Page 68 of No Remedy for Love

“That’s okay, you got a lot of other things going for you to make up for it.” Ms. Bertha tapped her thigh lovingly.

“Alright Nana, after you’re done with that machine, that’s it. Thirty minutes has turned into almost two hours.” Blaze looked at his watch.

“Okay, I’m a little sleepy anyway. I need a nap.”

After walking away with a little over five hundred dollars, Ms. Bertha was happy and ready to go. She wanted some chicken, so he stopped and got her something to eat before they headed home. Blaze had some work to do for a few of the companies that he worked for and Remi had made plans with Tracy. She didn’t drive her own car, so Blaze dropped her off.

“Call me whenever you’re ready, baby. I should be done with work in a few hours.” Blaze got out and opened her car door for her to do the same.

“Okay, boo, we might hit up the mall or just chill inside. You never know with Tracy.” She and Blaze shred a kiss before he watched her disappear into the house.

“You see how good God is and how He works?” Ms. Bertha asked as she looked over at him.

“What you mean?” Blaze questioned in confusion.

“When my last nurse left the company, you said you weren’t even gonna get a new one. You said you were gonna cut back on working at the barbershop and take care of me yourself.”

“Yeah, that’s what I planned to do.”

“But look at how things turned out. I begged you to get a new nurse and you met your new girlfriend and got your own barbershop now because of her. You just have to trust the process.”

“Now, I’ll admit that God can do all things, but I seriously doubt if He allowed me to meet my new girlfriend while I was still married. Even I know that’s not how that works.”

“Reanna was the wife that you picked out, but Remi is the wife that He chose for you. I don’t agree with adultery but I do believe in divine intervention and destiny. Now, y’all definitely should have waited until the divorce was final but y’all are grown.”

“Damn,” Blaze mumbled to himself as he thought about what she’d just said.

He wasn’t an overly religious or spiritual person so he didn’t look into things as deep as his grandmother sometimes did. She wasn’t a very religious person either but she had over eighty years of wisdom working for her.

“Who in the world is that sitting on my porch? I thought you said that Zita wasn’t coming today.” Ms. Bertha sat up in herseat and squinted her eyes to see who was on her porch when they turned the corner to her house.

“Nah, that ain’t Zita.” Blaze shook his head when he recognized the car that, besides color, was identical to his.

“Oh, that’s Blaire. What the hell does she want? I’m not in the mood for her and your mama telling me how sick I’m not.”

“Just go lay down and take a nap, Nana.” Bertha had eaten some of her food already, and he would warm up the rest if and when she wanted it later.

“Yeah, cause I’m tired. Wait a minute, I know damn well she ain’t bring that gal around my house trying to start no mess.” Blaire and Reanna were sitting on her porch eating snowballs like that was a regular occurrences. Blaze wasn’t in the mood for no arguing or whatever other bullshit they were on.

“Don’t worry about nothing Nana, just go relax. I’ma talk to Blaire.”

“I don’t want that other one in my house.”

“I’ll make sure she don’t come inside,” Blaze assured her as he pulled up into her driveway.

He helped his grandmother out of the car and waited while she caught her breath. She didn’t have the assistance of her chair so she was shuffling along. She took baby steps getting up the stairs, as Blaze stood behind her to make sure she didn’t fall. By the time she made it up the four steps that led to her front door, she was wheezing and breathing heavily. He saw when Blaire rolled her eyes up to the sky and twist her lips into a pout. She, just like their mother, always thought that their grandmother was overdoing it but they knew less than nothing about her condition.

Blaze educated himself on the illness and Remi helped him to understand it even more. They took for granted that they could breathe freely without the assistance of oxygen. To Bertha, that was one of the hardest things in the world. She once told him that it was equivalent to an elephant sitting on her chest and she couldn’t have explained it better.

“Hey, Nana. How you feeling?” Blaire walked over and kissed her grandmother on the cheek. She was barely breathing so that was a dumb question to ask in Blaze’s opinion.

“Hey, Ms. Bertha. I was just coming over to check on you since it’s been a while,” Reanna spoke up. She was actually coming to see if she could finally catch a glimpse of the woman who his sister said had him so gone. Unfortunately, it seemed as if she’d made the trip for nothing.

“You gon’ have to come back another time, Blaire. Nana ain’t feeling too good right now.” The invitation wasn’t for his soon to be ex-wife, so he didn’t extend it.

“Excuse you but that’s my grandmother too.” Blaire looked at him like he was crazy.

“Yeah, I see you finally remembered that. But she’s not in the mood for company.”

---