Page 16 of Delayed Penalty

Nope.

Kelly

Wine and The Bachelor tonight?

Can’t. I’m going with Peter to dinner.

Kelly

Like a date?

It’s a work event, but I guess.

Kelly

Doesn’t count. He still sucks.

Making it to the end of a school day in the month of May always feels like you deserve a prize… or a margarita, just for surviving. Even before we start discussing how it’s the end of the school year with the students, it’s like they can already sense it. With the weather warming up, the days aren’t as gloomy, and boy, these kiddos get restless.

Sometimes, they’re just excited about not having as much supervision at home during summer break because their parents work all the time, so they get to do pretty much whatever they want and play as much video games as they want. There are the families that take long vacations, so some kids are often excited about that.

On the flip side, we have kids who act out because they know with the school year ending, they won’t have the luxury of adult supervision, warm meals to eat, or a safe place to rest, and those cases are always heartbreaking.

All we can do is be a safe space for these kids and do our best to provide as much structure and security for them while they learn. It can be emotionally taxing, but I love the opportunity to help so many kids.

Today is definitely one of those days where it feels more exhausting than usual, but my prize tonight for making it through another day is going to a dinner with an open bar and I’m oddly excited. I told Peter I thought we should start doing more together, going out on a date every once in a while, and this work dinner just happened to be the first available time so I guess we can count it. At least, that’s what I was thinking when I got ready for the night, starting with my new black two-piece lingerie set that makes me feel like an absolute smoke show.

Especiallythe crotchless panties.

When I was out trying on lingerie, I sent a picture to Kelly, and even she agreed it was a must buy for me. Peter has always been a little weird about me wearing lingerie, saying he thinks it makes it seem like women are trying too hard. At least we’re trying, though.

After that, I spent enough time taking an everything shower, doing my hair and makeup just the way he likes, and even wearing the red dress he’s always loved me in. I feel… pretty, and for the first time in a while I’m actually excited for a night out with my fiancé.

Realizing I don’t have much time until he’ll be here to pick me up, I pour a glass of champagne and grab my phone to doom scroll until he gets here. Part of me wants to sneak into his office and grab some of his whiskey while I wait, but I know if he were to smell it on my breath it would ruin the night.

I’m not sure what it is about him seeing me drink whiskey that he hates so much, but whatever I guess.

Between the glass of champagne I definitely did not measure, just poured from the soul and the soul was thirsty, and the hole I found myself sucked into on social media, forty-five minutes have gone by, and Peter still isn’t home.

Weird. Maybe he got stuck in traffic.

Scrolling to his contact, I try calling him and get sent directly to voicemail. Weird.

Hey, I’m waiting at home.

You’re still coming to pick me up, right?

With that Igo back to doom scrolling about the North Sea giving me a million more reasons to not trust the ocean.

Another hour later, and I’ve killed the bottle of wine and still have no response to my texts or calls.

Looks like I’m being stood up by my own fiancé.

After taking the dress off and throwing on a pair of sweats—leaving the lingerie on, of course—I head to his stupid office and fill a glass to the tippy-tippy top with something called Old Rip Van Winkle, and then head to the couch to watch trash TV and drink.

By the time Peter finally comes home, I’ve got a solid buzz going on and have watched a couple of episodes ofHousewives, yet somehow I’m not the drunkest one. He comes bouncing in, door slamming behind him.

“Oh, fuck,” he grumbles as he runs into the kitchen island that’s always been in the same spot.

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