Page 55 of Certified To Handle You 2

Once we finished, I grabbed the check before Sha’Nelle could even look toward it. I paid, left the tip and stood up while she gathered her purse.

This time, when I reached for her hand, she let me take it. I just laced my fingers through hers and walked with her out of the restaurant.

The sun was up good now, and the parkin’ lot had got busier while we was inside. Sha’Nelle walked beside me with her hand in mine, and I rubbed my thumb across her fingers while leadin’ her toward the rental. When we reached her side, I opened the passenger door.

She stopped in front of me and looked up at my face.

“What?” I asked her.

“Where we goin’ now?” She asked.

I smiled ‘cause apparently she had already figured out breakfast wasn’t the end of the day.

“Don’t worry ‘bout it,” I told her. “Just get in, baby.”

She looked at me for a few seconds before shakin’ her head, but she climbed in the passenger seat without arguin’. I closed her door and walked around the front of the car.

By the time I got behind the wheel, I already knew exactly where I wanted to take her next. I started the car and pulled out of the parkin’ lot with Sha’Nelle beside me, and for the first time since I came to Greystone City, it finally felt like she wasn’t spendin’ every second tryna figure out how to get away from me.

That was all I needed ‘cause I ain’t expect four days of flowers and one breakfast to erase the shit between us, and I wasn’t stupid enough to think one kiss meant I had my girl completely back. I knew Sha’Nelle still had shit she needed to work through, and I knew I was the reason for some of it.

But I also knew her…

The attitude was startin’ to crack, her hand had stayed inside mine when we walked out the restaurant, and when I kissed her, she kissed me back. That was enough for me to know I was finally gettin’ somewhere with her.

I rested one hand on the wheel and glanced over at Sha’Nelle as she looked out the window. I had the rest of the damn day with her, and I planned on usin’ every bit of it.

After we left breakfast, I pulled over in some parkin’ lot, rolled up and smoked with Sha’Nelle before we headed further into Midtown.

I ain’t really have the whole day mapped out, but I knew I wasn’t finna take her back to her mama house after one meal. It had took me four damn days to get her out that house, and now that I finally had her with me, I wanted the day to feel like more than me draggin’ her from one place to another just to say I had her.

She sat in my passenger seat with one leg crossed over the other while she took the blunt from me and hit it a couple times. She had loosened up a lil’ since breakfast, and I could tell she was more comfortable now ‘cause she finally stopped actin’ like every lil’ thing I did required some type of response. Every nowand then she would look over at me while I drove, then say somethin’ slick just to fuck with me.

By the time we got into Midtown, the whole area was lit.

Restaurants had they patios full, music was comin’ from different directions, and people was everywhere walkin’ between shops, bars and whatever else was goin’ on.

I could tell niggas had put a lot of money into this side of the city, and the big park in the middle of everything looked like they had turned half of it into some weekend festival.

I slowed down when we passed it, and Sha’Nelle leaned a lil’ closer to the window to see what was goin’ on.

The park was big as hell and stretched across a few blocks with people everywhere. They had carnival games lined up on one side, food trucks and vendors on another, and there was music playin’ somewhere deeper inside. Kids was runnin’ around, couples was walkin’ through holdin’ hands, and a few rides was set up further back.

“This look alright,” Sha’Nelle said while she kept lookin’ out the window.

I glanced over at her. “You wanna go?”

“Yeah, we can,” she answered, turnin’ back toward me.

I found somewhere to park a couple blocks away, and once I got out, I walked around the whip and opened her door. She stepped out with her purse over her shoulder, and I reached for her hand before we walked toward the park. She looked down when I laced my fingers through hers, but she ain’t say shit about it, so I ain’t either. I just kept her beside me while we walked through the crowd.

We spent a lil’ while walkin’ through the park, but I wasn’t interested in half the shit they had set up. I was cool with just bein’ outside with Sha’Nelle and lettin’ the day go wherever it went. She had her Icee in one hand while I kept her other handin mine, and every now and then she would slow down to look at somethin’ one of the vendors had out.

We passed a Black owned spot that had jewelry, shades, watches and some other shit laid out, and ‘Nelle stopped at one of the cases. I stood behind her with my hand restin’ low on her waist while she looked through it, and when she picked up this gold bracelet, I saw the way she turned it over in her fingers before puttin’ it back.

“You like that?” I asked her.

“It’s cute,” she answered before she started lookin’ at somethin’ else.