Page 73 of No Remedy for Love

“Seriously, Kela, they got like ten lobster tails in there.”

“They have eight left and that’s for me, Ferris and my kids. Everybody got two each.” Shiva had already taken hers, so the rest was for them.

“Your kids? Them children ain’t worrying about no damn lobsters. They won’t even care if you only put one on their plate.”

“My kids love lobster and, since it was their food stamps that paid for it, they’re getting two.”

Kela walked away, as Shiva laughed loudly. Just like Ferris and his sister, she was starting to get annoyed with Reanna too. Since getting divorced, she was around way more than they wanted her to be. Their house was so big that their granny had an area upstairs all to herself. They had two sets of stairs, so Reanna always came down on the side closer to Ferris’ room. She had Kela fucked up if she thought she was about to bird feed her babies so that she could eat. Reanna felt played but the ringing of her phone helped to ease the awkwardness. She walked out back to the patio and sat down before she answered Blaire’s call.

“Hey, girly!” Reanna cheerfully yelled into the phone. She always tried her best to sound happy when she talked to Blaire and her family. As bothered as she was about her divorce, she would never let them know it.

“Bitch, it is going down!” Blaire sounded just as animated as she did a minute ago.

“What the hell happened this time?”

“Girl, that nigga Blaze kidnapped my Nana!”

“Bye, Blaire.” Reanna laughed uncontrollably like her friend had just told her the funniest joke ever.

“No girl, I’m serious. My mama and her siblings have been going over there for a week straight and nobody is ever home. That nigga changed the locks on my Nana’s house and everything.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. What reason would he have to do that though?”

“Oh, it makes a lot of sense to us. Zita said that she took Nana to the casino to spin the wheel and she hit the three million dollar jackpot!”

“Three million dollars! How do y’all know if she’s telling the truth or not?”

“She doesn’t have a reason to lie. And the details that she gave are too specific for it not to be true. It all makes sense when you really think about it. Blaze and my Nana haven’t been to the house for an entire week. All the locks are changed on the door and he hasn’t asked Zita to sit with her since the night she won.”

“Girl, this is just too much to process. What are your mama and her siblings gonna do?”

“They called the police to file a missing person’s report, but that was a waste.”

“The police! What did they say?”

“They called him and Blaze answered the phone. He let Nana talk to the police and her kids. She assured them that she was fine and wasn’t being harmed or mistreated in any way. She told them that her grandson and his girlfriend are taking good care of her. They even Facetimed with her to be sure. The police said that she doesn’t appear to be in any imminent danger so there was nothing that they could do. They said that they can’t make her come home or talk to them if she didn’t want to.”

“Blaze know he wrong for that shit. He’s letting that bitch make decisions for his grandmother like she’s a part of the family. But let’s just say that Ms. Bertha did win all that money, why does he feel entitled to keep it?”

“Exactly! But Zita said that Nana told Blaze that all the money was his to keep. She said Nana said that she won’t be around much longer to enjoy it anyway. Baby, my mama and her sisters got a lawyer and they’re not playing with his ass.”

“What can a lawyer do though? Ms. Bertha is over eighty years old.”

“That’s the point Reanna, she’s too old to make decisions like that on her own.”

“Why? She’s still in her right mind. It’s not like she got dementia or nothing. I seriously doubt if a lawyer can do anything, but it’s fucked up what he’s doing.”

“Girl, my mama is so mad. You know it’s serious when all eight of her kids are involved.”

“I can already see that this is gonna get ugly.”

“Chile, it already is. My uncles said they’re gonna fuck Blaze up when they see him.”

“I wanna see this new bitch that got him losing his damn mind.”

“That hoe ain’t all that. You can tell she probably had some work done but her shape is the only thing she got going for her.”

“Him and your Nana might be by that slut’s house.”

---