AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Penny waved goodbye and headed inside.
The walk upstairs in the cold night air woke her back up, so she didn’t feel as sleepy by the time she let herself into her apartment. It also reawakened her anger. She gazed around the cozy two-bedroom space she’d decorated with cheerful floral patterns and overstuffed cushions, unsure what to do with herself.
Kenneth had never liked spending time at her apartment. He’d said it was too girly, and complained about all her throw pillows. They’d spent most of their time together either out at bars or at his place. Penny didn’t like bars particularly, but Kenneth did, so to bars they went. She’d spend the whole evening standing awkwardly at a high-top, nursing a fifteen-dollar glass of ten-bucks-a-bottle wine and being jostled by passersby as she tried to have a shouted conversation with Kenneth over the music. Then they’d go back to his place, have very brief sex, and fall asleep immediately afterward. And in the morning, Penny would make him breakfast.
She always wound up cooking for the men she dated, because the only other alternative was eating out, and it was difficult to eat healthy when you ate out all the time. Also because she liked cooking. At home, her mother was always in the kitchen making something delicious, so that was what home meant to Penny. But had a man she was dating ever offered to help her cook? No. They were so used to being waited on by their mothers and their girlfriends that they pleaded helplessness in the kitchen and let her do all the work. As if they were incapable of learning how to chop an onion or dice a tomato.
Just thinking about all the omelets she’d cooked Kenneth made her blood boil. Anyone could learn to make an omelet! All you had to do was watch a three-minute YouTube video! It wasn’t like it was hard. But he’d never bothered, because it hadn’t even occurred to him.
Penny had cooked for him and then she’d done the dishes and cleaned up his kitchen afterward. She’d even folded a load of his laundry once, because it was just sitting there in the basket getting all wrinkled, and the sight of unfolded laundry made her twitchy.
She was getting angrier by the second. Suddenly, more than anything, she wanted Kenneth out of her life. Right. That. Second.
She pulled out her phone, her veins coursing with righteous indignation and liquid courage. When she pulled up her Favorites she felt even more rage, because what was Kenneth even doing in the number one spot? Above her parents and her best friend? He’d never been worthy of that kind of honor. She angrily smashed her index finger into his face, wishing it was his real face instead of just a picture.
He answered on the second ring. “Hello, darling. You’re up late.”
“What’s her name?” Penny said, trying to keep the tremble out of her voice.
There was a pause. “What?” he said, choosing to play dumb. “Whose name?”
“The woman you were with tonight at Antidote.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, love. I’m in Portland.” He was a smooth liar, but then he’d have to be. Otherwise he would have gotten caught much sooner. “Did someone tell you—”
“I saw you, Kenneth. I was there when you came in.”
Another pause. “Shit.”
“Yeah,” Penny agreed. “That about sums it up.” She almost never swore, but she was tempted tonight.
“Listen, darling—”
“No, don’t you darling me. Who is she?”
“She’s no one. Just a coworker. That’s all.”
Penny snorted in disbelief. If tonight’s display was an example of how he behaved with his coworkers, his office must be a hotbed of sexual harassment.
“Look,” Kenneth said, at least having the decency to drop the darling, “the truth is my trip got canceled at the last minute. Things have blown up with this project and we’ve got a real disaster on our hands. I didn’t tell you because I knew I’d be burning the midnight oil all weekend and wouldn’t be able to see you.”
“Unbelievable,” Penny said. “You’re still lying.” He really thought he could talk his way out of this. That he’d feed her some story and she’d believe him, despite the evidence of her own eyes. How pathetic he must think she was.
“I don’t know what you think you saw, but I can assure you—”
“Stop it,” she shouted before he could gaslight her any further, the repulsive slug. “You know what, Kenneth? I’m not interested in anything you have to say. Now or ever again. You don’t have to lie about going out of town anymore. From now on, you’re free to see whomever you want—other than me, because we’re through.”
“Penny, please. Let me—”
She disconnected the call before he could finish the sentence.
Her phone started ringing again almost immediately. Remembering Jinny’s advice, she blocked his number and went to bed.
The next morning, Penny’s alarm went off at eight a.m., just like it did every Saturday. Her yoga class started in an hour, and she liked to get up and fix herself a light breakfast well before she started exercising.
Instead of popping out of bed with her usual enthusiasm, she rolled over and groaned. Her head was pounding, both from all the wine she’d consumed last night and all the crying she’d done in the bathroom at Antidote.
She definitely should have drunk more water before bed. In fact, she should get up and drink some right now.
