18
“Are you sure you don’t want me to help?” Trap asked as she poured the lemonade she’d just made into a travel-ready container.
“No, it’s fine,” she said, looking over to him. “When the food gets here, we’ll go.”
Trap took in the picnic basket she’d pulled out of one of the cupboards he’d built into her stairs. It looked brand new, and she’d opened it to check for a tablecloth, plates, utensils, and cups. Then she’d started putting together a few “extras” she wanted to take with them.
“We really can just eat out of the boxes,” he said.
He’d bought two pizzas and two orders of pasta, one spaghetti and meatballs and one fettuccine Alfredo with chicken, and he figured they could each have some of everything.
“Pizza comes in abox, sweetheart.”
Lila Mae looked at him, her eyes wide. “So…what? We’re going to drive out there, sit downon the ground, and eat off ourlaps?”
Trap grinned at her. “Yeah, sounds like a good Texas time.”
She shook her head. “Absolutely not.”
He moved into the kitchen and hooked his arm around her waist. “Are you going to change your clothes?”
She gave him a glare. “No. Why should I change my clothes?”
“Because we’re going out to the southern end of your ranch,” he said. “Somewhere that a human hasn’t set foot in at least three weeks, and we’re going to sit down on the ground, and eat out of our laps.”
“We’re going to drive, right?”
“Yes, honey, but….” Trap cut off because he wasn’t quite sure how to explain the Texas wilderness to Lila Mae. She’d lived here for a couple of months, but that didn’t mean she understood how rugged Texas could be. “What’s out at the river?”
She tightened the lid on the thermos and set it in the picnic basket before facing him fully. “The river?”
Trap settled his weight on one foot. “Do you have a picnic table out there?”
“I have plans for one,” she said.
“So you’re going to spread a blanket on the ground?”
“Oh, a blanket.” She snapped her fingers. “That’s a good idea.” She moved over to the couch where he’d spent the night when he’d had heat stroke a couple of weeks ago and started to unfold it.
“You’re getting the blanket from the bed?”
“Yes,” she said. “I live in a tiny house, Trap. How much storage do you think I have?”
“It’ll get dirty,” he said.
“That’s fine. I’ve got a washing machine here.”
“I still can’t believe you didn’t want a stackable unit,” he said.
“I thought it took up too much room, and it eliminates the counter space in that corner.”
Trap turned to look in the corner of the kitchen where she had her washing machine. Yes, a stackable unit with a dryer ontop would eliminate the butcher block he’d put over it. He could see her point.
“You could bring it to my place,” he said. “I can wash it and dry it.”
“It’ll be fine.” She wore a cute-as-heck sundress with wide straps that went up over her shoulders, and Trap figured he might as well enjoy it if she wasn’t going to change. Still, he should be responsible too.
“Are you going to bring sunscreen?” he asked.
