Page 17 of Romancing the Omega

Chapter Six

Yeo watched Amy Pettit smile as she suggested a new author to a regular customer. Holy shit, Yeo thought. He had regular customers. After a month, The Book Worm still had a steady flow of daily customers. The book clubs were doing well, and the children story times were becoming more and more popular. Amy was a lifesaver.

Yeo was able to focus more on bookkeeping, ordering inventory, the online site, and marketing. He wanted to hire even more people so he could keep the store open longer. The town would like that, and it would make longer summer days more profitable. He hoped he would be able to maintain his numbers when summer rolled around. With more things to do, business might droop.

“What are you doing over here?” Bennett’s voice was directly behind him and startled the crap out of him.

“Bennett!” Yeo loved his best friend. He hugged the man even though he had seen him every day since the day they met. He pulled back. “I’m arranging some romance novels in the window displays.” He looked around the store. It was decorated for Valentine’s Day in pink, red, and white.

“Good idea,” Bennett said, picking up some books and helping him. “Where’s Linc? I want some story time.”

“My sweet, darling boy is upstairs so I don’t yell at him again. He was playing in Magnolia’s litterbox when I woke up this morning. Naked.”

Bennett laughed. “How did he get in the laundry room?”

“He went under the baby gate,” Yeo said. “I left it off the ground so Magnolia could scoot under it. Linc can scoot too.”

“Who’s watching him?”

“Caden. He brought his laptop and is working while he keeps an eye on Linc,” Yeo pressed his lips together, thinking about Caden’s kiss this morning. They had perfected kissing over the last month. Maybe they could work on perfecting something else on their Valentine’s Day date. They just had to arrange to have that date.

“Caden is upstairs, watching Linc,” Bennett repeated. He smiled. “Has he asked you on an actual date yet?”

“No,” Yeo said, sighing. “He brings me gifts every night and has dinner with Summer and me. He helps her with her homework, then gives Linc his bath and reads him to sleep.”

“He fits, huh?”

“Perfectly,” Yeo said. “After Summer goes to bed, we sit on the couch and talk, then kiss, then talk some more, then kiss and kiss. I can’t stand it when he leaves.”

Bennett shook his head. “Still no date, though. I think you’re going to have to take the next step. Caden has done well with courting, but maybe you need to be the one to push for more.”

“What if he doesn’t want more? What if he doesn’t want to date me?” Yeo thought about it. “What if he doesn’t want us to be a public thing?”

Bennett snorted. “That is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. Your whole relationship has been public from the start. Everyone in town knows Caden Benson is crazy about you.”

“Mr. Yeo Cook?” Yeo turned around. A woman stood next to them. She wore slacks, a thick sweater, and a colorful scarf. Yeo didn’t know her at all.

“Yes. That’s me.”

She pushed her glasses up her nose. “My name is Dana Butler. I work for Social Services.” She handed him a card. It had her name and contact information on it. “My supervisor’s name and contact information are on the back.”

“May I help you?” Yeo had no idea what she could possibly need from him.

“There have been some allegations made against you involving environmental neglect concerning your son and your sister.” Yeo’s mouth dropped open. Ms. Butler looked around. “I would like to wait here for a police escort, but I have a court order to inspect your home. The police department is sending someone now.”

“What exact allegations have been made?” Bennett sounded furious.

“And you are?” The woman seemed genuinely curious.

“Bennett Wilson. I’m Yeo’s best friend.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” She looked back at Yeo. “The exact allegations claim that your living space is unsuitable for anyone to live in, little less two children. These pictures were sent with us along with the claim.” She handed him some pictures.

He flipped through them carefully. “These were taken before I renovated the building. We weren’t living here at the time.” The upstairs had been one empty, rotting, open space.

“I suspected as much,” she said, pushing her glasses up her nose again. “We take every claim seriously, Mr. Cook. The sooner I can verify that these pictures are inaccurate, the better.”

“Ms. Butler?” Tanner Jones looked pissed. The police officer quickly approached. “This is stupid. I’ve been upstairs myself. These pictures are out of date.”

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