Page 74 of Krash & Bern

Krash:

Come on home to me, wife. Dinner has already been prepped and is in the slow cooker. She said it should be ready to eat around 7pm. All we got to do is turn the pot off and serve.

Me:

Praise Him! I’ll see y’all soon.

As I pocketed my phone, Malaysia grinned. “We can move the eight-a.m. meeting tomorrow to Thursday. You can actually leave the building now if you want.”

“Girl, you ain’t said nothing but a word. Let me know when you make it home.”

“You too. Enjoy the rest of your evening, and give the baby lots of kisses from me.”

I nodded. “Of course.”

Within ten minutes, I had everything locked in my office and had pulled out of the parking lot. During my thirty-minute trek back to my home with Krash, I called Jaelyn to check in on her.

“Hey, bestie!” She answered on the third ring.

“Hey, girl. What are you doing?”

She sighed. “At the damn doctor’s office again. I don’t see how folks like going to the doctor every month to have them stick their finger in your coochie.”

I laughed. “That’s not what they do, Jae.”

“It basically is. Every time I come up here, they sticking a swab, machine, or finger inside of me. I’m tired. I don’t want to do this anymore.”

“You have five weeks left, right?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s almost over. Then you won’t get much sleep and will be on a two- to three-hour schedule with your tiny bundle of joy.”

Jaelyn had gone home with Nehemiah after Krash’s Dirty Thirty. They had a one-night stand that resulted in them sneaking around for a year. It wasn’t until Jaelyn got pregnant that they came out about their relationship. I was excited to see them dating. Nehemiah had always been quiet and brooding when he was around me, but Jaelyn brought a different side out of him. It was beautiful to see them fall in love. She deserved it, for real.

“How’s everything with you?” she asked.

“It’s going well. We’ll be going on a couple international trips this year to expand the company. Different countries have different laws on security, so it’ll be an interesting couple of months to see how my system can benefit these countries.”

“I’m so proud of you, Bernie. You had a plan and executed it perfectly. You didn’t let any outside factors stop you from getting in your bag. I love this for you.”

Jaelyn’s words resonated with me. There were so many times when I felt like I would fail—like I wasn’t good enough to be in certain rooms. No matter how dark my days were, I always found the light in the tech world. Numbers and computers would never hurt me the way people could. It was my sole source to survive through the hardships I’d undergone.

I talked to Jaelyn until I pulled into the gated driveway of the mansion I called home. It took a few minutes of me decompressing from the workday before I finally got out and made my way into the home.

Toys covered the hallway. An electric Barbie car was still on with music playing from the tiny speakers. I shook my head and made my way to the living room where I could hear my two favorite people.

“Mommy!” Her tiny voice greeted me with immense joy.

“Princess!” I opened my arms, and her small body crashed into me. I lifted her and allowed her to kiss my cheek.

“I mitchu!”

Keyana Williams was a feisty two-year-old. She had her father’s face with long lashes. Her eyes were round and doe-like. She was my heart in human form. She loved to have her hair twisted with beads on the end.

“I missed you too.” I walked deeper into the living room and saw Krash asleep in the middle of the floor. He had a baby doll in his arms as he snored lightly.

“Daddy seep,” she explained.

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