“Nope. You’re getting too nosey and I gave you more than anyone else has this early. I even told you she was with me and you didn’t want to believe it.”
His mother laughed. “It was worth a try. I’ll let you get settled in now.”
He hung up with his mother and went to the kitchen to get a beer.
He wasn’t on his deck for even twenty minutes when his phone rang.
A quick glance told him his mother was already spreading the news.
He hit the button to answer West’s call. “Hey. Mom told you you were right?”
“She did,” West said.
“How did you guess?”
“I’ve been in your shoes,” West said. “I saw it on your face. No one believed me.”
He smiled and took a sip of beer. “Scary as fuck. What if she doesn’t come?”
“Then you go get her,” West said.
He laughed. “I thought of it. The next two weeks are going to be interesting.”
“Speak your mind with her,” West said. “Hiding things or giving space won’t work. Learn from me. She’s the one making the big change, not you. Make sure she feels she can be open and honest with you and thatyou’redoing the same.”
He heard the underlying message there. He practiced avoidance more than most to keep the water calm.
“I’ve been trying that already. I think we are in a good spot there.”
But he worried once she was away from him, she’d have second thoughts.
“If you want this to work, then make sure you keep her in that spot. Do you know her address?”
“Yep. I made sure I got it.”
Saylor even laughed and wanted to know if it was to come get her if she didn’t show up.
He wanted to say yes, but wouldn’t do that.
For him it was more to send her something. He was going to send flowers, but thought they’d be cheesy.
He had time to figure out the right gift.
“You’ve got her number and address. For the next two weeks, you know where she is.”
“Meaning what?”
“That once she moves out, you don’t know where she is going if she doesn’t come to you.”
“She’ll always return to her grandmother,” he said. He didn’t have the woman’s exact address, but he knew her name. Leslie Beach. With enough money he could find anyone. He had plenty of it.
And he hoped to hell he got to meet Leslie soon.
He was reserving judgment on the rest of her family.
Which worried him based on the little he knew.
How would they react when they found out who he was? Who his brother was?
