Free Walk of Shame by O. L. Gregory

phone signals were becoming more the norm in the
camping areas.
    "Um... I feel like I should
tell you about something now, and get it out of the way," he told me.
"So you're not shocked later on."
    I looked at him and caught a hint
of vulnerability in his eyes. I chewed on the inside of my bottom lip, wondering
what the hell kind of bomb he was about to drop. But then my eyes landed back
on his chest and I felt like I knew where he was headed. "You got some big
nasty scars while earning your purple heart?"
    He looked away and back before he
lifted his left pant leg a few inches and revealed a prosthetic leg.
    I refused to bat an eyelash.
Instead, I pursed my lips in contemplation for a moment. "Above or below
the knee?"
    "Below."
    I nodded as though I was rolling
something around in my head. "Well that's good."
    He just stared at me. "The
knee would be a deal breaker?"
    "No. It's just good that you
have the knee, is all. It might come in handy."
    He was lost. "How would my
knee come in handy for you?"
    "Well, if you're still
around at the end of all this, it's nice to know that you can have the leg off
and still have leverage when you're up on all fours." And then I gave him
devious little smile.
    He went from shock to barking
laughter.
    I don't think he was expecting me
to go there. I just smiled at the guys who'd started staring. "Do you have
other attachments for it?" I asked when he'd calmed down.
    "I do. I have one for
running, and one for climbing."
    "Running and climbing? You
don't let anything keep you down, do you?"
    "Nope. Why should I let one
bad day dictate the rest of my life?"
    "You shouldn't." Military
men, they take a licking and just keep on ticking. And you couldn't ask a
man for much more than that.
    "It doesn't bother
you?"
    I looked him straight in the eye.
"I can accept your artificial leg, if you can accept that I have five inches
of artificial height."
    He narrowed his eyes, and I
thought he was going to tell me I was cracking rude and inappropriate jokes.
    "Do you have different
heights for different activities?" he asked with a serious expression.
    I almost cracked a smile.
"Of course I do."
    He winked. "Then we should
get along just fine."
    I like the job, I like the
attitude...
    "I should get going so we
can move this show along."
    I smiled and nodded, and he stood
to rejoin the others.
    Mike descended the stairs and
Troy ascended them one last time.
    "Emmaline," he faced
the group of men and held his elbow out for me. "If you're ready, you can
come with me and we'll proceed to the next portion of our evening."
    I straightened and stood.
    Troy tried to muffle a chuckle
and not break his formal expression. But that backfired and he snorted. Shaking
his head, he gave up the pretense. "Put your shoes back on."
    The whole room lost it.
    He was still shaking his head
like he was about to explain something simple to a small child. "You can't
be a pretty princess without your five-inch hooker shoes."
    The guys laughed harder.
    I flushed three shades of red and
shook my head with a smile.
    "That's how princesses trip
on their pretty gowns and fall and break their pretty faces," Troy
continued.
    "Have we considered," I
asked, "letting the princess wear an already mastered three-inch heel and
adding a two-inch tiara, to create the same illusion?"
    Troy shook his head. "See?
Now you're just giving wardrobe ideas. They're already wondering what to do
when they stand you next to that mountain of a man wearing the kilt over there.
Now you'll be wearing the five-inch heels and a two-inch tiara, if you
keep him around."
    I looked over at Liam and he
winked at me.
    I took Troy's elbow, used him to
balance as I slid the first foot into a shoe, and then stepped up to my new
height to slide the other shoe on.
    "My God, you grew!" he
exclaimed to keep his small audience entertained. "It's like magic!"
He shook his head at the feat. He got his reaction of chuckles and then paused,
switched to his more formal face, and