Page 2 of The Boyfriend Hypothesis
“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.
