“I’m definitely going to look for one of those,” Lila Mae said.
Trap nodded. “I’d offer to go with you, but they’re probably outside, and I promised my momma I’d work indoors today, close to my phone, with air conditioning.”
Lila Mae watched him with those soulful eyes. “She’s probably not wrong. My brother called and asked about you.”
“Yeah? What did you tell him?”
“I said you recovered quite well and that we didn’t think there were any other problems.”
“From your mouth to God’s ears,” Trap said with a smile. “I told my daddy I’d go to the hospital if he wanted me to, but I really don’t think I need to.”
Lila Mae finally took her first bite of lunch, which gave Trap permission to do the same. He dug in, though he’d like to heat his up again, as it had been a solid half-hour since he’d microwaved the meals at home, chucked them in a plastic bag, and driven the twenty-three minutes to Lila Mae’s.
“Wow, this is really good,” Lila Mae said.
“My mom is a good cook,” Trap said.
“Did she teach you how to do things?”
“A few,” he said. “My daddy did too.”
Lila Mae simply looked at him, and that encouraged him to keep talking.
“They’ve run MSW since before I was born, so they were always around, working from home. My mom has a she-shed in the backyard and a restoration barn just down the lane, andDaddy has a construction office in our house. They were both busy doing different things at different times, and they shared the household chores.”
Lila Mae nodded. “It’s nice to know how to do things on your own. I learned most of that in college, and even after that.”
Trap nodded. “Where did you go to college?”
“I went down to Atlanta for that,” she said. “Georgia State.”
“It must have taken you a long time to get a master’s degree.”
“A little over five years,” she said. “I went a couple of summers to make up for that extra year.”
Trap looked at her, so many more questions burning through him. “In all those years in college and working in Baltimore, did you ever go out with anyone?”
“Sure,” Lila Mae said easily.
“Anything serious?” Trap asked.
She looked at him, something sparking in her eyes. “Are you asking if I’ve been married before?”
“Just trying to find out how….” Trap honestly wasn’t sure what he was trying to find out. He knew he was self-conscious about his own relationships. “Look, I’ve never really had a serious relationship with anyone.”
“You don’t say.” Lila Mae grinned at him. “Seems like Chelle would like to be serious.”
He rolled his eyes. “Well, it takes two people who like each other to be in a relationship.”
“Why don’t you like Chelle?”
Trap really didn’t like how the conversation had turned back to him when he’d been trying to get to know more about her. “She just—look, I’m allowed to have my own opinions on people, right?”
“Of course,” Lila Mae said.
“So with Chelle, it just really felt like she wasn’t interested in me, but she needed someone to complain to about her life.What she really needed was a therapist, and I wasn’t interested in being that person.”
“Explain a little bit more,” Lila Mae said.
