“You’ve got five fucking minutes or I’m going to start lighting off firecrackers,” my brother warned.
Without looking at us, my mom came and took ahold of the curtains.
“Close them, please. I don’t want to see him.”
I glanced up at Jesse and I saw he was breathing heavily. The dark circles under his eyes were like midnight shadows, and his jaw looked like it could crack walnuts.
Most of Jesse’s family still lived in Poland, and his parents were dead.
Myparents had taken him in, loved him like a son.
Until the day he had broken up with me.
“I deserve it,” he said quickly. “I deserve what they think of me. What I did was shitty.”
“OK,” I shrugged. “Thanks, I guess. Thanks for this belated little sorry. You can go now.”
“But I want to win you back,” Jesse said. “The five years with you were the best years of my life.”
I looked at him, really looked at him. Even with the dark circles, and the way his tight skull pressed against his skin, he was still breathtakingly gorgeous.
“What was so great about those years?” I asked.
“Oh, Josie, they were the best!” he cried, his deep voice cracking in his eagerness. “How everything with you was so fun! How we laughed over dumb shit every day. How we did everything together—studying, practices, trips. How fucking amazing it felt to kiss you. How you were the best person to go over games with and analyze what happened and how I could improve. How everything was fuckingrightwith you, baby.”
He was looking down anxiously at me, his big hands clenching and unclenching feverishly now.
“You know what I think?” I said.
“What, baby? What? I’ll never take you for granted again, I swear.”
“I think those five years were a goddamn waste of time, because I spent them with a jackass who dumped me as soon as he got to the big leagues. Because he wanted tolevel upwith other women.”
“No!” Jesse moaned, staggering so he had to grip the fence for balance.
“Youwanted to live your life without me. Well,you got your wish. Enjoy it,baby. There’s tons of girls out there who would fit your lifestylebetter. Go find them and leave me alone.”
“No, please!” Jesse begged, clutching at the back of my shirt as I tried to go inside. I had never heard that note in my cocky ex’s voice before. “Please. I don’t want anyone else. I know that now. I was so arrogant. I can’t live without you. I tried. Itfucking sucks.”
“I will never believe you care more about me than your image. This conversation is a complete waste of time. Now get your grubby paws off me.”
“How can I prove to you I mean what I say?” he asked anxiously as I tugged my shirt from his grip.
“You can’t,” I said. “Goodbye, Jesse.”
I turned on my heel and went inside just as Mike stuck an air horn out the window and let it go.
My phone pinged as I slammed the door, and I glanced down at the message.
Well, I knew one thing for damn sure. I was going to go on that date with Karel.
If Jesse thought he could get forgiveness with some Polish apple pie, he was goddamn mistaken.
I wasn’t falling for his shit.
Chapter Five
Karel was handsome. He seemed nice.
