“Can I sit here?” she asked.
“Yeah, sure,” Trap said, and he even grabbed onto the back of the chair and pulled it out for her.
Lila Mae set down her plate. “Thanks. I’m going to run and grab a drink.”
“I’m going to get a drink right now,” a man a couple down and across the table from her said. “What do you want?”
“Oh, um, just some lemonade,” she said, and the sandy-haired man got up and left.
“That’s Alex,” Trap said. “His wife, Nikki, and their boys.”
Lila Mae nodded to the kids directly across from her. They couldn’t be more than eight or nine years old, and they only seemed to have sandwiches and potato chips on their plates.
“You got some of the chicken pot pie casserole,” Trap said, and he gave her a rare smile.
“Yeah,” she said. “It looked pretty rich, and it was almost gone, so I only took half.”
He nodded and put another spoonful of mac and cheese in his mouth.
“Oh, shoot. There’s not a chair here anymore?”
Lila Mae looked up at the cool female tone, the tension doubling as a brunette came to a standstill only a few feet from him.
“Oh, sorry,” the man next to Trap said, but he didn’t sound sorry at all.
“Yeah, sorry.” Trap looked up. “Jessa, Lila Mae’s new in town, and she needed somewhere to sit.”
Lila Mae looked up at the dark-haired woman, who wore daggers in her expression. The last thing Lila Mae needed in town was enemies, and she swallowed quickly. “I can find?—”
“No, it’s fine,” Trap practically yelled over her.
She swung her attention back to his and found his eyes a little bit wider and filled with more urgency, clearly trying to convey something to her nonverbally.
“I see Jessa’s brother right over there,” Trap said. “Jessa, he’s got a seat for you. Sorry.” He actually did sound a little bit sorry, but Lila Mae didn’t think he truly was.
“You’ll call me about game night, right?” Jessa asked. When no one answered, she added, “Colt?”
“Yeah,” Colt said, but he didn’t even look at her.
She huffed and walked away, taking all the horrible tension with her.
“I didn’t mean to take someone’s seat,” Lila Mae said.
“You didn’t,” Trap said.
“She seemed to think it was for her.”
“Yeah, well, it wasn’t.”
Lila Mae frowned. “You don’t like her.”
“I like her just fine,” Trap said. “But she’s Colt’s ex who doesn’t seem to think they’ve broken up yet.”
She leaned forward and looked past Trap to the cowboy on his other side. He nodded at her. “I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Colt Franklin. I own the apple orchards in town.”
A smile sprang to Lila Mae’s face. “Ilovethose apple orchards. I come every Monday and get your fresh cider. The cats love it.”
Colt grinned at her, and even Trap snickered. “You feed cider to cats?”
