Page 83 of Check You Out

“Let me know if I can help you find anything,” I call, hoping it’s a customer that will just browse, make a purchase, and leave without requiring much effort from me.

Damn it, why is that column spaced all wrong?

I hear footsteps as the newcomer pads up to my counter. Great, someone determined to talk to me. Just what I didn’t need.

“Hello Charlotte.” The cool voice sends shivers up my spine, and I immediately wish that I hadn’t sent Aidan away.

What the fuck is Stephen Gott doing here?

I turn, and there’s the man himself dressed in neatly pressed slacks and a light blue dress shirt. Yet, despite his fine clothes, he looks horrible. There are dark circles under his eyes, and his red hair is uncombed. There’s stubble on his chin, which makes me wonder if he’s shaved in the last few days.

“Uh, hi,” I reply, my throat dry. “What can I do for you?”

“I was hoping we could talk,” he says in a slow drawl. “Is that ok? I know you’re very busy.”

Does he know that Aidan and I reported him to the County Sheriff’s Department?

I was so certain that his fiancée was onto us when she barged into our Save the Library Committee meeting last week. Aidan is convinced that isn’t the case, that she was just assuming that it was someone in the group who discovered that Gott hired her stepbrother for a multi-million-dollar contract. To assuage my fears, he made a call to his father, who made a call to a former colleague of his, who then made a call to someone else. Unfortunately, we didn’t get any answers.

Shit, he knows that we reported him.

“Uh, sure,” I reply, my voice a little shaky. “I’m just doing a report for my taxes. What did you want to talk about?”

Gott shoves his hands in his pockets and steps forward. “I was hoping that we could talk about ethics. I know it seems out of the blue to talk to you about this, but I have a very vivid memory of you berating me about my ethics when you broke up with me. Your dad also lectured me on the subject a few times back then.” He stops at the counter, chewing on his lower lip. “I was hoping that maybe you could advise me, given our prior relationship.”

My eyes grow wide, and I swallow hard. “On ethics?”

He nods. “Correct, I did something, unknowingly. And now everything is crumbling apart, and I don’t know what to do. People who I trusted, I can’t.” He waves his hands in the air. “It’s all going to shit. I’d like your advice.”

I am so confused right now.

“Advise you? Stephen, we’ve barely talked in the last fifteen years and our ‘relationship’,” I air quote, “was just a few months when we were in high school. I’m not sure I’m the one who’s qualified to give you advice.” I let out a sigh, my body relaxing now that he’s not going to retaliate for my reporting him. “Why are you coming to me? You broke my heart when you cheated on me on Prom Night. Why the fuck do you think I have advice?”

He winces. “Have I mentioned I’m sorry for that?”

I blink, shaking my head. “You’re about fifteen years too late for that.”

He presses his hands against the counter. “Look, I helped you when you were trying to keep your little library open, and now I’m cashing in on the favor. I—”

“Did you change the budget? Is the library now fully funded? I didn’t see a press releases.” I lean back and grab my phone, tempted to call Aidan, Nicole, Xander, anyone who can come and help. There’s something that I don’t like about how Gott is looking at me. There’s a wild look. Like an animal cornered.

“I did my best. I tried,” he answers.

“Did you really?”

He watches me, his eyes darting about. “I told you I can’t trust anyone in Canterbury anymore. Someone found out something and now I’m being investigated. I thought I was doing right, but I was misled and misguided.” He takes a step back from the counter.

Relief courses through me. He doesn’t know it was Aidan and me.

He continues when I don’t say anything. “You’re well respected in this community. Yes, you’re a simple bookstore owner in this charming little town, but you’re also admired. Just hear me out, and then you can kick me out, and I won’t bother you again.”

I study him, debating on whether I can trust him. He appears trust me for some odd reason, and maybe this could benefit the library. After a few seconds, I cross my arms and nod. “Alright. I’m still pissed off. You’re ruining our town and my business.”

He bobs his head stiffly. “I know, and I deeply regret that. Especially since the circumstances that brought me to those actions were false and misleading.” I wonder what in the world he’s talking about.

Gott continues, “So, ethically, is it still right to continue in a leadership position, if you have surrounded yourself with people who have manipulated you into making poor decisions?”

“What are you talking about?” I inquire, my gaze darting around his face to get some sort of hint.