He simply let himself be with Lila Mae, with the warmth of her body against his and the gentle rise and fall of her chest as she breathed. He listened to the sounds of the wind in the trees, and the whole world slowed down to the point where Trap could hear and feel God talking to him.
The pastor’s sermon that morning had been on seeking for and taking counsel, not only from those here on earth, but from God Himself. Trap felt like he did a good job involving his parents in the major decisions of his life, but he had room to improve on kneeling down before the Lord and asking for His guidance and help.
Pastor Glover had pointed out several instances in the scriptures where God had invited his sons and daughters to walk with Him. Trap closed his eyes and prayed silently.If You will light my way, I will go where You want me to go, Trap thought.And I will do what You want me to do.
A voice from the heavens didn’t shake the trees, and no thoughts entered Trap’s mind. But he stayed in that moment, leaving the option open for his Heavenly Father to communicate with him.
He felt himself drifting, and he simply let it happen, because he hadn’t felt this relaxed in a long, long time, and he knew that had everything to do with the woman in his arms.
Trap started to feel like he was falling, and one of his legs jerked. He opened his eyes, realized where he was—still in the hammock with Lila Mae with a blue sky peeking through the leaves—and he let his eyes drift closed again. He wasn’t physically falling, but he was definitely falling in love with Lila Mae right there on a ranch he’d once thought should be condemned, in something as simple as a hammock strung between two trees.
25
Excitement bubbled just beneath Lila Mae’s vocal cords. She glanced over to Thad as he pointed across the dashboard of her SUV. “He’s going to meet us in the stables,” he said. “Make a left onto that dirt road. It goes right around the back of it.”
Lila Mae nodded, swallowed, and turned down the dirt road Thad had indicated, where she and her veterinarian were meeting with Smiles Glover. He and his brother, Rock, had agreed to take Lila Mae through their animal care operation and how they did things at Shiloh Ridge.
Though her cat sanctuary wasn’t the same thing as a full-blown cattle ranch, she thought she had plenty to learn from people who had been treating animals on their property for decades. Hailey had set up another tour for her at Three Rivers Ranch next week, and Lila Mae was excited to meet the owner, Libby Jackson. Another woman running a ranch—oh, the questions Lila Mae had for Libby.
Trap, Jason, and Sawyer continued to finish facilities around Feline Friends, and Lila Mae was almost ready to open her operation at full capacity. She had twenty-one cats right now, and Trap had finished the community center while Jason hadconverted one of the buildings that had used to house pigs into Cat House One.
Lila Mae had moved all of her healthy cats into that area, and the nine of them lived happily there with an outdoor play yard, indoor facilities, air conditioning, and a staff of two that fed the cats, cleaned the house, and handled clients who came to inquire about adoptions.
The existing hen house had not been big enough to convert into a feline home, at least if Lila Mae wanted there to be more than three or four cats there. Cat House One could hold eighteen comfortably, and Lila Mae had just given the go-ahead to Trap that morning to relocate the hen house to her personal property near the woods, and use the site to build from scratch a second cat enclosure.
He kept her up-to-date with everything happening at Feline Friends, of course, but she didn’t know his hour-by-hour schedule. He knew she’d be at Shiloh Ridge most of the day, and Lila Mae pulled up next to the biggest, baddest, blackest truck she’d ever laid eyes on.
It intimidated her, as did the whole of Shiloh Ridge, but she put the car in park and killed the engine before she looked over to Thad. “All right,” she said.
“Have you got your list of questions ready?” He grinned at her, clearly teasing.
Lila Mae flashed him a tight smile. “Yes,” she said. “Thanks for reminding me.” She made a big deal out of opening the console between them and pulling out her notebook. Thad shook his head, but he was also new at this and had agreed that going around to a few places wouldn’t be a bad idea.
Lila Mae wanted to tour one of the veterinarian offices in town, and she’d actually spoken to Elaine Walker about that, as Hailey had told her that she had contacts there. But September and October were exceptionally busy in a ranching and farmingcommunity as everyone prepared for Market Day and the upcoming winter.
Not only did the local offices deal with personal pets, but they made ranch calls for those who didn’t have a full-time veterinarian like Shiloh Ridge. Even Trap’s cousins’ huge operation at Seven Sons didn’t employ a full-time veterinarian and relied on the small-town offices and their doctors to come out and do cattle vaccinations, equine checks, and more.
“There he is,” Thad said, and he laughed before he even got out of the car.
Lila Mae watched as he jogged around the front of her SUV and grabbed onto a tall, dark-haired man with blazing blue eyes: Smiles Glover. His brother stood barely a hair shorter than him, but he was made of midnight from head to toe, as the man even wore black jeans and a black-and-white plaid shirt with long sleeves, cuffed over his forearms. He wore a black cowboy hat in direct opposition to Smiles’s lighter brown one. Though he smiled and shook Thad’s hand too, he definitely carried the more serious genes between the two of them.
“Rock,” Lila Mae whispered, finding it so apt that his name matched his demeanor and appearance while Smiles’s did exactly the same. They both looked at her as Thad spun his attention over his shoulder, and Lila Mae jumped into action. She got out of the car, quickly deposited her keys in her bag, and strode toward them.
“Thank you so much for meeting with me,” she said as she approached.
“Yeah, of course.” Smiles reached for her hand and shook it. “It’s our pleasure to have you here at Shiloh Ridge.” He glanced over to Rock, who didn’t seem to share his enthusiasm. “When you’ve heard great things about a person from two separate sources, you’ve got to pay attention.”
Lila Mae’s southern breeding kept her smile hitched in place. “Two sources?” She flicked a look over to Thad, who simply kept smiling like a five-year-old on Christmas morning who’d gotten every present he’d wished for.
“Yeah,” Smiles said. “Thad here has been talking you up, and Trap says you’re one of a kind.”
Lila Mae blinked because she had no idea what that meant. “Oh, well,” she laughed lightly, though she wanted to know when and how much Trap had been talking about her with his friends.
“I think they’re both pretty great too, and I think we’re probably all doing the best we can.” That life lesson had actually come from her father, as he’d been the one to tell Lila Mae to just do her best and let God work everything else out.
Momma said that too, but she didn’t actually believe it. She’d counteracted Daddy’s advice and told Lila Mae over and over that sometimes even someone’s best wasn’t enough, and that Lila Mae would have to do hard things in her life. She might have to fire people, or demand better from them, or cut ties with people who brought her down.
Lila Maehadhad to do those things in the years she’d worked at Dixon’s Delights, but she’d never thought she’d have to cut ties with her own family…until she’d done it.
