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The hum of diesel engines vibrated through the lot as Krys stood outside the dispatch office, arms crossed, eyes sharp, scanning the yard like a hawk.

The last two trucks pulled out for their morning hauls, their chrome grilles glinting under the early sun. The sound of shifting gears and air brakes filled the space, a familiar symphony she had learned to command, not just listen to.

Davis Freight been working with her since she acquired the property two years ago.

“Everything good?” she asked, adjusting her purse strap.

“Mostly,” Julius nodded, flipping a page. “Unit 4B is still behind on rent, but they said they’ll have the full payment by Friday.”

Krys arched a brow. “Friday?”

Julius nodded. “Yeah, the tenant called and—”

“Then they should’ve called me.” Krys pulled out her phone and tapped out a message. “Ain’t no ‘Friday’ unless I approve it. Send them my way.”

Julius grinned, shaking his head. “You don’t play about that money.”

Krys slipped her sunglasses off, locking eyes with him.

“Would you?”

Julius chuckled. “Point taken.”

Before she could respond, her phone buzzed.

Not a name. Just a number. Unknown.

But she knew exactly who it was.

She tapped the screen, reading the message:

[Unknown] 11:29 A— Need to meet. Urgent

Her jaw tensed.

She tapped the side button, locking her phone, slipping it back into her purse like nothing happened.

Not now. She had business to handle.

Julius, unaware, continued flipping through his notes. “So, what you wanna do about 4B?”

Krys exhaled slowly, rolling her shoulders back. “I’ll talk to them. They already know not to play with me.”

Julius nodded, checking something off his clipboard. “Oh, and before I forget—you still wanna approve that new maintenance hire?”

Krys paused.

Her new hire. Her mind flashed back to yesterday’s interview. Kenyatta smirking at her from across the desk, the eas

y way he leaned back in his chair, the weight of his gaze when he watched her.

Bae, you stalking me?

She shook the thought loose. Kenyatta wasn’t just some random hire. He was exactly her type and that was the problem.

“Yeah,” Krys answered, expression unreadable. “Put him on payroll.”

Julius jotted it down. “You sure? I know you don’t usually—”

“I said what I said, Julius.”

Her voice was calm but final.

She wasn’t ready to admit it out loud, but maybe, just maybe…

Kenyatta wasn’t just the guy for the job; maybe he was the guy she needed on her team.

**********

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.”

Pam shook her head. “Just ‘cause you ain’t met the right one yet don’t mean you won’t.”

Krys waved them off. She wasn’t in the mood for this.

Ray, never one to let shit go, leaned in, her tone more serious. “For real, though. You really don’t want kids?”

That one hit a little differently.

Krys stared at her glass for a moment before responding. “I never said that.”

Pam’s brows lifted slightly. “So, you do?”

Krys shrugged, swirling the liquid in her glass. “I just don’t wanna do it by myself.”

That part was the truth. She wasn’t about to be some man’s baby mama, raising a kid alone, playing phone tag just to get some damn diapers. If she did it, she was doing it right. A partner. A family. A foundation.

Nobody had ever made her feel like that was possible.

Pam and Ray exchanged looks, something unspoken passing between them.

Pam softened. “You know…you don’t have to be so tough all the time, Krys.”

Krys glanced up, arching a brow. “I’m not.”

Pam gave her that motherly look, the one that said she saw right through her.

Krys inhaled deeply, then exhaled just as slow.

They meant well. She knew that. But they didn’t get it. They didn’t know what it was like to walk in her shoes. To be Krys.

She wasn’t built to be someone’s second choice. She wasn’t built to play small to make a man feel bigger. And if that meant she had to move through life alone…So be it.

Ray sighed, shaking her head. “I just don’t wanna see you wake up one day regretting that you never tried.”

Krys sat back, expression unreadable. Fine.

If they needed to see her with someone, she’d give them something. She picked up her tea again, taking a slow sip, dragging out the suspense.

“Well,” she started, keeping her voice casual, “I guess y’all can stop acting like I’m lonely, because I actually do have a real man now.”

Ray blinked, stunned. Pam turned fully around from the stove.

“Wait, what?” Ray asked.

Pam raised a brow. “Since when? And how does Musa feel about that?”

Krys kept it cool. Kept her face neutral. Let them eat it up.

“A couple weeks now,” she said, setting the glass down. “It’s new. And Musa is warming up to him.”

Ray sat forward, grinning. “And you wasn’t gon’ tell us?”

Pam folded her arms, studying her. “That’s funny. We ain’t heard nothing about no man.”

Krys shrugged, effortlessly. “Y’all ain’t ask.”

Pam narrowed her eyes slightly.

Krys was lying through her teeth. But they didn’t need to know that. Let them wonder. Let them go back to the family group chat and whisper about how Krys had a new man now and she wasn’t going to die an old maid.

She had played the perfect card, because technically it wasn’t a full lie.

Kenyatta was pretending to be her man.

They just didn’t need to know that part.