Page 96 of Smoke

NayNay: Broke, bitch!

“Is this your house, Mr. Devin?” Korri asked.

“It’s the family house, but my grandparents live here. We passed my house on the way in. I’ll show it to you a little later.”

“Okay.”

We pulled onto the roundabout driveway along with a bunch of other cars and golf carts. Devin shut off the car and climbed out to open Korri’s door before coming to open mine. Renay hopped out of her car and came to meet us.

“Brother in-law, who lives here?”

I rolled my eyes. She’d taken to calling him that, and he had no objections.

“My grandparents,” he answered.

“I would never leave this house. It’s beautiful.”

“Thank you. Gramps put in a lot of work for this.”

“I bet he did.”

Hand in hand, we walked into the massive house. The smell of good food hit me, and my mouth instantly watered.

“Oh my God, that smells amazing!”

He chuckled. “Grams can burn. She doesn’t let too many people cook in her kitchen.”

We walked into the kitchen to find a few older women, his mother and grandmother, talking and sipping wine. When they saw us, they were all smiles.

“Hey, baby,” his mother said, coming to hug and kiss him.

“Hey, Ma.”

Ms. Allison came to Korri, scooping my baby up for a hug. She’d been making regular trips to the hospital with us, and Korri adored her.

“Hey, pretty girl!”

“Hey!”

She placed Korri on her feet and came to hug me.

“Hey, baby. How are you?”

“I’m good, Ms. Allison. How are you?”

“I can’t complain, chile. How is my little Juri Bean?”

I smiled at the nickname she’d given Juri. “She’s good. We went to see her before coming here.”

“Glad to hear it. Hey Renay, girl!”

“Hey, Ms. Allison! You look mighty fine today.”

Ms. Allison blushed and struck a pose. “I do what I can. Let me introduce you all?—”

“Dang, Ma!” Devin said. “I was getting to it.”

“Well have at it!”

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