“It’s so good to see you,” his mother said, putting her arms around Razor’s waist.
“Where’s Aunt Ava?” asked Savannah, climbing out of the back seat.
“She’s inside,” Razor answered and then made eye contact with Saylor. “Help,” he mouthed.
“What’s going on?” his mother asked.
“I told you, Mom. She only calls him Razor when she’s pissed at him. Otherwise, he’s Tabon.”
“Oh dear.” His mom turned and looked wistfully at the cabin. “A lot of happy memories were made in this place.”
“Some of the best times of my life.”
“What did you do to make her mad?”
“I don’t know, Mo
m. No clue.”
“Tell me what happened,” said Saylor, sitting down on the porch step.
“Come on, girls,” said his mom. “Let’s go see the lake.”
Savannah dug her heels in. “No, Ya-Ya, I want to see Aunt Ava.”
“Shh, Aunt Ava is sleeping right now. You don’t want to wake her up, do you?” Saylor put her finger in front of her mouth and motioned toward the lake. “You can see her when you come back up.”
“Okay,” both girls said, taking their grandmother’s hands.
“All right, they’re gone. Tell me what happened. Word for word.”
Razor reiterated their conversation.
“Stop.”
“What?”
“Do you know who was following you?”
“I have a fairly good idea.”
“But you told her you didn’t know.”
“What was I supposed to tell her?”
“The truth.”
“I can’t, Saylor. There’s a good reason why I can’t.”
“Why didn’t you just say that?”
“Because I was afraid she’d keep asking questions.”
Saylor raised her eyebrow and went inside, leaving him no less confused than when she got there.
—:—
“Hey, Ava. It’s Saylor.”