Page 36 of No Remedy for Love

“I’ll think about it Remi. I don’t wanna be tagging along and messing up Lollie and Marva’s plans.”

“Stop making excuses, granny. They invited you for a reason. They really want you to go. You get around just as well as they do. Can you just think about it please?”

“Yeah, I will,” Viola conceded.

Remi winked at her cousin, happy that their granny didn’t flat out say no. She was gonna need Ferris and Shiva’s help to get her out of her comfort zone.

“I’m gonna keep bothering you until you agree.”

“Stop worrying about me so much. You need to focus on yourself for a change. When are you gonna get married and have some babies?”

“No time soon so don’t hold your breath.”

“You’re a beautiful girl, Remedy. I know them lil boys be after you. I know you used to be a lil rough thing when you were younger. Always fighting and stuff. You do like boys don’t you?” her grandmother had to ask just to be sure.

Remi was very feminine now, but she was a little rough around the edges when she was younger. A lot of people thought that Remi was gonna be a lesbian when she was growing up. She was a tomboy, so that’s nothing that she hadn’t heard before. She credited Tracy with helping her to embrace her feminine side and she loved being a soft girl now.

“I like men, not boys. I really like somebody now, but he’s married.”

“What that mean to me? Your grandpa was married when we met too.”

“Granny!” Shiva yelled while clutching her imaginary pearls.

“Girl hush. I ain’t no hoe or nothing. He got married when he was sixteen and we met when he was eighteen. By then, the marriage was fucked up and he filed for divorce. We were married for fifty years before he died. That’s the kind of love that I want for y’all. Is he still with his wife?”

“Yes and no. It’s complicated granny but I can’t help that I really like him.”

“I didn’t let no damn ring stand in the way of my happiness. Once he filed for divorce, we made things official and moved in together.”

Remi smiled as she listened to her grandmother reminisce and talk about her past. She had so many happy memories with her husband and Remi wanted that one day too.

After leaving her grandmother’s house, Remi stopped at a corner store before heading to the hospital. She bypassed the visiting desk and caught the elevators up to Ms. Bertha’s room. The doctors were just coming out of the room when she walked in.

“Good evening,” Remi spoke as she entered the room.

Ms. Bertha was sitting up in bed with her oxygen on while Blaze was slumped down in the chair playing on his phone. An older man was standing next to Ms. Bertha’s bed fixing the pillows behind her. Blaze looked annoyed but he would tell her what was wrong if he wanted her to know.

“Hey, my love. This is my son, Albert. Al, this is the nurse that my baby hired to take care of me.”

“Hi, I’m Remedy.” Remi smiled and extended her hand towards the older man. Aside from Blaze’s sad ass mama, she had never met any of Ms. Bertha’s kids. Besides his sister and Zita, she had never met any of her grandkids either, and Blaze said there were a lot of them. Since she and Blaze had gotten closer, she was at his Nana’s house a lot more than just her regular work hours so she knew. They called sometimes when she was there but they never visited.

“Did you get what I asked for?” Ms. Bertha perked up when she saw Remi.

“Yes, I got your lottery tickets. And don’t forget about me when you win.” Remi handed her the five tickets that she begged her to purchase.

“Never and I’m gonna win too. Might not be this time, but I can feel it. Did Blaze tell you how much I won at the casino last week?”

“No, he didn’t. All I know is they had to call an ambulance for you.”

“Twelve thousand dollars! And I was only there for half hour. This is my lucky year, I can feel it. I told my baby that he can have it all though, so he can open up his own barbershop.”

Hearing her say that had Remi looking at Blaze sideways. Remi never knew that he was looking for a shop of his own. To her knowledge, he enjoyed working in Mav’s shop. Blaze was straight financially, so she knew that he would never take anything from his grandmother. She also didn’t miss the frown on her son’s face when she spoke. He obviously wasn’t feeling her giving Blaze so much money.

“That was so sweet of you.”

Remi smiled right as the pulmonologist and two other people walked into the room. Ms. Bertha told them who she was and gave them the okay to speak with Remi about her hospital stay. Since she worked with her at home, she needed to be well informed too. When they said that they were taking her to run some more tests, she sat on the sofa and chilled in the room with Blaze. His uncle said his goodbyes and left as soon as his mother did.

“What’s up with you pretty girl?” he asked while looking over at Remi. Maybe he was sleepy or high but his low bedroom eyes looked sexy as fuck. Remi had to shake away her lust-filled thoughts and tune back into the conversation.

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