“So tell me what’s really going on in your head,” Daddy said.
“I just feel really overwhelmed,” Trap admitted. “There’s always so much to do at MSW, and I always feel like I’m letting someone down.”
“Me and your momma?” Daddy asked.
Trap picked up a pen and set it back down. “Maybe a little.”
“You don’t need to worry about us, son,” he said. “I’ve known for a couple of years that you would take MSW in a new direction. And it’s not bad, it’s just different.”
Trap nodded.
“Problems with Jason and Sawyer?” Daddy asked. “Working with family is sometimes hard.”
Trap shook his head. “No problems with them.”
“Feeling left out of your friend group again?”
Trap didn’t want to answer the question, because with every question, Daddy got closer and closer to what was really bothering Trap. He once again shook his head, and his father nodded.
“So this is a Lila Mae problem.”
“There’s no problem,” he said.
“Trap, I’ve known you for almost thirty years, my boy, and there’s definitely a problem.”
“I really like her, yeah,” Trap said. “But she’s been….” He paused and pointed at his father. “And I don’t want any of this to be in your permanent memory, because she’s a good person, and I don’t want you thinking badly of her.”
“No, sir,” Daddy said.
“She’s just been really indecisive lately,” he said. “And it’s made the job at her ranch harder than it needs to be. We’ve had to redo a few things, and now it feels like no matter what I do, she’s going to be unhappy.”
“Trappy, I’ve seen your work. There’s no way anyone can be unhappy with it.”
Trap wanted to put his head down on the desk and wallow in his misery, but he didn’t have time for it. “Things are different between us now,” he said. “And I hate it.”
“I’m sorry,” Daddy said, and he sounded like he really meant it.
“I used to be able to go over there and just hang out,” he said. “We’d talk, and eat, and lounge in the hammock. She’s so beautiful, and I really like being with her, but now everything’s back to being formal.”
“What are you going to do about that?” Daddy asked.
“I don’t know,” Trap said. “I’m not sure what Icando about it.”
“Come on,” Daddy said.
“What?” Trap asked. “Come on—what does that mean?”
“What have Momma and I always taught you?”
“The list is too long,” Trap said dryly.
“If you don’t like something, you can change it.”
“But can you really, Daddy?” he asked.
“Why wouldn’t you be able to?”
“It feels really hard,” Trap said.
