a quick peck and wrap my arms around his torso, but I feel shy doing it in front of his dad. Not to mention, we’re not exactly in a relationship, right? We’re just two people who have kissed each other a couple of times. “Thank you for the tea.”

“We actually have something to ask you,” Aidan says in a low voice. “There’s someone we want to find information about, and since you know basically everyone in this town—”

“In the county,” Xander remarks. “At least with regards to the business stuff.”

“Yes,” Aidan acknowledges and runs a hand over his mustache. “We figured you might know.”

I cross my arms and purse my lips together. “Who do you want to know about?”

“Ferdinand O’Connor,” Dan says, stepping forward and picking up a copy of This Gilded Abyss by Rebecca Thorne and reading the back cover. “He’s a commercial contractor with a professional office in Summerville.”

Clutching the fragrant tea in my hands, I tap my fingers against the walls of the cup. “Hmmm… Ferdinand O’Connor, Ferdinand O’Connor. The name doesn’t ring any bells.” I turn to Nicole, who is studying a bookmark from the store. “You know him?”

She repeats his name several times like I did. “Wait, Ferdy O’Connor? Is Ferdy short for Ferdinand?”

Dan’s brows furrow. “Maybe?”

Xander runs a hand through his hair. “Oh yeah, I remember him. He was my year. He hated being called Ferdinand. We called him Ferdy instead. He had a younger sister or a stepsister? She was always hanging with him, but I can’t remember her name. This was high school, right?”

“Bridgett Hartlett,” Nicole remarks and crosses her arms. “His stepsister. They are, or were, close. I haven’t really heard anything from him since then.”

While Nicole and Xander reminisce about days gone past, I study Aidan’s face. His expression goes from calm and content to something darker. His brows knot in a deep V, and I resist dragging my finger over the wrinkles to smooth them over. His mouth curls downward, emphasized even more by his mustache.

“You ok?” I whisper to him.

“Dan found out something that might be important,” he murmurs to me. “Ferdinand O’Connor is the contractor that won the bid, and he’s in financial and legal trouble. With this connection, this is at a minimum a conflict of interest. Stephan Gott basically hired his future stepbrother-in-law to renovate an office that doesn’t seem to need it.” He digs a finger into the counter. “I don’t like it.”

I set my tea on the counter and grasp his hand. I suck in a breath and let it out in a heavy sigh. “I don’t like it either.”

Dan steps closer to us, his own face lined with worry. It almost startles me how much it mirrors Aidan’s own worried face. “Even if there’s no actual fraud, a conflict of interest is a major issue. Someone in power can’t just give away jobs to their friends and family at higher costs.”

Aidan shakes his head. “Even the appearance of a conflict of interest is unethical.” He blows air through his mouth in a raspberry. “What do we do now?”

Dan sighs through his nose. “There’s only one thing you can do. Report it.”

30

Aidan

After Dan helped us send a tip to the Douglass County Sheriff’s Department, he asks if I could recommend a couple of books.

“Charlotte might better at that,” I tell him.

“But I want to hear your picks,” he replies. I pick out a couple and to my surprise, he buys all of them. With each book, the stony exterior protecting my heart cracks a little bit more, and hope shines through the crevices. He is trying.

Am I anxious this won’t last? Yes. I’ll probably always be a little uneasy.

Xander and Nicole slip out with knowing grins not long after Dan leaves. The bookstore is quiet now. There’s also a lull in customers, so it’s Charlotte and myself, with Thelma lounging in her bed in the window.

“Mind if I stay here and hang out with you?” I ask, not wanting to leave. She’s stunning in a burgundy wrap dress that emphasizes her cleavage in a way that makes me half hard. Her golden-brown waves are long and flowing today, with tendrils falling over her neck and chest. I curl my fingers in a fist to keep myself from reaching out and stroking those golden-brown locks.