Sha’Nelle scoffed. “This lil’ stupid hoe know exactly what she doin’. Look at this, look again.” She pulled my phone up again and shook her head harder. “Look how she smilin’ at the camera while he sleep. Only a bitch that feel threatened gon’ do the most like this. She know who you are, Toni. She know you the wife. This nappy-headed hoe been likin’ all yo’ stories, all yo’ lil’ memes, all yo’ posts, and now she postin’ pictures in the bed with yo’ man? Yeah, she want a problem.”
Pluto agreed without hesitation. “If she found your page, that means she found his, and Kay’Lo posts you all the time. Everybody know you his wife. So for her to still pull this? That’senvy. That’s insecurity. That’s her trying to get under your skin because she can’t get what she wants from him.”
I heard them. I understood every word they was sayin’, but none of it reached me fully ‘cause the only thing I kept seein’ in my mind was Kay’Lo asleep in that bed, some girl layin’ on him like he belonged to her.
My chest felt tight, and I pressed my hand against it ‘cause I ain’t know what else to do with the ache that kept gettin’ worse.
Pluto rubbed my back gently. “Toni… don’t let her win. Don’t let this girl make you think she got somethin’ you don’t. Kay’Lo is hurt. You shut down, he don’t know what to do, and he made a stupid ass decision. A painful decision, but still a stupid one. This don’t look like him moving on. This looks like him acting out.”
Sha’Nelle nodded fast. “Exactly! If he was tryna move on, girl, he wouldn’t be knocked out like that while she doin’ the most. He not even holdin’ her. He ain’t posed up with her. He literally knocked out while she recordin’. That say everything.”
I was quiet for a long moment, starin’ at the counter, listenin’ to my own heart shake. I appreciated them, but the hurt was bigger than anything they could say. When I finally looked up, both of them stared at me like they was waitin’ for me to either scream or cry or crumble.
Instead, my voice came out calm.
“I’m gon’ file for divorce.”
Pluto’s face changed instantly. She looked like her heart dropped straight to the floor. “Toni… no. No, baby. Please don’t say that. Not right now.”
Sha’Nelle stopped, her cup halfway to her mouth. “Bitch, what?”
I shook my head slow. “I can’t keep doin’ this shit with this fuckin’ nigga. I’m done. I’m gon’ file.”
Pluto reached for my hand again, her voice thick with emotion. “You and Kay’Lo need to sit on somebody’s couch and unpack all this shit. You don’t throw your marriage away in a moment like this. Not when you know y’all didn’t even try to fix it yet.”
“I’m not goin’ to therapy with him no damn more,” I said. “I don’t have it in me.”
Sha’Nelle looked between us, her expression fallin’. “So what now?”
I took a long breath and looked her dead in her eyes.
“It’s time for me to leave Trill-Land. I’m gon’ pack my shit, and we goin’ back home after all this shit. I’m startin’ over.”
Pluto stared at me with hurt all in her eyes, like she was watchin’ something’ important slip out her hands.
Sha’Nelle put her cup down slow and exhaled.
Shit had gotten too real, too final and too painful to undo.
And for the first time since lovin’ Kay’Lo, I truly believed I wasn’t comin’ back.
GRANT & BISHOP FAMILY LAW
Two days later…
I couldn’t believe I was really goin’ through with this divorce shit, but my feet kept movin’ anyway, carryin’ me closer and closer to a door I never thought I’d have to walk through. Sha’Nelle was right beside me, talkin’ about how the buildin’smelled too good to be somewhere people came to end they marriages, but her voice felt far away. Everything felt far away except the weight sittin’ on me.
The elevator doors slid open and my knees damn near buckled. The sign on the wall saidGrant & Bishop Family Law, all pretty and gold.The whole space was glass and warm wood, with big paintings on the walls and soft music playin’ low like it was supposed to calm people down. It ain’t calm me down at all. If anything, it made my stomach twist even harder ‘cause everything looked so final, like people only walked in here when they was ready to start the end.
I swallowed thick and followed the receptionist to the lobby. Sha’Nelle squeezed my hand before she sat down. “I’m right here, cuz. Go do what you gotta do,” she said, but I could hear the worry under her voice.
I nodded even though the hallway felt narrow as hell. Every step felt wrong, like I was betrayin’ myself just by walkin’. But Kay’Lo betraying me first kept echoin’ in the back of my mind, remindin’ me why I was here.
Attorney Sariah Bishop’s office was calm and spotless, with books everywhere and these lil’ plants tucked on every shelf like she knew people needed somethin’ alive to look at when they talked about a death they ain’t choose. She was beautiful and soft-spoken, dressed in a fitted navy suit, and when she stood to greet me she ain’t give me no cold business handshake. She touched my hand with both of hers like she already understood a piece of the pain I was tryna hold together.
“Toni, I’m glad you came in,” she said gently. “Please sit wherever you’re comfortable.”
I sat on the couch ‘cause I ain’t trust myself not to fold in one of those firm leather chairs. She took a seat across from me with her notebook, but she ain’t rush me. She let me breathe first, let me wipe at my face before I even started cryin’ and let me settleinto the moment even though everything inside me was fightin’ to run.
