How to Take the Ex Out of Ex-Boyfriend by Janette Rallison Read Free Book Online Page B

had to. Because that would show Jesse he’d been wrong all along.
    I lay on my bed for a long time, wishing I could sleep. I told myself I wouldn’t think about Jesse or Dante or any of it. But the thoughts stayed hovering at the corners of my mind. I’d remember how Jesse had caught up with me in the hotel lobby. “You can’t walk home,” he said. “I’ll drive you.” He hadn’t said this in a nice way. It wasn’t like he was sorry.
    â€œI’ll call Dante. He can pick me up.”
    â€œI’m driving you.” Jesse took hold of my elbow and steered me outside. “It’s not like I want to stick around here anymore.”
    I felt myself flush and was glad he didn’t look at my face. I mean, what was it with me that every time I got angry, it somehow turned into a public event?
    I got into his truck, because it seemed childish to keep protesting, but I sat stiffly on the seat with my arms folded and looked out the window. Neither of us spoke until we pulled onto my street. Then he said, “One day you’ll understand why I did this.”
    â€œThat’s all you have to say?” I asked.
    He nodded. “Until the election is over, there doesn’t seem much point in saying anything else.”
    And then what? I was going to forget he’d chosen to be loyal to Wilson instead of Dante and me? No wonder Jesse was friends with Wilson. Apparently they had the same arrogance level.
    I tried to erase all memories of the evening. I pulled my covers tighter around me and thought of my shopping trip Monday with my friends. Daphne could pick out clothes to make anyone look like a model. She’d help me find something wonderful.
    But it wouldn’t be a prom dress. Jesse and I wouldn’t go together now.
    I took a deep breath and repeated, “It doesn’t matter,” over and over again in my mind.
    I pressed my eyelids together, trying to force sleep into relieving me of my thoughts. It didn’t help. The tears came, then turned into sobs, and I lay awake on my bed for a long time.

Chapter 5
    S unday passed in a blur. I spent most of the time hidden in my room doing homework. My emotions swung between fierce determination to win the election, and abject misery in losing Jesse. To tell the truth, it was mostly abject misery, but I didn’t see how I could have done things differently. Despite Dante’s calm objections that he didn’t care, I knew he did, or at least that he would.
    I couldn’t be loyal to my brother and have Jesse. Family was more important.
    Still, it was misery.
    Jesse didn’t call, which shouldn’t have surprised me, but I sat tensely in my room waiting to hear his voice anyway.
    My friends called to check up on me and offer their sympathy. Daphne told me there were other fish in the sea. Charity told me I needed to look for the silver lining in this cloud of heartbreak. And Raine told me it was good that I found out now where Jesse’s loyalties lie and not after we’d been married and he kept leaving me to go hang out with his buddies while I was stuck at home with three screaming babies and a sink full of dirty dishes. Raine probably watches too much Dr. Phil.
    Anyway, I knew they were trying to make me feel better, but I didn’t. I guess that’s impossible the day after a breakup. You can’t just pick up and move on like it all meant nothing.
    Charity and Raine both rearranged their schedules so they could meet Daphne and me at the mall on Monday. Charity had to find someone to babysit her younger brothers and sisters, and Raine got someone to cover her shift at the Bickham country golf resort. She cleans rooms at the hotel there.
    This in itself was the kind of gift that makes you love your friends.
    I planned on asking Dante if he wanted to come too, but when I mentioned at dinnertime that I wanted to go to the mall after school, Gabby calmly vetoed it.
    â€œI need you