Page 66 of Certified to Handle You
“Yes,” I said quick. “Exactly. Chaotic.”
She hummed. “That’s probably how they always been though.”
“And them kids…” I muttered before I could stop myself.
“What about the kids?” she asked.
I sighed. “I’m not tryna talk about nobody kids, but them kids bad as hell.”
Mecca laughed for real that time. “Reni…”
“I’m serious,” I said, shakin’ my head. “It’s like nobody got no control. They just do whatever they want, and everybody laughin’ it off.”
“That’s wild,” she said, still amused.
“And Pluto pregnant again, and the poor girl look like them wifely duties is kickin’ her ass. “Like… it’s just a lot goin’ on over there.”
Mecca let out a breath. “Yeah, that do sound like a lot.”
I leaned my head back again, closin’ my eyes. “That’s what I’m sayin’. It’s like I’m tryin’ to figure out where I even fit in all that.”
“But at the same time,” she said carefully, “none of that really got nothin’ to do with how he treats you.”
I opened my eyes again, starin’ at the ceiling. “You right.”
“So don’t mix the two,” she added. “You can feel how you feel about his family, but that still don’t excuse him not bringin’ you around or not bein’ clear with you.”
“Exactly. That’s my whole point.”
We sat on the phone for a little while longer, goin’ back and forth until the conversation started slowin’ down.
“A’ight,” Mecca said after a while. “You need to get some sleep. You think better when you not in your feelings like this.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not in my feelings.”
“You are,” she said flatly.
I let out a light laugh. “Okay… maybe a little.”
“I’mma call you tomorrow,” she said.
“Okay. Love you.”
“Love you too.”
I hung up and dropped my phone on the bed beside me, then lay on my back, starin’ at the ceiling again.
The room was quiet, but my mind wasn’t.
Everything me and Mecca just talked about kept replayin’ over and over, and no matter how I tried to look at it, I couldn’t land on one clear answer.
I knew Renza wasn’t the type to just jump into somethin’ like marriage without thinkin’ it through, and I respected that. I really did. I didn’t want no rushed, half-done commitment from him just to say we did it.
But at the same time…
Two years was a long time, and not meetin’ his parents after all this time didn’t sit right with me no matter how I tried to flip it.
I turned on my side, pullin’ the covers up a little as I stared at the empty space beside me.
