“Lila Mae, are you coming to dinner at our place?” Momma asked.
Lila Mae sobered instantly, and Trap also felt himself wilt as his mother’s gaze landed on him. She looked up at him, and Trap said, “Yeah, you should come.”
“Were you going to eat over there today?”
“Yeah,” Trap said.
Lila Mae turned back to his mother. “Did you make a roast, ma’am? Trap brought me some leftovers a couple weeks ago, and it wassogood.”
“Yes,” Momma said, her smile widening at the mention of her good cooking. “But it’s pork, and we’re having barbecue sandwiches with coleslaw and homemade potato chips.”
“My mother makes thebesthomemade potato chips in the world.” Laurel beamed up at Momma and linked her arm through hers.
Trap grinned at her. “Lila Mae, this is my youngest sister, Laurel.”
“Yes, Trap has told me so much about you.”
Finally, Daddy stepped out into the aisle and took Momma with him. Laurel followed them, leaving Lila Mae and Trap to bring up the rear. He kept his hand in hers as she led him up the aisle and out into the foyer.
He went by plenty of people he knew, but he kept his head low so as not to start a conversation with them. He simply wanted to escape with Lila Mae and find that rest the pastor had talked about.
His parents always waited in line to talk to the pastor, but when Lila Mae looked at him, Trap nodded toward the door. Outside, he felt like he could breathe easier, though his tie immediately felt too tight and too hot around his neck. He reached up to loosen it, and he wasn’t the only cowboy doing that as they left the church.
“What did you think of the sermon?” Lila Mae asked.
“It was good.” Trap looked up into the wide, clear, blue sky, his thoughts on how God had created it and put everything in the right order so humans could live here on this Earth. “I don’t rest enough,” he said. “I almost didn’t come to church today, because I have so many things to do.”
Lila Mae linked her arm through his, and they walked down the sidewalk in front of the church, though he’d ridden with his parents that morning, and they’d parked in the opposite direction.
“It can be hard to rest as a rancher,” Lila Mae said. “I mean, I have to go check on the cats every day, multiple times a day, no matter what day of the week it is.”
“Yeah, I don’t think that’s what the pastor was talking about,” he said. “For me, it feels like a mental break that I need to take.”
“And anything that brings us closer to those we care about and closer to God is a good thing.” Lila Mae smiled at him, and Trap took a moment to simply drink her in, haloed by all that sunshine.
“That’s right.”
“What are you going to do after lunch?” She grinned up at him. “I already know you don’t take naps.”
He sighed, his mind feeling very drifty today and far away. “I don’t know. Maybe we should go fishing.”
“Fishing?” Lila Mae tilted her head back and laughed. “You have never once mentioned fishing.”
“Fishing is relaxing.” Trap grinned at her, enjoying the way her laughter filled his world with happiness and light. “I used to go fishing with my grandpa, and it was just me and him and the river and the wind. It feels like rest.”
“I’ve never been fishing,” Lila Mae said.
Trap came to a stop on the sidewalk and faced her. “Well, now we have to go, don’t we?”
“Do we?” She looked at him with such teasing, and he’d never had a woman look at him like this.
“I can’t believe you’ve never been fishing.”
“When’s the last time you went? Because I’m pretty sure you told me that both of your grandfathers have passed away.”
“Oh, gosh.” Trap watched the people in their Sunday best hurrying through the heat to their cars. “It’s probably been ten years.”
“We probably need a guide to take us then,” Lila Mae said.
