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Chapter One
Well, frak, Penny Popplestone thought as she stared at the couple who’d just sauntered past the window of the coffee shop. Why does this keep happening to me?
She couldn’t believe it—and yet at the same time, she could absolutely believe it, because apparently she was forever doomed to date unfaithful men.
She had discovered her last boyfriend was cheating on her only a month after she’d picked up her entire life in Washington, DC, and moved across the country for him. And before that, she’d been cheated on by both her college boyfriend and her high school boyfriend. She’d had four whole boyfriends in her life, and as of this moment, every single one of them had turned out to be unfaithful. A perfect 0-4 record.
She must be cursed. There was no other explanation for it.
The bell on the front door of the shop jangled as Kenneth, her current—soon to be ex—boyfriend, strolled in. The very same Kenneth who had canceled their plans for tonight because he had to go out of town for work. And who, instead of being out of town, was in Penny’s favorite coffee shop with his arm around another woman.
The gall. The absolute gall.
She’d call it almighty stupidity on his part, except she wasn’t supposed to be here tonight either. Her knitting group usually met here Monday nights, which Kenneth knew very well. But this Monday one of the members had an art show, which Kenneth also knew, because he had declined Penny’s invitation to be her plus-one. What he didn’t know was that Penny had called the group at the last minute and asked if they wanted to meet tonight instead.
There was no reason for him to suspect Penny would be at Antidote on a Friday night. And yet, here she was. Witnessing his indiscretion with her own eyes. Like fate had set her up for a punking.
Fortunately, Kenneth’s attention was so wholly consumed by the woman with him that he hadn’t even noticed Penny sitting with her friends at the big orange couch in the far back corner. He was too busy nuzzling his nose into his date’s silky blonde hair as his hand stroked her tiny, taut butt through her skintight dress while they waited in line.
He’d never behaved that way in public with Penny. Not that she would have wanted him to—public displays of affection were bad manners. But it might be nice if he’d at least tried. Of course, Penny’s butt was neither taut nor tiny, and she certainly didn’t own any skintight dresses. Not with her size sixteen figure.
Kenneth had always claimed to like her curves, but he’d never liked them enough to feel them up in public the way he was doing with his skinny blonde date.
The baby hat Penny had been knitting for her cousin lay forgotten in her lap as she reached up to touch her coarse red hair. Every morning she spent thirty minutes attacking it with blow dryers and flat irons to torture the curl out of it, but she could never get it as smooth and shiny as the blonde’s hair looked. She’d never been that skinny either, even during her years of chasing fad diets and exercise crazes.
Penny’s friends continued to chat and knit around her, as oblivious to Kenneth’s presence as he was to theirs. Cynthia, the one having the art show Monday, was venting about the challenges of managing caterers and publicity for her show, and the others’ attention was focused on her. It was just as well. If they knew, one of them might decide to confront him, and Penny didn’t want a scene.
What she wanted was to not have this happening to her here of all places, in front of her friends. Antidote was her place. She lived just a few blocks away and worked out of her apartment, so she walked here almost every weekday for her morning coffee break. Which Kenneth also knew, because this was where they’d first met.
She’d been sitting at her usual stool at the counter two months ago, enjoying her usual midmorning nonfat latte, when he’d come in for a triple espresso and asked if the seat beside her was taken. They’d chatted for almost half an hour, and she’d been thoroughly dazzled by his British accent and charming manners by the time he went back to work. Every day for a week after that, he came into Antidote at the same time to see her again. On the fifth day, he asked her out to dinner, and they’d been together ever since.
It had all seemed so romantic. So perfect. Except for the fact that Kenneth worked late a lot and traveled out of town nearly every other week. Which, in retrospect, probably should have clued her in.
Penny was definitely cursed. Either that or deeply stupid, to keep falling for one cheating man after another.
Her throat tightened as she watched Kenneth lean over to whisper something in his date’s ear. Whatever he said made the blonde blush and giggle. His hand curled protectively around her waist, and she leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder.
Penny blinked as her throat burned. She was about five seconds from crying, and she needed to get somewhere private before that happened. Calmly, so as not to arouse any suspicion, she set aside her knitting, excused herself, and hurried to the bathroom.
There were two stalls in the ladies’ room and fortunately both were empty. Penny chose the larger one and slid the bolt home as tears welled in her eyes. Her vision blurred as she peered at the lidless toilet seat. Whatever. She could cry just as well standing up.
Kenneth had lied to her. How long had it been going on? How many times had he lied to her before this? Had he ever gone out of town for work, or had it all been an elaborate ruse? One that she’d fallen for hook, line, and sinker. She felt like such a chump.
For all she knew, he’d been seeing this woman for a long time. Maybe even before he’d asked Penny out.
Oh, God. What if he was cheating on this other woman with Penny?
A moan escaped her lips at the thought. How could she have been so dumb? So trusting? You’d think she would have learned to be more cautious after the last time—the last three times. To recognize the signs. But apparently not.
She heard the creak of the bathroom door opening and clapped her hand over her mouth to stifle her sobs. She was almost positive Kenneth hadn’t seen her, and she didn’t think any of her friends had noticed anything wrong. Hopefully it was just some stranger coming in to pee.
“Hello?” said a male voice that definitely did not belong to Kenneth. It took her a moment to place it.
“Caleb?” He was one of the baristas who worked there—and not just any barista, but the superhumanly hot barista she’d had a shallow crush on for months.
“Yeah.”
What was he doing in here? She sniffled and scrubbed at her eyes. “This is the women’s restroom.”
