Advanced Physical Chemistry Page 4

  “I think you should probably leave now,” Caleb said.

  “Are you threatening me?” Kenneth attempted to puff out his chest, which only made him look punier and more ridiculous. “I think you should step back, friend.”

  Caleb took a slow, exaggerated step back and gestured toward the door with his free hand.

  Kenneth’s nostrils flared. For a moment it looked as if he might try to stand his ground, but he finally seemed to realize the odds weren’t in his favor. He threw a scowl in Penny’s direction and shouldered his way past Caleb, even though he had plenty of room to get by. It was a petty move, and it backfired wonderfully. As he jostled Caleb’s arm, the iced coffee tipped, drenching the front of Kenneth’s green polo shirt and dress khakis.

  “Son of a bitch!” he shouted, recoiling as the cold coffee soaked through his clothes.

  “Sorry,” Caleb said. “You bumped into me.”

  “You bloody did that on purpose!”

  “Is there a problem here?” Roxanne asked, coming out of the back office. She stuck her pregnant belly between the two men and turned her formidable glare on Kenneth.

  He took a half step back, his eyes dropping uneasily to Roxanne’s protruding stomach. “Yeah, your man here tried to threaten me and then dumped coffee all over me.”

  “No one threatened anyone,” Penny said. “And Kenneth’s the one who bumped into Caleb.”

  “It’s true,” Charlotte said from the couch. “I saw the whole thing.”

  Kenneth’s mouth twisted into a sneer. “That’s how it’s going to be, is it? All of you ganging up on me? Well, you can be sure the owner of this dump will be hearing about this. You’ve just lost yourselves a paying customer.”

  “That’s fine.” Roxanne rested her hands on her hips. “You can get your coffee somewhere else from now on, friend-o. You’re not welcome here anymore.”

  “Assholes,” Kenneth muttered on his way out the door. “The whole lot of you are bloody assholes.”

  Roxanne watched him stalk past the window before turning to Penny. “You okay, sweetie?”

  Penny nodded. “I’m fine. Thank you.” Her heart was still racing and she wanted to crawl into a hole and die of embarrassment, but otherwise she was just great. “Sorry about that.”

  “Hey, anytime. We’ve got a zero tolerance policy for jerks in here.”

  Elyse brought out the mop and rolling bucket. “That was pretty exciting,” she said as she cleaned up the puddle of spilled coffee on the floor.

  Well, at least Penny’s disastrous love life had brightened Elyse’s day. Swell.

  “You think he’ll make a stink to Reema?” Caleb asked, stepping out of the way of the mop. Reema owned Antidote, as well as another bar in the neighborhood, which was where she spent most of her time.

  Roxanne smirked. “Let him try. All I have to do is tell her he was harassing a female customer and tried to start a fight when you asked him to leave.”

  “Which was exactly what happened,” Penny said.

  “She’ll probably give you a medal.” Roxanne grimaced, stretching her back as she rubbed the underside of her stomach. “Whose coffee was that, anyway? Better make ’em a new one.”

  “It was mine,” Caleb said. “I’ll pay for it.”

  “Don’t worry about it.” Roxanne clapped him on the shoulder, smirking. “Good job.” She set out the Caution: Wet Floor sign and took the mop bucket from Elyse. “I’ll put this away. You man the register for a while.”

  Caleb started to follow Elyse behind the counter, but Penny touched his arm to stop him. “You did that on purpose!” she whispered when Roxanne was out of earshot. “You made that drink with the intention of spilling it on him, didn’t you?”

  The corner of Caleb’s mouth twitched. “I wanted to dump it over his head, but I thought better of it.”

  “Thank you,” Penny said. “That’s the sweetest thing anyone’s done for me in a long time.”

  He lifted an eyebrow. “Dumping a drink on a guy?”

  “It was really satisfying. You have no idea.” If only she’d thought to record it with her phone. That would have made a great Instagram. No filter required.

  The bell on the shop door jingled again. “What happened?” asked the elderly man who came in, gesturing at the wet floor sign. He was one of Penny’s favorite regulars, a retired cinematographer by the name of George Simkin.

  “Roxanne threw Penny’s boyfriend out,” Charlotte announced from the couch.

  “Ex-boyfriend,” Penny said.

  “Caleb dumped an iced coffee all over him,” Charlotte added. “It was awesome.”

  “I miss all the fun,” George said.

  “Ring up a brewed coffee for George,” Caleb told Elyse. His hand landed on Penny’s shoulder, squeezing briefly before he walked away, and her stomach did a traitorous flip-flop.

  Stop it, she told her stomach firmly. He’s only being nice because he thinks you’re pathetic.

  “And a cherry Danish,” George called out as he slid onto his usual stool, two down from Penny’s. He stopped in almost every day for his plain black coffee and cherry Danish. Penny suspected he was lonely; his wife had died a few years ago and his son lived in San Jose.

  She reached for her latte, which had gotten cold. Great. Stupid Kenneth, ruining everything. She pushed the mug away glumly. Her shoulder was still tingling where Caleb’s hand had been, and she reached up to massage it, trying to rub away the sensation.

  George leaned toward her, running a hand through his wispy white hair. “What do we think of the new girl?” he whispered.

  “Her name’s Elyse,” Penny whispered back. “She’s a sophomore at Loyola Marymount and she seems very nice.”

  “Yesterday she tried to upsell me one of those fancy coffee drinks that are nothing but foam and sugar.” George shook his head and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Don’t know why anyone bothers with those things.”

  “I happen to like my fancy coffee drinks,” Penny said. “You don’t have to get them with syrup if you don’t want.”

  “Can’t beat a bottomless cup of good old-fashioned joe. Best value on the menu. They didn’t used to have coffee this good when I was young, you know. Only coffee you could get back then tasted like bilge water. Course, it only cost you a nickel. Can’t buy a damn thing for a nickel these days.”

  Penny admired George’s dedication to perpetual crankiness, which reminded her of her own grandfather. She came from a large, close-knit family, but they were all back in Virginia. Her weekly video chats with her mother didn’t do enough to assuage the homesickness she felt being so far away from them.

  George peered at her over the top of his glasses, which had slipped down his nose again. “So what’d Kenny boy do to get himself dumped?”

  “It turned out he was cheating on me,” Penny said, scraping at a chip in her Tiffany blue nail polish.

  “Really?” George’s bushy eyebrows lifted in poorly feigned surprise. “That’s just terrible.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “You knew too, didn’t you?”

  He spread his hands, shrugging.

  “Did everyone know?”

  “I only knew because Caleb told me.”

  Exactly how many people had Caleb told who weren’t her? And why was he talking about her at all? He couldn’t be bothered to talk to her, but he talked about her when she wasn’t around?

  “Why didn’t he tell me?” Penny asked George. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  George shot a glance at the pastry case where Caleb was plating his Danish, then leaned toward Penny again, lowering his voice. “It’s not the kid’s fault. I told him not to tell you.”

  “Why would you do that?”

  “Some people don’t want to hear a thing like that. They’d rather live in their happy little bubble than have their world turned on its ear.”

  “Well, not me. You officially have my permission to tell me the next time you know my boyfriend is cheating o
n me.” She raised her voice loud enough to carry all the way to Caleb at the pastry case. “You hear that, everyone? From now on, please tell me if you know my boyfriend is a cheating cheater who is cheating on me.”

  “You got it,” Charlotte said from the couch.

  Penny swiveled on her stool and shared an air high five with her. Caleb ignored them all, pretending not to hear.

  “I’m sorry,” George said. “You’re a nice girl. You deserve better than some schmuck who cheats on you.”

  Penny sighed. “People keep telling me that, and yet it keeps happening. I’m beginning to think the problem is me.”

  Maybe she was too nice. Maybe it was her niceness that made men think she was a doormat. Or maybe it was a turnoff, and that was why they always ended up looking for more exciting pastures to sow their oats in.

  Caleb dropped off George’s black coffee and Danish, studiously avoiding Penny’s eyes as he slunk back to the espresso machine.

  “Thanks, kid.” George picked up his coffee cup, blew on it, and took a sip. He set it down again, grimacing at the temperature. As he tore off a chunk of his Danish, he directed a thoughtful glance at Penny. “You know, my neighbor’s son is a very nice-looking banker.”

  Penny held up a hand to stop him. “Thank you, but no.”

  “Steady income, good manners…”

  She shook her head. “I think I’m done dating for a while.”

  “Suit yourself. But lemme tell you, being alone isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”

  Penny’s heart squeezed in sympathy. George and his wife had been married for forty years before she died. She couldn’t even imagine what it must be like to build a whole life with someone and then have to go on without them. And here she was feeling sorry for herself over a man she’d only known for a couple months. A man she hadn’t even really liked that much, as it turned out.

  Caleb came back and set a fresh latte in front of Penny.

  “What’s this?” she asked, surprised.

  He leaned his hip against the counter and crossed his arms. “Lavender latte. Something new I’m playing around with. Tell me what you think.”

  “But I don’t—”

  “There’s no syrup,” he said, anticipating her objection. “I steeped dried lavender in the milk to flavor it.”

  Penny lifted the cup and sniffed it, a little dubious of lavender-flavored coffee. She took a tentative sip, and was surprised to discover it was delicious.

  “What do you think?” Caleb asked, watching her.

  “It’s wonderful! How did you ever come up with it?” She sniffed it again, appreciating the subtle lavender aroma.

  “There’s a place over by my house that serves them. I thought I could improve on it by cutting out the syrup.”

  “You should get Reema to add this to the menu.”

  The old familiar indifference clicked back into place and he shrugged like it wasn’t worth his time. “Maybe.”

  Penny watched him walk away, confused by his behavior. He’d been awfully nice for a minute there, before he’d slipped back into old habits. He was probably just doing it because he felt sorry for her. But still.

  He’d chased Kenneth off for her. And apparently he’d been talking to George about her. And now he’d made her a special drink as a peace offering.

  She smiled as she took another sip of her lavender latte. Maybe Hottie Barista wasn’t such a jerk after all.

  * * *

  Cynthia’s art show was that night at a warehouse space in the Fashion District. There were a lot of cool-looking LA people there in addition to the people Penny knew. Cynthia and her husband were there, of course, although her attention was in such high demand she didn’t have time to do much more than thank Penny for coming. Vilma and her husband Emilio were there too, and Penny chatted with them for a few minutes before she spied Esther standing alone by the hors d'oeuvres.

  “Make me stop eating cheese,” Esther said, looking relieved to see Penny.

  Penny linked her arm through Esther’s and led her away from the cheese tray. “Where’s Jonathan?”

  “TA’ing a night class.”

  Esther’s boyfriend was in the graduate screenwriting program at UCLA. He only had a few months left before he finished his degree, and he’d already landed an agent after one of his scripts made the finals in a big screenwriting competition.

  “That’s too bad.” Penny liked Jonathan. He was a little awkward, but in a sweet way. He made a good match for Esther because they were both awkward in social situations, but in totally different ways. Left to her own devices, Esther defaulted to lurking alone near the food, whereas Jonathan had a tendency to talk too much when he was uncomfortable—mostly about himself. But when they were together, they brought out the best in each other. Jonathan gave Esther a reason to join the party, and Esther relaxed Jonathan enough that he didn’t slip into lecture mode—or if he did, she gave him a sharp nudge in the ribs to make him cut it out.

  It was the kind of relationship Penny had always wanted. One based on give and take. Two mismatched pieces fitting together to make a whole.

  Instead, Penny always seemed to be the one doing the giving, and her boyfriends did all the taking. She hadn’t yet figured out the secret to achieving the right balance.

  “Is it me, or is Cynthia’s stuff way better than everything else here?” Esther whispered.

  “It’s not you.” Penny squinted at an installation in the middle of the floor. “Is this part of the show, or did someone leave a ladder sitting out?”

  Esther tilted her head. “I think it’s supposed to be art?”

  “It’s a ladder.”

  “I don’t know what to tell you. I’m not really an art person.”

  “Me neither.” Literature Penny could do, but the subtleties of the visual arts were a mystery to her.

  “I’m gonna need more wine for this,” Esther said, and they detoured past the bar to snag two glasses of white before continuing their circuit around the gallery. “So how are you doing with the breakup thing?” she asked as they stopped in front of a photograph of an old tire.

  Penny studied the tire, trying to figure out what was special about it. “I’m fine.”

  Esther cocked an eyebrow at her.

  “Seriously.” They strolled to the next display on the wall. “I mean, sure, I was upset at first. But mostly I feel stupid that I didn’t realize what kind of guy he was.”

  “I’m not sure how you’re supposed to know in advance that a guy is a cheater,” Esther said.

  “Beats me. They should have to wear a sign.” Penny stared at the painting on the wall in front of them. It looked like someone had spilled blue paint across a canvas. How was that art?

  “We should be able to clip their ears like feral cats,” Esther said with a smirk. “That way everyone knows what they’re getting into. ‘Warning: this guy’s a cheater. Fuck at your own risk.’”

  Penny snorted at the image of Kenneth trying to pick up women with one of his ears clipped. “Yeah, so…I think I’ve had it with dating.”

  Esther’s eyebrows shot up. “Permanently?”

  “Probably not.”

  They stopped in front of one of Cynthia’s paintings. This one, Penny could appreciate. It was a watercolor portrait of a weathered old black woman with haunting eyes. Penny thought it might be Cynthia’s grandmother.

  “For the immediate future anyway,” she said to Esther. “I’m just tired of dealing with it. I don’t need that kind of trouble in my life.”

  Esther nodded. “I don’t blame you.”

  “Really?” Penny looked at her in surprise. “Aren’t you going to try to talk me out of it?” She’d expected more resistance from someone in a happy relationship. People in relationships always seemed to want everyone else to be in relationships too.

  “Why would I?” Esther shrugged. “I think you should take as much time as you need.”

  “Thank you,” Penny said. That was exactly what she wa
nted to hear.

  “You don’t need a man in your life to be happy.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Most of them are more trouble than they’re worth.”

  “It’s true!”

  Esther paused. “Although—”

  “No! Don’t although. I liked everything you said before the although. Don’t ruin it.”

  “I was just going to say that as a reformed nonbeliever in romance, when you find the right guy, it’s totally worth it.”

  “Well sure. But how do you find the right one? How many frogs am I expected to kiss before one of them turns into a prince?”

  Esther brushed her long hair off her shoulder. “Maybe you should stop kissing frogs and start kissing—I don’t know—chipmunks or raccoons or something. Maybe the frogs are the problem.”

  Penny made a face as she sipped her wine. “Raccoons are vermin.”

  “Okay, then otters or sloths or whatever you want. I’m just saying, maybe try casting your net a little wider instead of shutting yourself off to the possibility of love, is all.”

  “Is that a ladder over there?” Jinny whispered, coming up to them.

  Esther shrugged. “I don’t know, man. Art.”

  Jinny looked skeptical. “Is it, though?”

  “Penny’s sworn off men,” Esther said.

  Jinny’s eyes widened. “For good?”

  “No,” Penny said. “Just for a while.”

  “Feeling gun-shy,” Jinny said with a knowing nod.

  “A little,” Penny admitted. “This just keeps happening to me, you know? I feel like it must have something to do with me.”

  Jinny punched her in the arm. It was shockingly painful, given her diminutive size. “Shut up! That’s not true! You’re beautiful and lovely!”

  Penny rubbed her arm. “Thank you, but…I think part of the problem is that I’m the kind of girl guys think they’re supposed to marry. They look at me and see their mothers.”

  Esther’s lip curled. “Ew.”

  “I can see it though.” Jinny nodded over the top of her wineglass. “You are really into taking care of people and organizing things.”