It had been over a week since the big break up between Roderick and Shanelle when Shanelle felt she could get out of the bed and start her day without crying or being angry. She was tired of feeling sorry for herself, she was a strong woman and she needed to act the part. No more sad and depressed Shanelle. She was a brand new woman.
As she waited in line to get her movie ticket, Shanelle hummed a little song her mother had taught her. As she hummed a smile began to pull at her lips. When it was her turn at the movie counter, she asked for one ticket to see the new Denzel Washington movie as she gave her the right amount of money to purchase her ticket. The young lady behind the counter smiled as she slid the thin piece of paper through the drop slot.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome, ma'am. Enjoy the movie."
Shanelle walked into the movie theater and headed for the popcorn counter. As she stood in line waiting her turn, she felt a light tap on her shoulder. When she turned around she saw Jaylin standing there with a large bucket of popcorn and drink.
"Hello again Ms. McGee, it's good to see you."
Shanelle couldn't find any words to say. The last time she'd seen this man was when he'd seen her get humiliated and heartbroken. What was she supposed to say?
"Uhh, hi," she managed to mumble nervously.
Jaylin just smiled and said, "I hope seeing me again isn't making you uncomfortable. I just wanted to say hi, nothing more."
"Umm... no. No, it's okay. It's good seeing you as well Mr. Cunningham. Gia told me you've come by to check up on me and brought flowers. Thank you. It was very sweet of you and I really appreciate your thoughtfulness."
"You're more than welcome," Jaylin said as he gave Shanelle a genuine smile. "So what movie are you here to see?"
"Faithful Man."
Jaylin's face scrunched up playfully. "That girly movie?"
Shanelle actually laughed. "I heard it was a good movie and wanted to watch it. Besides, everyone loves a good Denzel movie."
"Eh. He's alright, nothing special."
Shanelle shook her head at Jaylin with a smile. "Let me find out you're a Denzel hater."
Jaylin shrugged. "The man ain't all that. I look better than he does. I mean what does he have that I don't?"
"Yup, you're a definite Denzel hater. We can't be friends," Shanelle laughed.
Jaylin just smiled. He loved seeing Shanelle smile and laugh. It wasn't the fake smile she'd given him when they first met, it was a genuine smile and he loved that he was the cause of it. If God said the same, he'd be making her laugh a lot more but that would come later down the road. He knew she wasn't ready for anything just yet but was still going to wait for her.
He cleared his throat and said, "Well since we won't be friends, which I'm sure will change, I'll let you get to Denzel while I go enjoy blood and guts. It was really nice seeing you again. Keep smiling, it looks good on you."
With that Jaylin turned and walked off towards his movie theater.
Shanelle stood there with a smile on her face. She didn't know why she was smiling, but it felt good. She turned around and continued to wait her turn. Once she got her popcorn she too found her way to her movie room.
*
After the movie, Shanelle headed to the cemetery to go visit with her mother. As she got out of her truck, she felt a breeze blow through her hair. She took a deep breath, inhaling the spring air before letting it out as she headed for her mother's resting place.
Once there, she kneeled down and kissed her fingers before placing them onto her mother's picture lovingly.
"Hey, mama. I'm sure God let you in on what's been going on with me these past few days. Well, all I can say is I'm coming to terms with everything and plan on taking care of Shanelle. The way it should have been from the beginning."
As if answering her, the wind blew gently around Shanelle's body, gently whipping through her hair. Shanelle smiled as tears welled up in her eyes.
"Ma, I don't know what I'm doing half the time but I know God is watching over me. I know that you are too. I feel your presence surround me every time I come here to sit with you. I hope one day we'll be reunited again. Until that time comes, please continue to watch over me," Shanelle whispered as she blinked back tears. "Everything happens for a reason and I'm sure God has a plan for me and my life. Whatever the plan is, I'll be waiting patiently."
Shanelle sat down on the soft grass and rest her head against her mother's tombstone and closed her eyes talking to Annette as if she were alive and sitting right next to her.
For hours Shanelle laughed and cried, telling her mother everything that she'd gone through with Roderick. She knew she wouldn't get an answer but just saying it out loud lightened her heart. It made her feel relieved that she didn't have to hold it in any longer. She even told Annette about Jaylin and how he made her feel. Just thinking of him had butterflies fluttering in her stomach.
Shanelle liked Jaylin but she wasn't ready. She had to deal with herself before she opened another door she sure wasn't sure she could handle. It was close to sunset when Shanelle bid her mother's final resting place goodbye. She kissed her fingers once again and placed them onto Annette's picture before she got up to leave, feeling better than she had in days.
*****
Days later Gia found herself at Sweet Treat for some pastries before she headed back to the office from a business meeting and wanted to take the girls a mid afternoon snack.
"Good afternoon, ma'am. What can I get for you today?" the bubbly shop worker asked with a smile.
After another moment of looking at the different variety of pastries in the clear case Gia was ready to place her order.
"Afternoon. Can I get four of your apple fritters, two of your large cinnamon rolls, two glazed donuts and four large peach teas? That'll be all," Gia replied with a smile.
The lady rang Gia up and told her that her order was ten- ninety five. Gia handed the woman a twenty and waited for her change. As soon as the cashier handed her the change, she stepped off to the side and waited for her purchases.
Just as she pulled out her phone to check some emails she heard a male clear his throat. When she looked back, she wished she hadn't. In all his unwanted glory stood Jeremy Cassik, Gia's ex-boyfriend with his arm around an anorexic Jordan Sparks wannabe.
"Aren't you going to say hi to an old friend?" Jeremy asked with a cocky grin.
Gia looked Jeremy and his little girlfriend up and down with disinterest. "No." With that single word she turned back around and wished the people would hurry up with her order so she could get the hell away from Jeremy before she caught a case.
"So I see you've gained a little weight since I last saw you, looks damned good on you. Your ass is sitting nice and fat in that skirt," Jeremy said as he looked Gia up and down lustfully. "Damn."
Gia turned around and glared at Jeremy, "Jeremy, kiss my ass, okay? We don't have anything to say to each other. Since when was it cool for you to be looking at my ass in front of your girl, or did your trifling ass forget her little bitty ass was standing there?"
Jeremy just laughed and put his hands in his pocket and glanced over at his girlfriend before he looked back over at Gia with an amused grin on his face. "It'll take all day to kiss your ass, Gia. You wanna head back to my place to get things started?"
"You're a disrespectful asshole, you know that?" Gia asked getting annoyed with Jeremy.
Just then Gia's order was called. Before she walked away she turned to Jeremy's girlfriend and added, "Don't stand there and let this dipshit disrespect you like that. Men come a dime a dozen. Go find a new one."
The girl didn't say anything she just looked up at Jeremy who was watching Gia's every move.
"Damn, that girl hasn't changed one bit. Think I might need to pay her a visit soon," Jeremy mumbled, not caring his girlfriend was standing less than a foot away from him.
As soon as Gia got back to the office, she walked into the conference room and placed her purchases on the table with a loud thud. Everyone looked at her with confusion written on their faces.
"What's the matter Gee?" Christy asked as she put whatever paper work she'd been looking over in her hands onto the table.
Gia rolled her eyes as she sat down in her normal seat. "Guess who I just had the misfortune of seeing?"
"Uhh, we don't know so tell us," Gabrielle replied, as she pulled an apple fritter out of the paper bag and grabbed a napkin and her tea.
"I saw that manipulating ass wipe Jeremy."
"Jeremy?" Christy asked confused as she grabbed her tea and cinnamon roll.
"Yeah Jeremy, he's my ex. Total asshole," Gia replied, as she snatched her donuts out of the bag and grabbed her drink as well.
"What he say?" Gabrielle asked around a mouthful of pastry.
Gia just snorted and tore a piece of her donut off and popped it into her mouth.
Shanelle grinned at her, "He was looking at your ass wasn't he?" Gia nodded her head as she ate her sweet treat. "That thing's grew quite a bit since you last saw each other. Let him look. You should have popped that bad boy in the air and let him do what he does best," Shanelle chuckled, as she demonstrated to Gia. Gia just laughed at her. "Boy loved him some Gia Harris booty."
"Guess I missed out on him, care to enlighten me?" Christy asked.
Gia took a deep breath and told Christy about her history with Jeremy for the next few minutes. She filled her in on all the gory details of her farce of a relationship, adding in the heartbreaking truth about the baby she'd lost. Shanelle and Christy both had tears in their eyes as they listened to Gia retell her story. The thing that tore at Christy's heart was that there was an innocent child involved and would be alive had Jeremy not acted like a heartless asshole.
"Sweetie, I'm sorry. I didn't know," Christy said, as she blinked her tears away.
Gia cleared her throat, "Its fine. You're my sister and you didn't know so don't worry about it. It's all water under the bridge."
Truth was she was still extremely hurt and angry at Jeremy for the loss of her child. Even if he didn't want to be with her, she would have had their child to love. He took that from her the minute he slammed the door in her face to be with another woman, signaling that she was indeed just another notch in his belt. She knew that she could have been a great mother to her baby if she had been given that chance, but things didn't work that way. Maybe it was for the best.
Gabrielle felt the tension in the air and decided to lighten the mood. "See and you guys wonder why I would rather do the no strings attached method. Like I always say 'Fu-"
Before she could finish her sentence, all the girls finished for her, "Fuck 'em and leave 'em! Wise words to live by'," they all replied rolling their eyes.
Gabrielle laughed and stuck her tongue out at them. Shanelle shook her head at Gabrielle and smiled at her before she leaned down and kissed Gia on her forehead and told her that she loved her. She was about to walk to her office when she heard someone walk into the building. When she turned around she saw Jaylin standing there looking handsome as ever. It was now over three weeks since she and Roderick had broken up and yet she was still having trouble with the way things panned out, with letting him go completely. But every day she tried to forget Roderick and the years that they shared more and more, but it all was easier said than done.
Nevertheless she was determined to move forward with her life. Roderick free. No matter what it took, even if she had to be by herself for the rest of her life, she wasn't going to back down to no man and lose herself the way she had with Roderick. She was a band new woman.
Jaylin had walked forward and Shanelle hadn't noticed that she was staring at Jaylin until he let out a light chuckle.
"Hello again, beautiful," Jaylin said with a smile as he placed his hands in his business pants pockets that were itching to reach out and touch her.
"Uhh hi," Shanelle stammered. She didn't quite know what to say to him.
Jaylin gave her sexy smile. "How are you? Did you like the movie the other day?"
Shanelle let out a little laugh. "As a matter of fact, I did. I'll always enjoy a Denzel movie," Shanelle replied as a genuine smile pulled at her lips.
"That's good, even though I still think Denzel's nothing special," Jaylin said with a smile.
"See there you go again with that Denzel hating. Get off my future husband,sir."
Jaylin laughed as he held his hands up in surrender. "My bad," he said.
The two of them stood in silence for a few seconds before Shanelle decided to say something to break the silence, "So what brings you by today? Did we have a meeting scheduled for this afternoon? Today was my first day back so I'm still playing catch up. Please excuse my absentmindedness."
Jaylin actually looked a bit embarrassed, "To be honest I only wanted to come see you, to see how you were doing and to see if maybe you were interested in going out to a movie with me. When you're feeling up to it that is, gotta get that Denzel dude out your system," he replied, as he ran a hand through his course hair.
Shanelle was about to say something when all she heard was a loud noise behind her. When she turned around she saw her sisters in a heap on the floor looking like kids getting caught with their hands in the cookie jar.
Christy looked up at Shanelle with a sheepish smile saying, "Say yes, maybe?"
"Yeah what she said," Gabrielle and Gia replied simultaneously, giving Shanelle goofy smiles.
Shanelle looked at them and just started laughing. "Will y'all mind your own business please?"
"Nope, not going to happen," Gabrielle replied laughing, as she managed to stand up and helped Christy and Gia to their feet.
Shanelle rolled her eyes and turned to Jaylin. "I appreciate the invite and you coming by to check up on me, but right now I don't think it's a good idea. Right now I'm trying to get back to Shanelle. I'm just trying to put things into perspective before I do anything else, you know? I hope you understand where I'm coming from."
Shanelle heard all the collective groans of disapproval but ignored them. Jaylin looked a little put out, but he acted like the gentleman that he was and nodded his head.
"I understand and hope someday in the very near future you'll change your mind. Keep your head up Shanelle. Things tend to get better with time."
"Thank you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have work I need to get caught up on. Thanks again, have a nice day Mr. Cunningham. If you have any questions about your account, let me know," Shanelle said with a bright smile before she turned and walked away with Jaylin staring after her.
Gia walked over to Jaylin after she saw Shanelle walk into her office and gave him a reassuring smile, "She'll come around. She just needs a little more time. She's starting to get back to her old self. She'll give you a chance soon."
Jaylin let out a disappointed sigh. "I know and I understand where she's coming from. She's worth the wait. Since I've waited this long, what's a little while longer going to hurt?" he asked with a shrug.
Gia let out a small laugh and pat him on the shoulder before she walked off with a farewell floating over her shoulder. Gabrielle and Christy bid him farewell and watched him walk out the door.
"I swear if he wasn't gaga over Shan, I'd give that man a go," Gabrielle said as she and Christy walked to their respective offices.
"You are such a dork! You need Jesus, Gabby," Christy said as she bumped Gabrielle playfully on her way into her office.
"But you love me though," Gabrielle sang as she laughed.
As soon as Christy walked into her office, she heard her phone ring. She rushed over and answered, "Forever Yours Accounting, this is Christy speaking. How can I help you?"
"Hey Chris, what are you doing?"
"May I ask whose speaking?"
Christy asked with a frown.
"It's me, Stephen."
Christy couldn't help but smile. "Hey. How are you doing?"
"I'm good. I wanted to see if I could make our canceled date up to you."
The night Christy and Stephen were supposed to go out on their first date, Stephen got a call from a family member and needed to leave town to go check on his grandmother who had had a mild heart attack.
"What do you have in mind?"
"Hmmm... I thought maybe we could catch a ball game this weekend and maybe grab some dinner and catch up on lost times."
Christy was about to say yes but then she remembered that it was Shanelle's birthday and she and the others were going to go out and celebrate her day. "I'm sorry, I can't do that day. It's Shanelle's birthday this weekend. If you want, you are more than welcome to join in on the fun, you and the other guys. I'm sure she won't mind if you stopped by to celebrate with her. The more the merrier."
"Oh ok. That's not a bad idea. I'll see if the guys are up for it. I already know Jay's going to be there," Stephen said with a chuckle.
Ever since the day at the restaurant incident, all Jaylin talked about when he was with the guys was Shanelle and how he wanted to show her how a real man cared for his woman, that he would never treat her with unkindness. Whatever she wanted it would be hers. Stephen loved his best friend, but the man was getting on his last nerve about Shanelle. He either needed to give it his all or shut up.
"He just left not even a minute ago. That man is crazy about him some Shanelle."
"It's not like he's trying to hide it. He's crazy about her and sure as hell isn't afraid to show it, she's all he talks about. Please tell her to put him out of his misery for all of our sakes," Stephen laughed.
"Yeah well, I wish she would give him a chance too even though I understand the very reason why she can't right now. She needs to get her in order first. There needs to be just Shanelle before there can be a Shanelle and him, whoever he may be. I just want her to be happy."
Stephen knew as well and he wished that he would have made Roderick hurt as much as he had hurt Shanelle.
"He's a patient man. If he wants something, he normally gets it. I honestly think that one way or another they'll end up together. Jaylin and Shanelle are meant to be. She just needs time, and when the time is right my boy can show her just how a real man treats his woman."
"I agree. They looked so cute a few minutes ago with their cute little conversation, just too sweet."
Stephen just laughed.
The two of them talked for a little while longer before Stephen had to go take care of some business. He promised to call her later that night to plan out their date whenever that would be.
For the rest of the work day, all the women worked diligently on their projects until it was time to go home.
*
As Gabrielle headed to a personal meeting, she thought about Shanelle and everything she'd been through with Roderick and then she thought about the things Gia had gone through with Jeremey. All that pain and anger came from one thing. Love. She couldn't help but shake her head. She didn't want to be that kind of woman that let a man take control of her heart and life. She wanted to be in charge of Gabrielle. Fuck love.
Just watching as the pain crossed over her sister's face earlier that day as she told Christy about her past, it made her fight against love even stronger. She refused to be a victim of its power. Relationships weren't for everyone and she just knew that they weren't for her. Till God called her home, she was going to stick and move with no attachments. If men could go around and sleep with everything moving, why couldn't she? Her mama and daddy should have named her Gabriel because she was doing what men have done for centuries. She was going to sleep with whomever she wanted and however she wanted to. Love and everything associated with it could go to hell for all she cared. The only people she would ever let have her heart would be family, screw the rest.
Just then her cellphone started ringing. She knew who it was. She hit the little button on her Bluetooth and answered her lover, "Hello there gorgeous," she greeted.
"Hey there, sweetheart, I've been thinking about you all day. Are you on your way? I can't wait to see you."
"I'll be there in a couple minutes and honey I hope you're ready for me, I've got a lot to teach you," Gabrielle said seductively.
"Teach me, huh?"
"Believe it or not, I have a lot of tricks up my sleeve Mr. Ware. Hope you've warmed up for me," she replied before she disconnected the call.
Minutes later she pulled into the Holiday Inn parking lot. As she got out the car, she shook off all emotions and proceeded to walk into the hotel.
"Men can't be trusted. All they're good for are their stiff dicks and heavy lifting," Gabrielle said to herself as she walked onto the elevator and watched as the doors closed.