Page 41 of Heavy Is The Crown

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The scent of onions sizzling in butter filled the kitchen, clinging to the air like an old memory. The warmth of Pam’s house wasn’t just in temperature, it was in the familiar embrace of earthy tones, soft lighting, walls cluttered with family photos, snapshots of moments Krys had long stopped feeling connected to.

She sat curled up on the plush sectional, legs tucked beneath her, sipping a glass of sweet tea while Pam made her way around the kitchen and her sister, Ray, unloaded her latest relationship drama.

“Girl, I’m so over men,” Ray huffed, tossing her braids over her shoulder as she flopped onto the couch. “Jared got me messed up. Talking about I don’t communicate enough. Meanwhile, this man the same one who don’t be listening!”

Pam sighed deeply, shaking her head as she stirred the pot on the stove. “What he do now?”

Ray scoffed. “He act like he don’t hear me when I talk, but as soon as I get quiet, now all of a sudden, I’m the problem?”

Krys scoffed, stirring her tea lazily. “So…y’all still together, or is this one of those ‘I’m over him, but we back together by Saturday’ situations?”

Ray shot her a playful side-eye. “Ain’t nobody ask you all that.”

Pam chuckled, muttering, “Mmhmm,” before tasting her sauce.

Krys smirked, but her thoughts weren’t even in the room anymore.

She should’ve been invested in Ray’s love life mess, caught up in the dramatics like she usually was. But somehow, the conversation always had a way of circling back to her.

Family. Men. Expectations.

It wasn’t new.

At thirty-three, with no husband, no kids, no ring, no pending engagements, the family saw her as an anomaly. A glitch in the matrix. The Davis women prided themselves on being wives, like it was a badge of honor to be chosen. To be claimed. To be the centerpiece of a man’s world.

Krys didn’t buy into that shit. Or at least, that’s what she told herself. Because if she was being honest, she wanted a man.

Not just any man. Not one of these typical, half-ass, good-on-paper, no-real-substance, can’t-keep-up type of men. She needed someone who could stand beside her without trying to dim her light. Someone who understood that she was the prize just as much as he was.

But she hadn’t met him yet. And at the rate she was going, maybe she never would. The thought sat heavy in her chest, but she pushed it down, just like she always did.

“You okay?” Pam’s voice snapped her back.

Krys blinked, her expression unreadable. “Yeah.”

Pam eyed her knowingly. “You just got quiet all of a sudden.”

Krys forced a small smile. “I’m just listening. Y’all know I don’t care about y’all relationship problems.”

Ray scoffed. “That’s ‘cause you don’t have any.”

Krys arched a brow. “Excuse me?”

Ray coward under her stare. “I mean…it’s a good thing…right?”

Krys responded with an insouciant shrug. “It could be a good thing; but it was the way you said it.”

Ray shifted, fully facing her. “You don’t have real problems when it comes to men. Never have and don’t have to. You live in that big-ass house with that big ass dog, you drive a foreign, you own businesses, you don’t have to put up with nobody’s shit. You good. But…are you?” She paused for dramatic effect. Then quickly stated, “You need a man, Krys.”

Pam gave Ray a warning look. “Rayna.” Then she looked meekly toward Krys. “You do, Krys. It’s about time.”

Krys scoffed, leaning back against the chair. “Why? So I can be sitting up arguing over the remote? No thanks.”

Ray grinned. “See? You make it sound like all relationships miserable.”

“They usually are.”

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