She sighed and took a couple of steps toward the gate, bringing Cleo with her on the leash. She put her elbows up on the top rung and gazed out at the land before her. Yes, it was a complete mess, just like the morning had been, and just like the past couple of years had been at Dixon’s Delights.
All in all, Lila Mae’s whole life had been a mess for the past couple ofyears, and she was ready to rebuild it into something she could be proud of, something that she could put her mark on, something that would bear her name and do good in the world.
“I’m sorry about this morning,” Trap said. “And honestly, you probably saved me from a boring sermon anyway.” He gave her half a smile and sighed as he too looked over the land. “I mean, it is your property, and we can probably duck under the fence here and walk around.”
“No,” Lila Mae said. “You’re right. I’m not dressed appropriately for a walk-through anyway.”
“You’re not dressed appropriately to get on a plane,” he said. “How do you walk through an airport in shoes like that?”
Lila Mae turned toward him and blinked once, twice, her heart pounding through her whole body. Then, for some inexplicable reason, she tipped her head back and laughed. It took Trap a couple of seconds to join her, but his deeper chuckle sounded among her higher-pitched laughter and reminded her that, though she would move here alone, she would at least know him.
So don’t drive him away,she told herself.Don’t act like he owes you something, because he doesn’t. And don’t act like you’re better than him, because you’re not.
“I don’t know how you wear those boots, cowboy,” she said as she quieted.
He smiled and simply shook his head. “I’m sure I can meet you out here sometime tomorrow,” he said. “Probably later in the afternoon,because I know I’m meeting with a family to do a tree house in the morning.”
“That should work really well,” Lila Mae said, and she turned away from the chained gate and the property she had purchased. “We can go over a timeline and final design this week.”
“Sure,” Trap said, and they started back toward his truck, Lila Mae gently leading Cleo along. They reached her bag, and she stooped and lifted it.
“Let me get that for you,” Trap said quickly, and he reached across her and took her suitcase from her. Then they both faced his truck, and Lila Mae realized that she had not arranged transportation from the property—uninhabitable at the moment—to the rental she had secured for the week—what she’d done at the airport before taking off.
She looked over to Trap and found him blinking blankly at his truck. “Can you give us a ride?”
He whipped his attention toward her, his eyes dropping to the cat and back to her. “Will she go in her carrier?”
Lila Mae grinned and shook her head. “Oh, no. She yowled the whole way here. I couldn’t bear to put the poor thing back in the carrier.” She bent and picked up Cleo, hugging her tightly to her chest, while Trap’s mouth hung open and a look of disgust drew his eyebrows down into a frown.
Lila Mae grinned at him. “She’s very clean. We’ll just ride in the back.” She took the first step toward his truck, and he dodged in front of her.
“I amnotyour chauffeur driver,” he said. “You arenotriding in the back. If I’m going to give you a ride to wherever you’re staying here in town, you can ride in the passenger seat like a normal person.”
He huffed at her and then stomped past her to the bed of his truck, where he threw her bag over unceremoniously before turning to pin her with a look that said,Well, are you coming or not?
Lila Mae liked him, and she liked that he’d stood up to her, and that he didn’t seem to know that she was worth billions of dollars.And why would he? She was just some woman obsessed with cats who had bought a dilapidated ranch and wanted to turn it into a feline sanctuary.
So she kicked him a smile and went to get in the front passenger seat.
27
Lacy Glover rolled over for the umpteenth time, emitting a long, loud sigh as she did. Beside her, her husband, Mitch, continued to snore, though she had woken him with her tossing and turning in the past.
She and Mitch had struggled to get and keep a pregnancy, and Lacy wanted to be grateful for every moment. She pressed her eyes closed against the tears, because she was now forty-oneweeks pregnant with no sign of her little girl making an appearance anytime soon.
That wasn’t entirely true, as Lacy had an appointment with her doctor the following afternoon. She’d spent the first hour of the night before falling asleep worried that Dr. Marsdon would induce her, and Lacy didn’t want to have the baby on April Fool’s Day.
One hot tear slithered out of the corner of her eye, and she quickly moved to wipe it away. Then, with another sigh that would wake anyone except those who were deaf, Lacy pushed herself up and balanced on the edge of the mattress. She reached for her phone, which she plugged in and left on her nightstand.
The clock read just past four in the morning, which made sensefor the amount of darkness pouring through the window. Lacy really couldn’t get up this early and expect to make it through the day, but she’d been on maternity leave for two weeks now, having planned to have a temporary administrator atSigns for Success,so she could focus on their baby.
She put one hand on her belly and used the other to balance herself against the nightstand as she stood. No matter how she sat or stood or lay, she was uncomfortable, and something hurt, so she didn’t think too much of the pain radiating in a quiet, almost aching way through her lower back.
She’d never been pregnant before and had never gone into labor, and she honestly wasn’t sure what to expect. She and Mitch had taken two birthing classes, as he’d wanted to be ultra-prepared for what they might experience at the hospital. He had accompanied her to every doctor’s appointment in the past nine months, and their doctor—the sweetheart that she was—had started to learn some key signs for Mitch, likebaby,healthy,girl, andname.
Oh, the name.
Lacy sighed as she got up.
