Chapter 39
“Let’s just go.”
Trap looked over his shoulder as a terrible clattering sound filled his house, originating from the kitchen where Lila Mae had been working for the past hour on her sweet potato casserole.
“It didn’t work.” She sighed and leaned into the countertop.
He got to his feet and rounded the couch to where his frustrated girlfriend stood with an oven mitt planted on her hip in pure frustration. He looked at the goopy marshmallow mess still somewhat…foaming over the dark orange yams.
“Why are some of them burnt and some of them aren’t melted?”
Lila Mae looked at him with pure disgust in her expression, and Trap backed up, realizing he’d made a huge mistake.
“I mean—”
“I—can—see—it.” She swatted his chest with the oven mitt with every word. “If I knew why it was like that, I would’ve done something different.” She pulled her hand back for another swipe, and Trap grabbed her wrist.
He grinned at her, then pulled her toward him. She stumbled over her own feet and grunted, but Trap held her upright against his body. “It doesn’t matter, sweetheart.” He couldn’t stop smiling for some reason. “My momma’s not going to care about the sweet potatoes one way or another.”
Lila Mae sighed, and he extracted the weaponous oven mitt from her hand and tossed it onto the counter beside the sweet potatoes.
“I’m sure they taste fine, and what we bring to Thanksgiving dinner isn’t going to change how my momma feels about you.”
“I just want her to like me,” Lila Mae said with a sigh.
“Honey, it’s impossible not to like you,” he said. “Besides, she already loves you, just like I do.”
Lila Mae sucked in a breath, and Trap froze. He suddenly didn’t feel so much like laughing, and he stood there in his very quiet kitchen, only the oven ticking to tell him that it was still on and the sound of his very own loud heartbeat.
Maybe Lila Mae would just let this go.
“What did you say?” she asked.
Okay, maybe not.
Could two people fall in love in only four months?
Trap wasn’t sure why he’d assigned an ambiguous timeline to what was acceptable for a relationship, but somewhere along the way, he had. He released her hand and pulled his arm back to his side, leaving Lila Mae to stand on her own two feet.
His face suddenly felt too hot, but he and Lila Mae had spent some pretty great months together since their rebrand in late September.
“I’m just saying,” he said, his voice sounding a bit too deep and definitely too rough. “The sweet potatoes don’t matter.”
“That is not what you said.” Lila Mae fell back a step and put her hands on her hips.
“It’s exactly what I said.” He turned away from her, his mind racing.
He’d been getting closer and closer to understanding how he felt and labeling those emotions and experiences as all part of this network of love. But was he in love?
He felt like he needed to sit down with his daddy and talk it all out. The backs of his legs hit his dining room table, and Trap decided to sit down right there and talk it all out with Lila Mae.
“Can we talk for a minute before we go to my uncle’s house?”
Lila Mae tilted her head and narrowed her eyes. “About what?”
“Come sit with me.” He flapped one hand at her, seemingly every word in the English language jumbled together in his mind.
She seemed to drag her feet, but she did take the few steps to him, and Trap eased her onto his lap. Everything within him sighed, because this was Lila Mae, his very best friend in the world, someone he told all of his worries, concerns, and secrets to, and the woman he loved.
A small smile touched his face, and Trap basked in this feeling as it grew, coursed through him, and filled his mind, body, and soul.
He wanted to be eloquent and charming in this moment, as Lila Mae was his queen and deserved someone who understood how royal and beautiful and perfect she was.
“Trap, you’re kind of scaring me,” she whispered.
He swallowed and still didn’t come up with the perfect thing to say. He told himself that what existed in his heart was perfect, and he just needed to get it out.
He leaned his head forward and touched the tip of his nose to Lila Mae’s cheekbone. “I’m in love with you,” he said. Just like that. No preface and no embarrassment and no cleared throats—just pure, unadulterated love.
“I don’t know when it happened,” he said.
“Somewhere along the way of building Feline Friends and going to church and laying in the hammock, I suppose. I love how you’re so passionate about cats, or maybe I fell in love with you because you put up with my grumpiness after a long day on the job, or because you’ll listen to me talk about anything. ”
Lila Mae sniffled. Trap pulled away and looked at her, not surprised she’d gotten emotional, but wanting to see it. She kept her head down, though, studying something on the front of his shirt.
“And I know we’ve been talking about marriage and family and kids, but something really important has to come before all of that—and that’s love.”
She nodded, and that gave Trap the courage to continue.
“You’re my best friend, Lila Mae,” he whispered. “And when I think about the happiest times of my life, you’re in them. When we unveiled Cat House Four, and you couldn’t stop smiling, and then you cried over a place for your pregnant felines.”
He smiled just thinking about that moment. “When we danced together at Ty’s wedding. That was magical. Lying in the hammock, talking about rest and dreaming of what this ranch could be. I want all of that, but I only want it if it’s me and you.”
Lila Mae sniffled, and she leaned her head back and blinked rapidly. “I can’t believe I’m crying about this.”
Trap grinned at her. “Remember how we said crying wasn’t a weakness?”
She sniffled, wiped her eyes, and nodded. She looked at him then, and Trap saw his entire future in her eyes.
“I want you.” He leaned forward again and pressed his cheek to hers. “I want us. I want my own office building out at Feline Friends. I want the good, the bad, and everything in between, but I know I’ll only survive all of that if you’re the one at my side.”
She nodded, a smile appearing among her tears. “I love you too, Trap.”
Pure joy pumped through him, and he slid one hand along the side of her face and drew her into the best kiss of his life.
She kissed him back with equal fervor, and while Trap had seen his friends fall in love and talk about their girlfriends, fiancées, and wives, he’d never known how it really felt.
She pulled away, both of her arms wrapped around him as well. She didn’t go far, and they simply breathed in together.
“I noticed you didn’t say that you wanted Cleo.”
That scoff burst out of Trap’s mouth now. “That’s because that cat—”
Lila Mae’s laughter cut him off, and she straightened and looked at him. He realized she was teasing him, and he grinned and shook his head.
She slid from his lap and extended a hand back to him. “Come on. We’ve got to go. I barely had time to finish those sweet potatoes before we needed to get to your uncle’s in the first place.”
“It’s fine,” he said, though he put his hand in hers and got to his feet.
They were celebrating Thanksgiving at his uncle Jeremiah’s place. He lived in the original homestead at Seven Sons Ranch, and all they had to do was go out Trap’s front door and cross his uncle’s expansive back lawn to reach their Thanksgiving meal.
“I’m not taking that,” Lila Mae said, indicating the marshmallowy mess on the stovetop.
“It’s fine.” Trap reached for the pumpkin bread he’d bought at the bakery last night. “We still have something to offer, and I’m sure I’ll get a ton of leftovers. I can eat those with a turkey sandwich next week.”
Lila Mae frowned at the sweet potatoes. “I’m not even sure they’re edible.”
Trap only chuckled. “I’m sure they are, Lila Mae. What could possibly have gone wrong? It’s yams and brown sugar.”
“Charring,” Lila Mae said, and then she turned away from the kitchen and swiped Cleo’s leash off the island. “I don’t think I’m going to put her in the cat carrier.”
“All right,” Trap said. “I’m sure she’ll have plenty of admirers.”
Cleo was a total diva, and she liked anyone who would sit with her, tell her how beautiful she was, and stroke her ears and along her back.
All of Trap’s siblings had come into town for Thanksgiving, and Uncle Jeremiah’s whole family would be there as well, including JJ, Ruby, and Jade, and Tate, Clara Jean, and Zuke.
Uncle Skyler’s three kids would also be there, including Camila and Gun, and Trap would have plenty of allies and really good friends at the celebration.
His heart filled with gratitude as he left the cowboy cabin and took Lila Mae’s free hand in his when she reached the bottom of the stairs.
“What are you going to do now that you’re almost done at my place?” Lila Mae asked.
Trap cut a look out of the side of his eye. “Jason’s been talking to someone at the Parks and Rec Department.”
“What?” Lila Mae looked fully at him. “How long have you been waiting to tell me that?”
Trap chuckled and shook his head. “He finally set up a meeting for next week. He’s really excited about it, so you could ask him about that today.”
“Can I?” she asked. “It’s public knowledge?”
“Yeah, sure,” Trap said. “I mean, we don’t have a contract from the city yet, but Jason’s working on it.”
“What do they want you guys to do?” she asked.
“Pavilion rebuilds at all city parks,” he said. “It includes some campsites out at Bald Mountain. It’s a huge contract.”
“Wow,” Lila Mae said.
“Yeah.” Trap sighed happily. “Another six-month build. It’s good, steady money coming in.”
They climbed the steps to Uncle Jeremiah’s back deck, and Trap heard the laughter and chatter from inside the house as the back sliding door already stood open.
He thought about the diamond ring across the street at his parents’ house. He could probably sneak out among all the hubbub here and get it, and maybe he could ask Lila Mae to marry him that night.
He quickly dismissed the idea, because he had a plan for his proposal, and it wasn’t going to happen on the same day he told her he’d loved her for the first time, and then they stuffed themselves with turkey and mashed potatoes.
“I’ll check,” Jason said, and then he stepped out onto the deck. “Oh, he’s right here.” His face transformed into a smile. “My daddy was just asking about you guys.”
His eyes dropped down to where Cleo walked on a leash and then quickly rebounded to Trap’s, widening as they did.
“Sorry, we’re late,” Lila Mae said.
Trap simply laughed at the look on his cousin’s face, and he let Lila Mae go into the house ahead of him as he stopped in front of Jason and drew him into a hug.
“She has a cat on a leash,” Jason said.
“I told you,” Trap pulled away and grinned at him. “And your sisters are gonna love it.”
Sure enough, squealing came from inside the house, and Trap was pretty sure his own sisters’ voices were part of that. Trap chuckled at the still stunned look on Jason’s face, and then he stepped into his uncle’s house as well.
Trap had grown up in this large, loud family, and while Lila Mae had met a lot of them, they’d never all been in one room like this before. He looked over to her, standing among Laurel, Daisy, Camila, Clara Jean, and his aunt Whitney.
She smiled widely and then gestured with one arm, as if to say, Look at all these people.
“And this is less than half of us,” he said right out loud.
The twins were celebrating Thanksgiving with Uncle Rhett, and Uncle Wyatt and Aunt Marcy had gone up to Wyoming to celebrate with their kids.
“Hey, my boy,” Daddy said, and Trap stepped into the arms of his father. “Happy Thanksgiving.”
“Happy Thanksgiving, Daddy,” Trap said back, a new idea blossoming in his mind. “Are Momma and the girls going shopping tomorrow?”
“I don’t know,” Daddy said. “Maybe not at five a.m., but yeah, they’ll probably go over to the mall.”
“Maybe we could go to breakfast or lunch,” he said.
Daddy swung his full attention to him, pure curiosity burning in his eyes. “Why? What’s on your mind?”
Trap grinned over to Lila Mae, where Momma had just joined the circle and held her in a hug.
“I need ideas for how to propose to Lila Mae,” he said.
Daddy pulled in a breath, wearing one of the grimmest expressions Trap had ever seen on his face. “Breakfast, then. Seven a.m.”
“Oh, come on, Daddy, we’re not working tomorrow. Eight.”
“All right, eight,” Daddy said.
Trap grinned at him and then stepped around him. “Great, don’t tell Momma.”
“Don’t tell Momma?”
Trap didn’t reply as he moved over to where Jason stood with Gun, Sawyer, and Tate, ready to save the proposal chatter for another day and focus on everything he had to be grateful for instead.