Page 49 of Certified to Handle You 3

Pressure took another drink and looked at me. “I ain’t say talk to her right now. I’m sayin’ she not gon’ sit at my crib forever, and Pluto not gon’ put her out unless I make it a problem. I’m not makin’ it a problem with my wife over Sha’Nelle.”

“Then tell her to leave, nigga. Damn,” I said, even though the words ain’t feel as good comin’ out as I thought they would.

Pressure stared at me. “You want me to?”

I looked down at my glass and turned it slow. “I want her to stop thinkin’ she can show up and make me move.”

Kay’Lo nodded. “That’s what it is.”

The nigga ate like he ain’t have no emotional attachment to this shit whatsoever. “I’mma tell you somethin’, and you can get mad if you want.”

“I’m sure you gon’ say it anyway,” I said.

“Sha’Nelle ain’t ready,” he said, lookin’ right at me. “She love you in her own weird ass way, but she ain’t ready for the kinda shit you was tryna give her.”

Pressure stayed quiet and kept eatin’, but he was listenin’.

Kay’Lo kept goin’. “She ain’t come here ‘cause she all of a sudden got everything figured out. She came ‘cause you stopped chasin’. You pulled back for real, and that scared her. Now she feel you leavin’ her where she kept leavin’ you, and she don’t know what to do with it.”

I swallowed my food and sat back. “So what you sayin’?”

“I’m sayin’ don’t let her panic turn into yo’ answer, nigga. A woman can love you and still not be ready to stand next to you right. Make her sit in that shit for a minute.”

Pressure looked at me. “You know she gon’ have to leave the crib soon.”

I nodded once. “Nigga! Why the fuck you keep sayin’ the same shit like I ain’t hear you the first ten times?”

“‘Cause I really wanna know if you gon’ be good when she do,” he replied.

I looked at him like he had asked me some stupid shit, but he ain’t move his eyes.

“I’m good,” I said.

Kay’Lo put his fork down and laughed under his breath. “There go that bullshit.”

I looked at him. “Nigga, eat yo’ octopus.”

“I am,” he said, cuttin’ into it. “But I can chew and call you a liar at the same time.”

Pressure shook his head and looked between us. “What you gon’ do with the ring?”

My hand stopped near my glass. Kay’Lo looked at me too, and that told me he had been wonderin’ the same shit. The ring was back at home in my safe, tucked away like it ain’t mean nothin’ when it meant too damn much. I ain’t even wanna think about it, ‘cause thinkin’ about that damn ring made me see her hand. It made me see the life I had been close enough to touch in my head before reality slapped the shit outta me.

“I’on know,” I said.

Pressure leaned back in his chair. “She might want that one instead of the other nigga shit. If you decide to give it to her, I ain’t mad at it. Regardless, I still say follow ya heart, nigga.”

I looked at him slow. Kay’Lo stopped with his glass halfway to his mouth.

“I’ll swallow that muthafucka before I give it to Sha’Nelle,” I said with a straight face.

Pressure stared at me for a second, then laughed. Kay’Lo put his glass down and shook his head.

“That ring cost too much for you to be digestin’ it,” Pressure replied.

Kay’Lo laughed again, and for a second, the heaviness at the table loosened. That was why I needed these niggas, even when I ain’t know how to say it. They could sit with me in the worst part of my head and still find a way to make me laugh without actin’ like the pain wasn’t there. They just sat here, ate expensive shit, drank good liquor and reminded me I wasn’t by myself.

My phone buzzed again…