Free Behind the Green Curtain by Riley Lashea

admitted, and
Sole grinned at her, grabbing a cookie from a rack and sliding it across the
bar top on a napkin. Settling onto her usual stool, Caton dropped her bag to
the stool next to her and took a bite, marveling again at Sole’s culinary
talents and glad for how much she got to indulge in them when the boss wasn’t
home. “This doesn’t really strike me as a cookie household,” Caton said, taking
another bite.
    “Amelia does work with a women’s
shelter,” Sole explained. “She took most of them there. A little Halloween
treat.”
    Forgetting her lingering
discomfort, Caton ceased to chew, moist cookie bits going suddenly dry on her
tongue. Licking her lips, she swallowed with substantial effort, and Sole
brought her a glass of water, as if she had taken a clairvoyant reading of the
humidity level in Caton’s mouth.
    Taking a drink, the guilt amplified.
She hated the way things had been with Sole. Before the incident in the foyer,
talking to Sole had been the only enjoyable part of Caton’s day. She was so
afraid, though, of any topics that would point to the huge elephant hovering
just over her shoulder. As it turned out, Amelia was, indeed, the first topic
of conversation, and, as if to emphasize how absolutely self-centered Caton had
been over the past few days, it had absolutely nothing to do with her at all.
    “I know she does good work,” Caton
said, voice weak, but it was all in theory. She knew Amelia handled Jack’s
charity work, he had told her so himself, and she knew Halston & Company
had ties to multiple charities. It never crossed her mind that Amelia might ask
someone to bake up homemade desserts and hand-deliver them. The information was
so incongruous with everything she had experienced with Amelia firsthand, she
couldn’t even begin to process it.
    She couldn’t completely ignore the
mention either, or the warmth that spread through her in reaction, moving up to
her face where she was certain Sole could see. The elephant put its foot on her
shoulder and pressed. “About the other day...”
    “Hey, you don’t have to explain
anything to me,” Sole cut in at once. “It’s my job not to see anything that happens
in this house.”
    With a flimsy laugh that brought no
real relief, Caton watched Sole snag a cookie and bite into it. She could have
left it alone. She probably should have left it alone. Sole was giving her a
pass it would undoubtedly have been wisest to use. The not knowing, though, it
was killing her.
    “Does she, um...” She tried to keep
the question light, glancing away as Sole looked up. “Does she do that with
everyone?”
    “What?” Sole returned with such
shocked haste she had to catch cookie crumbs that tumbled from her lip. “Watch
them take their clothes off?”
    “Yeah,” Caton responded with a
shrug, hoping it looked more casual than it felt and realizing how ridiculous
she had to sound. “Is it like a power trip for her or something, making someone
do something just to prove she can?”
    Wide eyes narrowing to a point, one
of Sole’s eyebrows quirked up, and Caton knew she had been made. “I can say I
have never walked in on Amelia watching anyone strip in the middle of the foyer
before,” Sole stated. “And she’s certainly never asked me. Whatever that was,
it’s between you and Amelia.”
    Eyes dropping to her water glass,
Caton closed her hands around it, the cold against her skin doing little to
alleviate the increasing warmth of her blush. Rolling the glass back and forth,
she tried and failed to make sense of it. Maybe it was better if she didn’t
make sense of it. Maybe it was better if she just never emerged from the
basement again.
    “So,” Sole said, letting the small
utterance linger until Caton at last met her gaze. Though, for the most part,
Sole held her game face, Caton could see the smirk restrained only by years of
hiding her true feelings from rich people in order to keep her job. “Is that
what you wanted to