Page 75 of No Remedy for Love

“Oh, my God. Ma, stop, please.” God must have been busy because Remi’s prayer surely wasn’t answered.

“Don’t embarrass her, Lollie,” Marva fussed.

“Ma, this is my boyfriend, Blaze. Baby, this is Lollie, my no filter having mother.” Remi rolled her eyes when she made the introductions. Just like he’d done with Marva, Blaze walked over and embraced Lollie.

“It’s nice to meet you, ma’am, and I’m six three,” Blaze smirked.

“You’re a whole lot of man for my baby but she takes after her mama, she can handle it. What do you do for a living, Blaze?”

“Ma!”

Remi put her hands over her face in shame. She had already told them everything about Blaze, and they seemed to love him already before they even met. Just like her, it warmed their heart to know how well he cared for his grandmother.

“It’s okay, love, I don’t mind answering her questions.” Blaze grabbed Remi’s hand and kissed it.

They all sat down and ate while they talked. Remi was happy that Blaze fell right in and felt comfortable with both women. Marva was a huge basketball fan, which was how she and Reid met. They both attended a game alone and ended up sitting right next to each other. She and Blaze talked about sports while he and Lollie seemed to have a love for the same Tv shows. Lollie was heavy into The Chi and so was Blaze. He loved it so much that he started watching it from the beginning so that Remi could watch it with him.

“You make sure you don’t be a stranger now, Blaze,” Marva said as she and Lollie walked them to the door. They had been over there for hours; way longer than they intended to be.

“Yeah and you don’t always have to be with Remi. You’re family now and you’re welcome anytime. Marva is always cooking and baking something good!” Lollie yelled.

“I sure am and you’re welcome to it.”

“Excuse y’all!” Remi turned around and looked at them.

“I won’t be a stranger and thanks for inviting me.” Blaze smiled.

“And he got manners. My grandbabies are gonna be so smart.”

Lollie was all smiles as she saw them off. Remi shook her head as they walked away. Their car was parked by her mother’s house but they were about to walk down the street to see her grandmother. Remi wasn’t even thinking to just have her grandmother meet them at her mother’s house, but it was cool. Blaze knew Ferris, but she wanted to let him meet her other cousins too.

“Hold up, baby. Let me call and check on my Nana again.” Blaze stood in front of her grandmother’s house to call the new nurse that he’d hired to take care of her.

A lot had changed over the past two weeks since they had last been to the casino. Bertha had indeed hit the three million dollar jackpot but she didn’t walk away with the full amount. After taxes and a bunch of other bullshit fees that they had to take out, she was still more than two million dollars richer. The money had just cleared in their joint bank account two days ago, and Bertha made him bring her to the bank to have her name removed from the account. She didn’t want her kids to see her name on anything that had to do with money. They didn’t deserve a dime and she was gonna make sure of it.

The last two weeks had been a shit-show and Blaze was the star. Aside from them trying to get the police involved, his cousins had posted flyers all over social media with Bertha’s pictures, claiming that she was missing. It was never seen on the news, but people were still dumb enough to share it. Zita talked entirely too much, but he was already prepared. Blaze had all the locks changed on his grandmother’s house and they had been by Remi since then.

Remi ended up resigning from her job to help him take care of his grandmother. He went through the same agency that she used to work for and hired a fulltime nurse. Hisgrandmother loved her because she loved to play cards just as much as she did. Blaze was in and out of his barbershop and he only went there to check on things most times. Ricky was the only barber that he trusted, so he gave him a key to open and close every day. There was nothing there for anyone to take since the barbers provided their own clippers.

“Is everything ok?” Remi asked when Blaze hung up the phone.

“Yeah, she said that Nana had a bad coughing spell but she’s taking a nap now.”

“Okay, well, we won’t be here long so we can hurry and get back home to her.”

“Damn, that shit sounds like music to my ears.”

“What?” Remi looked at him in confusion.

“Home.” Blaze smiled.

If he never knew it before, he now knew for sure that Remi was the one. Just like him, she was a nurturer and she took care of his Nana just as well as he did. She was selfless, and that was proven when she left everything behind in New Orleans and moved to Arizona with her father. To her, it was nothing but that was big in his eyes. There weren’t many young women that would leave their life as they knew in order to put someone else first. She was a keeper and he planned to keep her.

“Come on, so you can meet my granny. She’s sweet and not as bad as my mama.”

“Your mama is sweet too,” Blaze replied as they walked up the stairs to the front door.

Remi didn’t knock on her grandmother’s door; she used her key to let herself and Blaze in. Shiva and Kela were relaxing on the sofa watching Tv, but the house was calm and quiet. Her cousins looked at her and then back at each other like she wasn’t welcomed. Maybe they were just surprised to see her walk in with a man.

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