Misty woke up just fine the next morning without the annoying sound of her alarm blaring in her ear. Stretching her arms above her head, she also thought about how nice it is that Junior didn't come running into her room to wake her up. 

     Just as Misty thought that, however, her bedroom door opened wide, and Junior made his appearance. Groaning, Misty prepared herself to get splashed with water, or have Junior come running and jump on her bed. 

     Junior, instead, stood in the doorway. "Oh, good, you're awake." He said, seeing Misty sitting up in her bed.

     "Yeah, I'm awake. Why?" Misty asked her brother who was still standing just outside of her bedroom.

     "Well, you have a date with Clay today." Junior leaned against the door frame. 

     "How do you know about that?" Misty asked, glaring at her brother. Swatting the air, Misty continued, "Never mind. Yeah, I have a date with Clay, but he isn't coming to pick me up until 8:30 and it's only..." Misty reached to her side and grabbed her cell phone. Pressing a button so she could see the time, Misty saw that it was, "Eight o'clock?!" Misty threw her phone down next to her on the bed, and jumped out of bed, frantically running to her closet, looking for something cute to wear. 

     Pulling out the first shirt she found, she turned to Junior. "How does this shirt look?" Misty held the shirt up.

     "Looks like something you just pulled out of the closet and threw on because you forgot about your date." Junior said, showing his snarky side. 

     Misty stopped frantically flipping through all of her clothes in her closet to turn to Junior and glare. "I didn't forget about my date. My alarm didn't go off for some reason. Now, get out of here, I need to get ready for this date." Misty said. She threw a shirt across the room at Junior, attempting to persuade him to leave.

     "You're welcome for wakin' you up." Junior said as he walked out of Misty's bedroom.

     "Thanks!" Misty shouted after him. 

     After emptying nearly her entire closet out onto her bed and trying out five different shirts, holding each of them up, seeing which would match best, Misty finally settled on a pair of nicer Wranglers and a light blue and silver button down shirt. To complete her outfit, Misty decided on her pair of light cowboy boots with crosses on the foot and shaft. 

     Checking her phone, she was surprised that she still had about 15 minutes until Clay was supposed to come and pick her up. Walking to the bathroom, Misty quickly turned on the water in the shower, brushing her teeth as she waited for the water to get warm. Hopping in the shower, Misty was thankful for the water that soothed her tired, sore, and not to mention, stinky body. A shower felt wonderful after being on the cattle drive for so long, without any running water, and just a feed trough for a bath. 

        After she was finished showering, she ran a comb through her hair, freeing any knots and tangles that the conditioner easily got out. Seeing the time on her phone again, Misty saw that she was officially late for her date with Clay, but knew he wouldn't mind waiting a few minutes for her to get cleaned up. Plugging in her hair dryer, Misty sprayed the anti-frizz spray on her hair before allowing the heat to dry her long hair. Looking in the mirror, she debated pulling her hair back in a braid, like she normally would have, but she remembered how Clay loved it when she kept it down. With a nod, Misty decided that her hair looked as good as it would get. Making sure her towel was tight around her, Misty picked up her phone, exiting the bathroom. 

     As she was walking back to her room, Misty heard a knock on the front door downstairs. Stopping in her tracks, Misty listened for voices downstairs. She heard Junior's footsteps tromping over to the door followed by Darlene asking who it was. Finally, Misty heard Junior open the door and Clay greeting Junior. 

     Misty, suddenly feeling nervous, practically ran back to her room, and closed the door behind her. Grabbing her clothes off of her bed, Misty threw on her outfit in record time. Walking to her long mirror, she checked her appearance, smiling as she decided that her outfit looked pretty great. Convincing herself she was alright, Misty took a deep breath and grabbed her phone off of her bedside table, slipping it into the back pocket of her jeans. 

     Before she made her way to her door, Misty took one more look in the mirror. Fixing her hair slightly, Misty took another deep breath and opened her bedroom door, making her way into the hallway. 

     Once she was downstairs, Misty followed the voices she heard into the living room where the first person she saw was Clay. A swarm of butterflies instantly began to flutter in her stomach. Clay stopped talking to Darlene when he looked at Misty. "Wow..." softly escaped his lips; his cheeks began to turn a reddish color when he realized that he accidentally said what he was thinking. 

     A huge smile broke out on Misty's face as she stepped into the living room. Clay stood up from the recliner he was sitting on, his hat in his hand. Walking over to Misty, Clay wrapped an arm around her waist and leaned in, acting like he was going to kiss her, right in front of her step-mom and little brother. Instead, Clay leaned in and whispered in Misty's ear, "You are absolutely beautiful." 

     Misty's cheeks turned an even brighter red at Clay's comment. "Thanks." She whispered, smiling up at the handsome man who had an arm around her waist. 

     Still smiling at Misty, Clay asked, "You ready to head out?" 

     Misty just nodded. Clay dropped his arms from Misty's waist to go give Darlene a hug. Before walking back to Misty, Clay roughed up Junior's hair. 

     "Y'all have fun today, kids. We will see you in a while." Darlene said after Misty and Clay.

     "Yes, ma'am." Clay smiled. He held the door open for Misty, allowing her out first. 

     Once the two were outside, Misty saw Clay's truck right in front of the porch; the passenger side door closest to the stairs of the porch. "I tried to park as close to your house as I could so you wouldn't have to walk that far on your knee." Clay explained, giving Misty a hand down the steps; she accepted it, but not because she needed the help. 

     Once she got down the steps, she didn't let go of Clay's hand. Instead, she held onto it, pulling herself closer to Clay. "You really are the best, aren't you?"

     "You're not so bad yourself, Misty McAdams." Clay smiled, leaning in to give Misty a light kiss on her cheek. 

     Letting go of Misty's hand, Clay opened the front passenger side door of his Ford blue F-250. Once Misty was seated inside, Clay shut the door, making his way over to the driver side. 

     The second Clay got into his truck, buckled his seat belt, and turned the key, Misty got butterflies in her stomach again. She had never been so nervous for anything in her life before. Clay made it even harder for her when he grabbed her hand as he drove.

     "So, how'd you sleep last night?" Misty asked, looking at Clay. 

     A smile spread across Clay's lips. "Lonely and cold without you lying next to me." Misty thought she might've seen a little redness rising beneath Clay's tan cheeks, but she couldn't be sure. Clay kept his eyes on the road, but Misty leaned over and placed a kiss on the side of Clay's lips. That brought Clay's eyes off of the road, and over to Misty, who was still leaned over the center console. Clay, looking back to the road momentarily before looking to Misty again, leaned over, closing the gap between them with a kiss. 

     Pulling back after the first kiss to look back to the road, Clay said, "I missed you." 

     "I missed you, too." Misty still stared at Clay. Placing her free hand on top of Clay's hand that she was still holding, Misty added, "Thank you for everything, Clay." It came out just above a whisper. 

     Clay didn't respond; instead, he just smiled, giving Misty's hand a slight squeeze, setting it on her knee. "How's the knee feelin' today?"

     "Pretty sore, but that's the wrong knee." Misty replied, motioning down to Clay's hand on her left knee. "I fell on my right knee." 

     "I know, but I can't reach your right knee unless I was to lean across the console, but that might be kinda hard since I'm drivin', but I mean, I can always try." Clay said. He mischievously leaned across the console, while still somehow keeping his foot on the pedal and eyes on the road. "There," Clay started, his hand on Misty's right knee. "Is that better?"  

     Misty couldn't help but chuckle. "No, you goofball. You focus on your drivin'." Since Clay was so close to her, Misty leaned sideways, placing a soft kiss right beneath his ear, a spot she had learned that Clay loved. 

     Clay sat back normally in his seat, bringing Misty's hand that he was holding back to rest on the center console. Turning his head to Misty, Clay smiled his cockeyed grin. "I can't wait until I get to kiss you again, Mist."  

     Misty, unsure how to respond, just smiled. When she felt the redness rising in her cheeks, Misty turned her head to look out of the window.  

     Clay and Misty finally arrived to the urgent care after another half-hour drive. As always, Clay opened Misty's door and offered her a hand out of the truck, making sure that she did not land on her knee.

     Once they were inside, Clay told Misty to take a seat in the waiting room so he could get her on the waiting list. There weren't a large number of people waiting to be seen in the urgent care, since it had opened only about a half hour before, so Misty was hopeful that she wouldn't have to wait long to be seen by a doctor. 

     Misty took the closest seat to where Clay was at, at the register desk. 

     "Hi, patient name and date of birth, please." The nurse behind the desk asked Clay. 

     "Name is Misty McAdams. And birthday is...um..." Clay looked over to Misty, silently asking her for her birthday. 

     It was at that moment that Misty realized just how little her and Clay actually knew about each other. Maybe Jace was right about how little they have actually talked, but maybe that's what first dates are about, right? "October 11, 1996."

     "October 11, 1996." Clay repeated to the nurse. He relayed some other basic information to the registrar about what brought them into urgent care today, and about insurance, etc. After a couple more minutes, Clay joined Misty in the waiting room, yielding a plastic identification bracelet. "Here, I'll put it on for you." Clay said, reaching for Misty's left hand; Clay carefully put the bracelet on Misty's wrist, checking with her before pulling the tape too tight. 

     As Misty was waiting to be called back, she held Clay's hand. "I know it's a lot to ask, but would you mind comin' back with me when they call me?" Misty had a worried expression on her face; she wasn't super fond of doctor's offices mainly because she has always been concerned that whatever problem she goes in with, she will come out with it seeming a lot worse than she thought. 

     "Of course I will come back with you." Clay responded, giving Misty a reassuring smile. 

     "Thank you." Misty returned the smile. 

     While they were waiting for Misty to be called back, Clay had grabbed a magazine from the rack beside them, and opening it, Clay began to make jokes about anything and everything within it. He could tell that Misty was concerned about what the doctor would say, so he was attempting to do whatever he could to make Misty laugh. 

     A surprisingly short fifteen minutes later, a nurse in teal colored scrubs came into the waiting room, holding a file. Looking down at the list, the nurse searched for the next person to be seen. "Misty McAdams?" The nurse called out. 

     Clay grabbed his cowboy hat with one hand, and with the other, he set the magazine on the table beside them before placing his free hand on the small of Misty's back as she limped into the hallway leading back to the observation rooms.  

     "How are you today, Miss McAdams?" The kind nurse asked as she led the two to a room.

     "Pretty well, and yourself?" Misty asked. 

     "Great, thank you. Our room is right here on the left." The nurse stopped walking and pointed to her left, allowing Misty and Clay to walk in first.  

     "Alright, Misty. My name is Martha, and I will be the nurse assisting you. So, what brings you in today?" Martha asked, looking at Misty. 

     Clay took a seat in one of the padded chairs in the small room while Misty sat on the observation table. Misty explained what had happened during the roundup- how she got thrown and landed on her wrist and knee, and so on. As Misty talked, Martha jotted down notes in Misty's file. 

     "Alright, so we will definitely be doing an x-ray today then." Martha said, opening a drawer in the cupboards, pulling out a white and green hospital gown. Handing the gown to Misty, Martha asked, "After you change, are you okay if he stays in here with you?" She gestured to Clay. When Misty nodded, Martha turned to Clay, "If you don't mind, I'll have you step out as she changes into her gown, and I'll let you know when it's safe to step back in." 

     "Yes ma'am." Clay obliged, exiting the room.

     After the coast was clear, Martha told Misty, "You can leave your undergarments on under the gown, but your shirt, pants, and boots will need to come off, and let me know when you are done changing, and I can help tie the back so nothing shows."

     Misty nodded, carefully slipping off the bed to change. Once she was finished, and her gown tied up, Martha peaked her head back outside of the room, allowing Clay back inside.

      Martha took Misty's vitals and asked a few more questions before kindly explaining to Misty the next few things they will be doing. Martha asked Misty if she had ever had an x-ray done before, and when Misty replied with, "Yes, many times." Martha smiled and told Misty that this would be a piece of cake, then.

     Asking Misty to lay out flat on the bed, Martha got the bed ready to roll out to the x-ray room. "I'll grab you a blanket, too, so your legs don't get cold." Martha said, grabbing a blanket from the cupboard, spreading it out over Misty's legs. 

     "Thank you, I appreciate it." Misty thanked Martha. 

     "No problem, you all set there dear?" Martha asked Misty. 

     "Yes ma'am." Misty replied. "Is Clay allowed to walk down with us, and then just stand outside of the x-ray room?"

     "Absolutely." Martha responded. 

     With the request, Clay stood up, cowboy hat in hand and walked beside Misty as she was wheeled down to the x-ray room. As they walked, Clay held Misty's hand; her hand was cold, making Clay wonder if she was more nervous then she was letting on.

     Once they got to the x-ray room, Martha kindly asked Clay to wait for them outside of the room, assuring her the test will only take a few minutes. 

     As promised, a few minutes later, Misty was wheeled out to the hallway where Clay grabbed the hand Misty held out to him as Martha wheeled Misty back to her room.

     Once Misty's bed was settled back in the room, Martha explained, "The x-rays will take about a half hour to be processed, but when they are ready, Dr. Brennan will be in to discuss them with you. Is there anything I can get y'all in the meantime?" 

     "No, ma'am, I think we are good. Thank you." Misty responded. 

     Once Martha left the room, Clay stood up and walked over to the magazine rack on the wall by the window. "Let's see here...lemme see if I can find another magazine that would make you laugh." Clay said, analyzing each and every magazine choice. "Ooh, here's a good one." Clay finally decided on a cooking magazine. Making his way over to Misty, he jumped up beside her on the bed and stretched out his legs, crossing his ankles. 

     Misty chuckled at Clay. "Are you comfortable?" 

     "Wait..." Clay shifted, slipping his arm around Misty's shoulders and scooting closer to her. "Now I'm comfortable. Here, now you can use my arm as a pillow. Are you okay? Would you like me to raise the back of the bed anymore or anything?" Clay asked Misty.

     "Thank you, but I'm good." Misty replied, snuggling closer to Clay, resting her head on his shoulder. 

     "Are you sure? You're not cold, or anything?" Caring Clay asked, pulling Misty's blanket up higher on her waist and fiddling with it to make sure that her legs and feet were completely covered.

     Misty placed a hand on Clay's jaw, placing a kiss on his cheekbone. "I'm perfectly fine. Thank you, though, sweetheart."  

     "You're welcome." Clay smiled. Opening the cooking magazine, Clay said, "Let's see what we got here. Are there any good recipes in here? Y'know, the ones that look so delicious and perfect in the magazine, but require like 150 ingredients that don't exist in normal grocery stores and then when you finally special order all the ingredients and make the recipe, it looks and tastes nothing like it's supposed to? Let's look for those recipes." Clay started, flipping through the pages in the magazine. 

     Misty had never laughed so hard while looking at a magazine before. Clay was just genuinely and naturally funny, and Misty loved that about him. Any anxiety that she had while waiting for her x-ray results dissipated entirely as her and Clay laughed.  

     A knock on the door silenced Clay and Misty's laugh. Misty immediately pulled back from her snuggled up position against Clay. Clay, taking a hint, hopped down from the bed, returning to his chair.  "Come in." Misty answered the knock.

     "Hi, Misty McAdams?" A middle aged doctor asked, peeking his head inside of the room.

     "Yes sir." Misty responded, scooting herself up on the bed more so she was sitting more upright.

     "Hi, Misty. I'm Dr. Brennan." The kind-looking doctor introduced, extending his hand to Misty, then to Clay. 

     Over the course of the next few minutes, Dr. Brennan explained the results of the x-rays to Misty. Thankfully, there were no broken bones, from what he could see. At the time, even though it had been several days since the accident, Dr. Brennan explained that Misty's wrist was still too swollen to tell for sure that nothing was broken. "Martha will come back in to give you a brace for your knee and wrist. Wear them the whole day except take them off to go to bed, and if the pain and swelling persists, and the bruising does not improve after a week, I would like you to come back in and visit us again. We will do another x-ray and potentially an MRI or CAT scan, just to be absolutely certain that nothing is broken. Honestly, I am more concerned about your your wrist because it seems like you can't move it at all. But from what you've told me, you can still put weight on your knee, but it causes you discomfort." Dr. Brennan told Misty to take Tylenol for pain, and after asking if Misty or Clay if they had any questions, he thanked them for coming, then said that Martha would be in shortly to give Misty her braces. 

     Not long after Dr. Brennan left, Martha came in to Misty's room, filling her in on how to wear the braces, then exited the room with Clay so that Misty could get dressed. Once she was dressed, Misty met Martha and Clay in the hallway where Martha walked them back to the check-out desk.

     After they were checked out, Clay led Misty back outside to his truck. Once inside, Clay plopped his hat on his head and a huge smile took over his face. "What are you smilin' at?" Misty asked, a smile creeping onto her own lips.

     "I am just seriously so excited to take you out on our date now." Clay replied. He had one hand out of his open window and the other on the steering wheel. 

     "Oh, the urgent care wasn't our date?" Misty teased. 

     "Darlin', that was only the precursor to the date I have planned for us." Clay replied, looking at Misty. 

     With a chuckle, Misty stated, "Geez. The way that you've built up this date, it better be extravagant." 

     "Darlin', every moment I am with you is extravagant." Clay smiled. Switching hands on the wheel, Clay reached across the console to grab Misty's hands, lacing his fingers through hers. Turning more serious, Clay asked Misty, "Would you like me to stop at the store to get you some Tylenol or anything before we head out?"

     "No, that's alright. Thank you, though." Misty replied, she was flattered by the offer.

     "Alright, darlin'. Just let me know if you change your mind. I don't want you to be in pain." 

     "Thank you, but I think I will be good till we get home." 

     "Okay." Clay replied, lifting Misty's hand to his lips. 

     For most of the ride, Misty and Clay sat in silence with Clay rubbing his thumb over Misty's hand. She loved the feeling of being with him, and she loved that they didn't have to talk about anything to keep that feeling there. 

     Butterflies continued to make Misty's nervousness worse the longer Clay drove. "Where are you takin' me?" Misty eventually asked thirty minutes after passing her family's ranch. 

      "We are almost there, darlin'. Just trust me." Clay smiled, slowing down his truck to turn left into a pasture. Stopping his truck, Clay let go of Misty's hand. "I'm gonna go open this gate real quick. Stay put." Clay smiled, jumping down out of his truck and jogging to the metal gate. After opening the gate, Clay hopped back in his truck enough to drive it forward. Hopping out once more, Clay closed and latched the gate behind them. "Almost there." Clay said, slowly driving through the bumpy pasture. He had a huge grin on his face, like a boy on Christmas morning. "Close your eyes." Clay said, turning to Misty.

     "What? Why?" Misty asked, giggling. 

     "Because I want it to be a surprise." Clay responded, looking at Misty, making sure her eyes were shut. 

     About three minutes later, Clay stopped his truck. "Can I open my eyes now?" Misty asked. 

     "Nuh uh. Not yet." Clay replied, opening Misty's door. "Here, gimme your hand." Clay said, holding out his hand to Misty, helping her down from the truck. Once she was safely on the ground, Clay placed his hands over Misty's eyes. A giggling Misty placed her hands over top of Clay's. "Just a few more steps." Clay said, slowly leading Misty forward. "Okay...now, open your eyes." Clay said when he stopped walking. When Misty gasped after opening her eyes, Clay stood behind her, wrapping both arms around her waist, "Misty McAdams, welcome to a little spot I like to call 'paradise.'" 

     "Paradise" was an understatement for the heaven-like sight Misty saw all around her.