Advanced Physical Chemistry

by Susannah Nix

  Books by Susannah Nix

  I and Love and You: A Romantic Short Story Collection

  Chemistry Lessons Series:

  Remedial Rocket Science

  Intermediate Thermodynamics

  Advanced Physical Chemistry

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, incidents, tirades, opinions, exaggerations, prevarications, and dubious facts either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or persons—living, dead, or otherwise—is entirely coincidental.

  Advanced Physical Chemistry. Copyright © 2018 by Susannah Nix

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means without written permission from the author.

  FIRST EDITION: March 2018

  ISBN: 978-0-9990948-6-0

  Haver Street Press | 448 W. 19th St., Suite 407 | Houston, TX 77008

  Edited by Julia Ganis, www.juliaedits.com

  Ebook & Print Cover Design by www.ebooklaunch.com

  For the Ladies’ Lifting Club

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  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 b
athroom 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.”

  “I saw you get up when Kenneth came in with that woman.”

  Wonderful. Now Hottie Barista knew what a pathetic chump she was. Perfect. Of all the people who could have witnessed her indignity, it had to be him. She tore off a strip of toilet paper and blew her nose.

  “You okay in there?” Caleb asked, sounding uncomfortable. Which made two of them.

  “Of course I’m not okay. My boyfriend is a cheating creep.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  The pity in his voice filled her with anger. As if it wasn’t bad enough that Kenneth had cheated on her and lied to her, he had to make her humiliation public by parading that woman around in front of people who knew her. Penny’s throat closed up in panic as she wondered how many times he’d done it before. Maybe he brought women here all the time. Maybe all the employees knew her boyfriend had been making a fool of her.

  “Did you know?” she choked out.

  There was a long pause. “Yes.”

  “I can’t believe it,” Penny moaned. Her wad of tissue was soaked through already. She dropped it into the toilet and tore off another length. “I’m such an idiot. Did they come in here all the time? Did everyone know but me?”

  “I don’t think so. I only saw them once before. Malik was working that night too, but he was in the back when they came in.”

  Well, that was something. At least she’d be able to look the rest of the staff in the eye. It was only Caleb who’d known and done nothing to warn her. Which wasn’t all that surprising. He’d always acted distant and a little aloof. She was shocked he’d even bothered to check on her.

  “How long ago?” she asked him.

  She heard his feet shuffle on the tile floor, but he didn’t answer.

  “How long?”

  “About a month ago,” Caleb mumbled.

  A month? A choking sob bubbled up from Penny’s throat, and she bit down on her lip.

  “Penny?”

  “What?” She felt trapped, like the walls were closing in on her. She needed Hottie Barista to leave. She needed to not be having a breakdown in a public bathroom stall. But mostly, she needed Kenneth to not be a lying, cheating scumbag. Or else she needed to go back in time and never agree to go out with him in the first place. That would be okay too.

  “Can I do anything?” Caleb asked.

  “You can leave me alone to cry in private, thank you very much.”

  “Okay,” he said. “Sorry.”

  Penny heard the bathroom door close and buried her face in her hands, sobbing even harder than before.

  Too late, she realized she should have asked Hottie Barista if Kenneth was still out there. She had no idea how long she needed to keep hiding in here. Maybe she could slip out the back door. She could make up an excuse and text the knitting group, apologizing for running out. She could say she’d gotten sick—no, they might think it was the cookies she’d brought. She could say she’d left the oven on. That would do it.

  She was already fumbling her phone out of her purse when the bathroom door opened again.

  “Penny?” her best friend Olivia said. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes, I’m fine.” She tried not to sound like she’d been crying, but the fact that her voice came out like a drowning frog sort of gave her away.

  “Open the stall.”

  Penny slid the latch back and pulled the door open a crack. She could tell by the look on Olivia’s face that she knew. “Did you see him? With that woman?”

  Olivia shook her head, her ash-blonde hair falling across her face as she dug around in her big black purse for a packet of Kleenex. “Hottie Barista came and told me,” she said, handing Penny a fresh tissue.

  “Awesome.” After months of basically ignoring her, why had he picked tonight of all nights to suddenly take an interest in her? Penny blew her nose and Olivia handed her another tissue.

  “I’m sorry your boyfriend’s a dickless weasel.”

  Olivia had been the best thing about moving to Los Angeles. The two of them had been friends online for six years before they’d wound up living in the same city. They’d both been obsessed with the TV show Sherlock in college, and had spent hours on Tumblr picking apart the episodes, reading fan fiction, and swooning over Benedict Cumberbatch. That two-year hiatus after the cliffhanger ending of “The Reichenbach Fall” had been agony, but it had cemented their friendship. Their Sherlock obsessions had faded in the intervening years, but they’d remained friends as they each moved on to other interests—although they hadn’t met in person until Penny moved to LA a year ago. She never would have survived her first few miserable months here if it hadn’t been for Olivia.

  “Are they still out there?” Penny asked.

  “No, they got their coffee to go and left.”

  Thank goodness for small favors. At least she wouldn’t have to hide in the bathroom all night while Kenneth and his other woman lingered over their drinks and gazed lovingly at each other.

  “Why does this always happen to me?” Penny asked, dabbing at her eyes. “What’s wrong with me?”

  “Nothing’s wrong with you. You’re awesome.”

  “Well, something about me sure seems to make men want to cheat on me, because it keeps happening over and over again. Do I give off some kind of pheromone that says please cheat on me?”

  Olivia tried to push the door open wider, and it bounced off Penny’s arm. “Come out and wash your face.”

  Penny shook her head. “I don’t want to. I want to stay here and be miserable.”

  “I know you do, but it’s a toilet, Pen. It’s gross in here. Come out and be miserable around people who love you. Cynthia’s getting a bottle of your favorite wine for the table and I’ll buy you a chocolate cupcake.”

  “I can’t eat a cupcake, I already had a cookie.”

  Penny was strict about her sugar intake and the Antidote cupcakes were humongous. One of them was like a week’s worth of sugar.

  “You just found out your boyfriend is a cheating asshole. You can make an exception this once and eat a damn cupcake. You know you want to.”

  She did want to. Even though she knew it would just make her feel even worse later. Part of her wanted to feel bad though. A gluten stomachache would really drive home just how miserable her life was.

  Penny came out of the toilet stall and washed her face at the sink. The crying had left her pale skin bright pink, which brought out the green in her hazel eyes. Her mascara had smeared, making her look like the Winter Soldier, but Olivia produced a makeup remover wipe from her purse and helped her clean it up. Olivia’s purse was like a mini Rite Aid. She always seemed to have whatever anyone needed at any given moment: ibuprofen, lip balm, concealer, antacids, a granola bar. If you needed it, it was probably in Olivia’s purse.

  Once she was presentable again, Penny followed Olivia out of the ladies’ room and back to the orange couch. Everyone had put their knitting away, and Cynthia was at the register talking to Roxanne, the manager. Caleb was at the espresso machine making a drink. His eyes flicked to Penny when she came out and then away again quickly.

  “Honey, come here,” Vilma said, opening her arms. Olivia squeezed Penny’s arm and went to join Cynthia at the register.

  Penny sank down on the couch and crumpled into Vilma’s embrace. She was the oldest member of the knitting group, a middle-aged schoolteacher w
ith two teenage sons, and she gave excellent, motherly hugs.

  “What an asshole.” Esther scowled under her thick brown bangs as she leaned back in her chair across from the couch. “Bringing that woman here when he knows you come here all the time. He deserves a kick in the balls.”

  Esther had never been shy about expressing her opinions or standing up for herself. Penny wished she could be more like her. She never would have let a guy like Kenneth make a fool of her.

  “It was like he wanted to get caught.” Esther’s best friend Jinny shook her head, tossing her dark straight hair over her shoulder. “Maybe he did. Maybe the guilt was eating him alive and he was hoping you’d see him and put him out of his misery.”

  Jinny sat in a big green armchair that was nearly twice her size. Like Penny, she was an optimist who always tried to see the best in everyone. Despite the fact that she was petite and beautiful, she’d been cheated on by her last boyfriend too. Maybe the problem wasn’t Penny. Maybe the problem was men.

  Except Jinny had a new boyfriend who was sweet and perfect and would probably never cheat on her. Esther had a boyfriend too, and Penny couldn’t imagine anyone daring to cheat on her. And Vilma and Cynthia were both happily married. The only single woman in the knitting group was Olivia—and Penny would be joining her in spinsterdom as soon as she had a chance to dump Kenneth.

  “Or maybe he’s just an arrogant prick who thinks he can get away with anything and never suffer any consequences,” Esther suggested, leaning forward for one of the cookies Penny had brought.

  Penny always baked homemade treats for knitting. She loved to bake, but she only allowed herself one sweet treat per day, so she gave away the spoils of her labors. Technically, you weren’t supposed to bring food into Antidote since they sold pastries sourced from a local bakery, but Penny had special dispensation since she was friendly with the manager and always brought extras for the employees.