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“Nah, my lil brother is good,” I lied just to fuck with her. Zee was back to rocking an afro or puffs because Rahesha only ever had patience to wash and comb his shit out. I tried to cut his hair off, but as soon as I turned on the clippers he was wilding out. Then I attempted to have one of my older cousins lock his hair up but he refused to sit still. The only person he allowed to style his hair was Lourdes. I was definitely going to get my brother back in her chair, but she didn’t need to know how much we really needed her in that area.

“I don’t believe that, but okay.”

The sound of the front door opening made us both turn around. There stood an older version of Lucia.

“Invite this man inside, Lo-Lo Pop.”

“Granny, he’s leaving and so I am,” she replied with her face turned up.

“Girl, stop being mean,” she fussed before looking at me. “I’m sorry, baby. I’m Ms. Nadine but you can call me Granny.”

“Nice to meet you, Granny. I’m Armias,” I held out my hand to shake hers.

“Armiasss? Okay, so you’re my great grand-baby’s father which means your family. Give me a hug, baby,” she stepped towards me and wrapped her arms around me. It felt like I was being hugged by my own grandma as I found it easy to relax in her embrace and hug her back.

“I’m so glad I could finally meet you.”

“Like wise, Granny.”

“I don’t know what you and Lo-Lo got going on but you’re always welcomed here. As long as you don’t mistreat or disrespect her.”

“That’ll never happen, Granny. You have my word.”

“I’m holding you to that, baby. Would you like a plate of food to-go?”

“I sure would.”

“You don’t even know what she cooked!”

“Oh Lourdes, stop being like that,” Granny snarled.

“I’m about to go home.”

“Alright, let me walk you to your car,” I said.

“My car is parked right there in the driveway. Bye,” she sped walked off the porch and over to her car. I kept my eyes trained on her until she pulled out of the driveway.

“You still want that plate, Armias? I have collard greens, corn bread, macaroni, and fried chicken.”

I hadn’t even tasted the food and it was already hitting the spot.

“Yes, m’am.”

“Well come on in here and talk to us while I fix it for you,” she said before leading the way into her house. I was happy to hear that Granny wanted to pick my brain and get to know me better. I wanted Lourdes’ family to know that I wasn’t the enemy who was trying to complicate her life. She also couldn’t exclude me from her pregnancy if I had her family on my side.

Chapter 4

Armias

“Bubby!” Aziel shouted after opening the door for me. He was smiling big but his eyes were red and damp, making it apparent that he’d been crying. Looking at his hair, I could see why.

“Wassup, man?” I walked straight to the living room that was conjoined with the dining room, and sat the bags of food from New Orleans Food & Spirit on the table. Milan had requested voodoo rolls and a fried shrimp plate in the family group chat and that led to everybody else putting in their orders. It was perfect timing because I was leaving the Westbank location of Pierre Cuts and I had been planning on coming over to talk to Rahesha today.

“Bubbyyy,” Aziel whined with his arms stretched up to me. My boy loved affection, so me only acknowledging him with words was never enough.

“My hands were full, Zee,” I chuckled before I leaned down to pick him up. I hugged him tight and kissed his forehead. Suddenly, he was all smiles.

“You got your hair washed today, man?” I palmed his head of wet hair that had been sectioned off into two poorly parted puff balls.