“Well, what I mean,” Trap said. “Is we went out once, and she cried for the last half of the date, after telling me something about one of her roommates. It wasn’t an enjoyable date. I was trying to be nice and sympathetic, but I don’t really want to go out with someone who just cries the whole time, so I didn’t ask her out again.
“But she’d call, and I’d answer, and we’d talk, and it only took me a couple of days to realize she didn’t want to talk tome,and get to knowme,and bemyfriend. She just wanted to complain to me and have me tell her that she was right and that how she felt was justified. That she didn’t need to feel bad for going into her roommate’s room and taking back her clothes.”
He shook his head and shrugged one shoulder. “It didn’t feel like a relationship where each of us was trying to get to know the other and that we had a mutual friendship that we were building on. I really felt like a sounding board and a therapist. And as my daddy pointed out to me this morning, I don’t have a medical degree in anything.”
He grinned at Lila Mae. “In fact, I’ve never been to college.”
“No?” Lila Mae asked. “You didn’t want to go?”
Trap shook his head and took another bite of his pot roast. “I saw no point in going,” he said. “I love renovation and remodeling, and I love building things, and I’ve been leafing through books of floor plans since I was six years old, and there’s nothing I like more than a new build.
“And my parents had this business, and they didn’t have kids until my momma was like, forty, so when they wanted to retire, I was ready.”
Trap felt like he’d been ready for a lot longer than just lately, but his father had finally retired at the beginning of the year. Healso realized he’d been rambling, throwing all kinds of thoughts into a single sentence.
And apparently, he wasn’t done yet.
“Anyway, my daddy’s still helping me along,” he said. “But he’s fully retired and doesn’t do anything inside the business anymore, except act as my advisor. Jason and Sawyer and I work together. But when my daddy transferred ownership of the company, it all came to me. So we’ve put them on salary as officers, and we have a single secretary, Tammy, who keeps us in line and where we need to be.”
He picked up his phone from where he’d laid it on her desk. “In fact, I have to do a video consultation at two o’clock, and I promised my momma I’d do it from home. I guarantee you she’s going to meet me there, probably with cookies or something, just to make it seem like she’s not irritating me.” He smiled at Lila Mae, happy when she grinned back.
“That’s fine,” she said. “I want to get to town and get my stuff done and then come back here and get the kittens listed for adoption. I didn’t have time this morning because of the interview—which I am so bad at doing, by the way.”
“Oh, I’m sure that’s not true,” Trap said. “I felt like you were interviewing me when you called and asked about hiring me.”
She blinked at him. “Really?”
He chuckled. “Lila Mae, you have a very…commanding demeanor.”
“I do?” She seemed totally shocked by this.
“Don’t you remember when you texted me from the airport and saidMeet me at the property in one hour?”
She ducked her head, but Trap still caught the way her cheeks reddened as her gorgeous hair fell over her shoulder. She was strong and soft at the same time, and Trap liked both sides of her.
He’d seen a maternal, nurturing side of her last night as she’d taken care of him, and the fact that she’d called her brother for advice—all of those spoke of Lila Mae’s strength, determination, and caring personality.
He finished his lunch. “It’s okay to be strong in some things, Lila Mae.”
“I didn’t mean to boss you around when I asked you to meet me here.” She hadn’tasked, but Trap didn’t argue the point.
“I know you come from an environment and a family that’s used to saying what they want, and people jump to it.”
“I’m not like that now,” Lila Mae said.
“Yeah, you’ve changed a little bit.” Trap could see it even in just the few months that he’d been speaking with and working with Lila Mae.
“So tell me,” he said. “If a cowboy wanted to impress you on your first date, what kind of flowers would he bring you? Or would it be candy, or potato chips, or something else entirely?”
Lila Mae smiled at him and tilted her head in an appraising way. Trap wasn’t sure he liked that, but a flirty vibe floated from her, and he sure did enjoy that. He felt like he’d been chasing the women in Three Rivers and getting rejected left and right, and now Lila Mae sat right in front of him.
She’d been the one to initiate that kiss, though he had met her halfway. She’d said right out loud that she liked him, and Trap wanted to know why.
They’d argued a little bit as they’d gone through the process of building her tiny house and getting the farmhouse ready for the Intake Center, and he’d had to apologize to her several times in the last three days alone.
But just as Daddy had told him this morning, if Trap liked this woman and wanted to see if this relationship could last longer than any other he’d had, he’d have to figure out what was important to Lila Mae and what she needed from a partner.
“And if she’s going to be your girlfriend, and something serious,” Daddy had said. “This won’t be the last time you’ll apologize to her. It’s never a bad thing to say, ‘I’m sorry,’ and it’s something you’ve always been really good at.”
