“Okay, well.” He lifted both hands and let them fall helplessly back to his side. “What do you think? Can we talk through everything that happened and keep going? Do you want to be with me, too?”
He fell silent, all of his questions out now.Please, please, please, he prayed, apparently all out of words besides that one.
Lila Mae watched him for what felt like an agonizingly long time, and then she nodded. Trap hadn’t thought that his life could be changed by such a simple thing, but as she continued to nod, and a smile spread her lips, and she said, “Yeah. I want to keep trying, because I really like you, Trap,” his whole existence improved.
“And let’s be honest,” she said. “This probably won’t be the last time I say something to hurt your feelings.”
“I hope not.” He couldn’t contain his smile as he swept his cowboy hat from his head and tossed it toward the hook beside the door. It didn’t quite catch, but Trap certainly didn’t care. He took the two steps to Lila Mae and wrapped her in his arms, taking a deep breath of her hair, her perfume. Everything about her lit him up and filled him with hope.
“You’re my favorite person,” he whispered, enjoying the way Lila Mae wrapped her arms around him and hugged him back.
“Because of the roast?”
“Because ofyou.” He pulled back and looked at her.
She reached up and ran one hand down the side of his face and along his beard. “I have missed you so much,” she whispered. “You’re my favorite person in Texas, and it has nothing to do with the perfectly carved Cleo, or the black cat pot, or these adorable dyed flowers.”
Trap chuckled. “No? None of that counts? Dang, I was hoping I’d score a lot of points with those.”
Lila Mae giggled and tucked herself against his chest for a moment, then pulled away and looked up at him again. “You definitely scored yourself a lot of points with those, cowboy.”
“Enough points to kiss you?” he asked.
She nodded slowly again, and Trap prayed his life would be continually changed by Lila Mae nodding at him.
He slid his hand up her shoulder and into her hair, gently tilting her head back a little bit more so he could kiss her properly. He matched his mouth to hers, and Trap let himself fall as a brand-new—and hopefully better—relationship with Lila Mae started with this single meaningful, needful, make-up kiss.
35
“Your phone is blowing up.” Edith held up his device, but Finn couldn’t take it from her right now.
“I’m dirty, baby.” He tossed down the oily rag he’d been using to work on his tractor. “What’s going on?”
“Rock and Clover had their baby.” She looked down at his phone again.
Finn stepped over to the utility sink in the shed and used his elbow to turn on the water. It gushed out, and he braced himself to put his hands in the ice-cold stream. “Don’t read them to me. I’m sure he sent pictures, and I want to see them.”
He quickly scrubbed his hands clean, his skin stinging with the soap he had to use in the icy water. When he’d deemed it good enough, he grabbed a paper towel, and then reached for his phone.
“Dinner’s going to be ready in twenty minutes,” Edith said.
“Okay.” Finn sank onto a crate, already absorbed in his rancher’s text string.
He’s here!
Finn’s smile exploded onto his face. “They had a boy.” His heart beat with happiness, as he enjoyed his three boys so much. Tate and Clara Jean were also having a boy, but Rock and Cloverhadn’t learned the gender of their baby previous to him being born.
Clover is doing well, and I’ll send a picture as soon as she’s done feeding him. We’re naming him Deveraux Benton Glover, and he’ll go by Denim. (My grandma used to give us all our assumed names, and we talked with my momma about this one.)
As far as Finn knew, only Smiles and Rock had an assumed name in their generation, but apparently, that tradition would continue.
Congratulations had started to pour in then, with most of the Glovers leading the way. The news was about twenty minutes old now, and Finn saw every name from every man and every woman in their little group of farmers and ranchers—except for him—had responded.
His heart grew ten sizes in that moment, because every single person on this thread was extremely busy. Heck, Rock was probably in over his head right now, as Market Day for everyone came in October, and Shiloh Ridge had over a thousand head to load up and get to market for the season.
That required every hand, even if Rock normally only worked with and cared for the horses at Shiloh Ridge.
Catching up, Finn said.You caught me while I was under my troublesome tractor.
