Page 5 of No Remedy for Love

Eventually, Mav got back with Kiva and made things work with her. Everybody always said that she was stupid for dealing with him again after how he shitted on her with Remi. Kiva was good people but she couldn’t help that she still loved him. Her and Mav were a power couple now and they were doing the damn thing.

OJ knew that Remi could handle herself but he still didn’t want her to get caught up with Mav again. After putting her life on hold to take care of her father, she deserved happiness and he didn’t see Mav being the man to give it to her. Remi and Lollie were family, and he and his brothers love and treated them as such.

When their parents got divorced, he and his brothers were young. For as long as he could remember, their mother always suffered with bouts of depression. Their father stood by her side and helped her to get the help that she needed. Things were going good for a while until their mother began to drink. It started out as an occasional glass of wine at night to relax, and she swore that it helped her to sleep. After a while, it went from a glass a day to a bottle a day. Before long, she had turned into a full-fledged alcoholic.

Their father, once again, tried to get her some help but she kept refusing. Omar Sr. finally had enough of watching his wife drink herself to death. He packed up his boys and moved in with his mother until he could find a permanent place of his own. He filed for divorce and things got ugly after that.

OJ still never understood how the courts took them from the loving home that their father provided and placed them back with their mother. Apparently, her family got her sober enough to make it happen and the courts fell for it. They went from living with their father fulltime to seeing him every other weekend. He wasn’t giving up without a fight and he had a lawyer working on his behalf.

In the meantime, Omar Sr. decided to re-enter the dating scene. He was introduced to Lollie by a mutual friend and they hit it off instantly. After dating for only four months, Omar had moved in with the young single mother of one who captured his heart. Once again, he was happy but that didn’t last very long. He was out with Lollie one night when he got the call that he had been dreading for years. His first love and mother to his sons had drank herself to death just like he’d predicted. His mother-in-law tried to take his boys home with her but he wasn’t havingit. Omar packed his boys up and took them to the place that he now called home.

Although they’d met his girlfriend and her daughter before, OJ and his brothers were terrified to go live with her. They expected Lollie to shun them and slam the door in their faces. Instead, she told their father that they needed a bigger house so that they would have more room and be more comfortable. His father knew right then that she was the one. Lollie had a three bedroom house with only one unoccupied room. Tracy and Remi hit it off the very first time they met, so they ended up sharing a room. OJ and his other two brothers stayed in the spare bedroom and they couldn’t be happier.

Three months later, Omar and Lollie were married and they all moved into the six bedroom home that he’d purchased. Lollie rented out her previous home to have a little extra income for the family. She made it known from day one that Omar’s boys would be treated the same as her daughter and she was true to her word. They never felt like strangers and the love was always real. Calling her their mother came natural since she behaved and treated them as such. Their love for her only increased over the years, especially when their father had a massive stroke. His entire left side was paralyzed, but that was nothing that his wife couldn’t handle. She took great care of Omar for three years up until the day that he succumbed to another stroke while in the hospital. Tracy now used Lollie’s first house as an office for her various businesses.

Mav tried to mask his anger upon hearing OJ mention Remi moving on. He was selfish as fuck, seeing as how he was already in a committed relationship. Kiva was his baby and things were different now than they were before when he left her to be with Remi. He had much more to lose now but he knewthat staying away wouldn’t be easy. At one time, Remi held his heart in the palm of her hands. The years away helped him to get over her, or so he thought. Seeing her on social media was one thing because she was so many miles away.

Now that he was seeing her in the flesh, those old feelings seemed to be trying to resurface. She used to come and visit New Orleans all the time but she never stayed very long. Once she saw her family, she was on the next flight back to her father. He used to always hear that she was there but he never had the privilege of seeing her. Mav didn’t know if she was just in town to bury her father or if she was back for good. Even still, he couldn’t see himself leaving his family for another woman. He wasn’t a saint by a long shot but he kept his wrongdoings away from Kiva and the hood. Thankfully, he had been successful in doing so and never got caught up in no bullshit.

“I’m just going give my condolences and keep it pushing,” Mav swore as he walked away.

He stopped and talked to a few people that he was cool with and hadn’t seen in a while. Reid had niggas who moved out of the hood years ago catching flights to pay their last respects to a man who often kept food on their table. He wasn’t really interested in playing catch up but he wanted to play it off as much as he could. He didn’t want his girl to think he was trying to get close to his ex but that was exactly what he was doing.

“What’s up boy?” Ferris asked when Mav walked over towards him. They gave each other a fist pound before Ferris passed him the blunt.

“They sent our boy out in style man.” Mav pulled from the blunt, and Ferris nodded in agreement.

“Yeah man, Unc is really gonna be missed. That nigga was like a second father to me and I loved him for it.”

“What’s gonna happen with the house? Is his wife moving back in it or is she letting your grandma keep it?” Mav was fishing for info and Ferris was just the one to get it from. He and Remi were close and always had been.

“Nah, Marva ain’t feeling moving back in there right now. She’s gonna be by Lollie for a while.”

“Damn. That nigga Reid is a bad man even in death. He got both of his wives living together.” Mav laughed, but that seemed kinda strange to him. Remi always told him how well her mother and stepmother got along, but he didn’t know that it was that deep. That did give him a little hope though. Remi’s stepmother didn’t have any kids or family. If she was staying in New Orleans permanently, more than likely, Remi was too.

“It’s not even like that fam. Lollie is good people. That’s why OJ and his brothers love her so much. That lady really fucked with them the long way.”

“Yeah, she did and still do. Remi love them niggas too.”

“No doubt. I’m so happy that my favorite cousin is moving back home. I told my cousins that they better get their shit straight. Remi ain’t gon’ be like Unc and pay all the bills while they lay up for free. She’ll make sure our granny is straight but that’s about it.” His little sister lived with their granny too but he always had her back. He wanted her to focus more on school than anything else.

Mav was hoping that his face didn’t show the excitement that he was feeling upon learning that Remi was moving backhome. He needed to fish for a little more info without seeming like he was too pressed.

“Shit, they better hope that Remi ain’t trying to move back in there herself.”

“Nah, she’s going to the rental property on the Northshore. Cuzzo said she’s ready to put her degree to use. I think she had a lil part-time gig in Arizona just to get some experience. Unc owns the building next door too and it’s been vacant for a minute. It used to be a law office a while ago but Unc ain’t rent it out to nobody else after they left. I told Cuz that she should use it to open a medical business or some shit.”

Mav ignored everything else he said once his question had been answered. Hearing him say that Remi wasn’t gonna be living in New Orleans right away had the wheels in Mav’s head turning. He was remarkably familiar with the house that he was referring to because he’d been there with her a few times. He and Remi used to make plans to live there together until her father’s health became an issue.

Mav had a small apartment that he’d been renting for almost two years. He was happy that the lease was almost up because he had something else in mind. As much as he loved being a family man, he sometimes missed the single life. He also missed being able to deal with other females if ever he had a desire to. Kiva and nobody else knew about his secret man cave, and he wanted it to stay that way. The times that he and Kiva had arguments that required him needing his space, he always had a place to go to. His father and sisters always covered for him and that’s where Kiva thought he was at whenever they had a falling out. He could have used one of his rental properties for free but that wouldn’t have been a good idea. Kiva knew where all of them were located.

“What’s been up with you, nigga? You still been fucking with ole girl?”

“You already know what it is. Stupid bitch swear I’m in love with her naïve ass. She was talking some shit about leaving her nigga, but I told her not to even waste her time. Me and wifey have been good for a minute.”

“Nigga, everybody is your wifey. That shit ain’t gon’ last long and you know it. You do right to keep your room at Ms. Viola’s house.” Mav said it like a joke, but it was true.

Ferris had a new wifey every few months. He always moved in with a female and ended up right back by his grandmother when they put him out. His sister used to live with him and his women, but she got tired of always getting put out. She stayed with their granny and never left after the last time.

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