Page 64 of Cookbooks and Demons

“You don’t seem to know a lot,” she pointed out, a little irritated. “You haven’t talked about this at all withCharlie?”

“If I can’t understand it, how can I explain it? It’s what I’ve been trying to figure out.” Chris looked toward where the woman waited for him outside the front window. “And you know what he thinks about people who say they are bi.”

Helena pursed her lips. She liked Charlie a lot, but he was the kind of person that once he made up his mind about something it was extremely hard to change it. Bisexuality and gender fluidity was always a subject non-gratawith him.

“Still, he’s your husband, Chris. You took a vow,” she pointed out.

“You don’t think I know that?” Chris snapped, shooting her a sharp look. “I’m going to talk to him. I am. Just give me some more time, okay? I need to come to him withanswers.”

Helena pursed her lips, debating. “I’ll wait another week,” she decided, “but if you don’t tell him, then I will have to. I can’t keep something like this from my friendsforever.”

Chris’s expression darkened to a level of hate she had never seen before on his face. She felt herself pull away but resisted any urge to run.

“You do that, and I will destroy you,” he growled in no uncertain terms. “I will tell him about what you did to Shawna. I’ve never told him in all these years.” He stood up, using his higher position to loom over her threateningly. “I’ll tell every one of your dirty secrets to everyone you work with, and we’ll see how long you still have a job. You will keep your mouth shut. Do we understand each other?”

All she could do was nod as she struggled to hold the whimper in.

With a sniff, her friend… her former friend straightened up. Then nodded once as if that solved everything and turned to leave. She watched to make sure he had gone. As he exited the door, he turned, leaving the woman he had come with confused and trailing behind him.

“Are you okay?” an older man asked, leaning from the other side of her a few seats down.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” she said airily, though she could feel the tears beading in her eyes. “Just having a rough day is all.” She forced a smile to reassure him and he accepted it.

“That guy’s an asshole,” the old man proclaimed.

She laughed and nodded. “Yeah, he’s being one today.”

“If he had tried anything, I was going to kick his ass,” the old manassured.

“Well thank you, but I’m glad it didn’t come to that,” she said and then went back to try to finish her ramen, but she didn’t have the same appetite she’d had before. “I’m alright, Raffie,” she whispered under her breath, so he wouldn’t worry. “But Imiss you.”

She made herself finish her soup anyway because she still had a long day ahead of her. There was still a lot of time before she was supposed to return to the office, but the walk she planned to take through the downtown park was just too unpleasant as the cold winter wind whipped through. There was a dusting of snow on the ground this time, but the air was so frozen that it just made her feel like a walking icicle. With fifteen minutes left before the minimum allowable time for her to return, she gave up and decided she’d rather endure Yosef’s censure than another minute out “in nature.”

When she got back to the shared office, it was pretty much empty in the main room. It looked like everyone else had also gone out for lunches, and she kicked herself for not thinking to ask anyone if she could join them. Then she would at least have been safe from that unsettling encounter with Chris.

Deciding not to dwell on her mistakes, she went to Scarlet’s office, then stopped, remembering that Yosef had said he would be giving Scarlet a massage. It wasn’t the first time she had been kicked out for that reason. Scarlet needed them regularly to help with her circulation and to improve her quality of life. Helena figured they probably weren’t finished yet but decided she could try to just sneak in quickly and grab her computer so she could get a few other things done while they finished up.

That’s when a short, sharp cry of pain startled her just as she reached for the door handle. “Oh God, oh God,” cried Scarlet’s voice and then there was a bang sound from the other side of the door. Imagining Scarlet having fallen and broken something, Helena quickly seized the handle only to find it locked. Of course it wouldbe locked!

“Dammit, dammit, Scarlet! Are you alright?” she called through the door as she scrambled to get her copy of her keys out of the coat pocket.

There was no response as she shoved the right key into the lock and wrangled the door open. Something was blocking the door, and she caught sight of Scarlet’s wheelchair, lying on its side, probably the source ofthe crash.

“Scarlet!” she shouted as she burst into the room, only to stare at Yosef’s bare ass facing her and Scarlet’s legs splayed on either side of him.

Her outburst startled them both.

“The Hell!” Yosef shouted as he bucked back and twisted and by then Helena was already covering her face. “Get the fuck out!” he shouted as he struggled to pull up his pants.

She had to uncover her face with one hand so she could grab at the handle of the door to shut it. All the while as she struggled, Scarlet was cawing laughter at the top of her lungs.

“Get out!”

Chapter 34

Needed

a Hug

---