Page 30 of Heavy Is The Crown

Pam gave her that knowing look. “Nice?”

Krys rolled her eyes. “Okay, maybe more than nice. But you know how these men are. Honestly, I’m good. I got Musa. That’s all I need.”

Pam gave her a dry look. “A dog, Krys? That’s your answer?”

Krys lifted a shoulder, feigning innocence. “Musa’s loyal, protective, fine as hell, and don’t stress me out. What more could I ask for?”

Pam exhaled, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Lord, help this child.”

She fell quiet for a moment before letting out a dry chuckle, the kind that held history. “But you know…you’re right about these men. But there was a time when your daddy wasn’t always an ain’t-shit-man.”

Krys smirked. “Oh? I must’ve missed that era.”

Pam pointed a knife at her. “Watch it.”

Krys held up her hands in surrender, laughing.

Pam shook her head, going back to chopping the peppers with a little more force. “But for real, though. When we were younger…before all the nonsense? We were good. Real good.”

She smiled slightly, as if recalling a memory she hadn’t visited in a while. “We had fun together. We built a life. And then, well...”

Krys knew the rest of the story. Her father, Eddie, had cheated. Not just on some random one-time slip-up; he had a whole baby with another woman.

Pam had stayed through the first few mistakes, but that had been the deal-breaker.

Pam exhaled. “I loved your daddy, but love don’t keep a man home.”

Krys frowned slightly. “Do you regret it?”

Pam glanced at her. “Regret what? Leaving him?”

Krys nodded.

Pam shook her head without hesitation. “Hell no. I made the right decision for me.”

Krys stared at the counter.

Pam gave her a pointed look. “But that don’t mean I regret him. Or what we had.”

There was weight in those words; Krys felt it.

Because as much as she told herself she didn’t need a man, that she was good by herself…She wanted something real. She had always wanted that.

Pam finished chopping the last of the vegetables before turning fully toward her daughter. “I just don’t want you to get so used to being alone that you don’t leave room for someone else.”

Krys scoffed. “Ma, you act like I’m about to dry up and wither away.”

Pam smirked. “Well, that biological clock ain’t slowing down, baby.”

Krys sucked her teeth. “Here we go.”

Pam laughed, stepping over to the fridge. “I’m just saying. You’re successful, beautiful, and you don’t take nobody’s shit. But you also deserve somebody who won’t have you thinking every man is trash.”

Krys didn’t have a response for that. Because Pam had a point, and the part that scared her the most was she wasn’t sure if she still believed that kind of love existed.

Pam cracked open a bottle of water, side-eyeing her daughter. “Speaking of your daddy, you talked to him lately?”

Krys welcomed the shift in topic. “Yeah, last week.”

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