Misty knew that if she stood in the kitchen any longer, Clay would get suspicious. Gathering herself and her thoughts, Misty took a deep breath before heading outside. 

     When she saw Clay in the barn putting away some tack, Misty inwardly wanted to smile, just like she did every time she saw him, but because of the circumstances, a frown was frozen on her lips. 

     Remembering what she came in here to do, Misty folded her hands in front of her, walking further into the barn. "Clay..." Misty started, making Clay turn away from what he was doing. Clay smiled at the sight of Misty, but Misty kept her head down so she wasn't able to see Clay walking towards her. "Clay...we need to-" 

     In one swift motion, Clay turned Misty's face up to him and silenced her talking by pressing his lips against hers. Misty was taken aback by Clay's kiss, so instead of kissing him back, she pulled away. For the first time ever, Misty wiped Clay's kiss off of her lips. "Talk. We need to talk." Misty's voice came out so quiet that she knew Clay didn't hear her. 

     "I'm really happy to see you." Clay smiled at her, completely unaware of Misty's rejection to his kiss, or to her wiping her lips off afterwards. "How did you sleep?" Clay asked Misty, adjusting his cowboy hat on his head. 

     "Uh. Good. I slept well." Misty stumbled over her words. Clay was in way too good of a mood for Misty to break the news to him. Or at least, that's what she told herself so she wouldn't have to tell Clay what just ensued in the kitchen between her and Jace. Tucking her hands into her jean pockets, Misty asked, "How did you sleep?"

     "Pretty good actually." Clay said, walking into the tack room. Misty followed in behind him. "Okay. Lunge line, halter, lead rope, and saddle pad. Anything else you can think of that we need to work with Casper today?" Clay asked, tack in hand. 

      Misty had been staring at Clay as he walked around the tack room, grabbing what he needed. She was trying to find words to tell him the news. "Um, no, I think we're good." Misty responded, following Clay back outside of the barn. 

     Clay placed the lunge line and saddle pad over the rail of the round pen, slinging the halter and lead rope on to his shoulder. "Alright, let's go get your rascal." Clay smiled, reaching out to grab Misty's hand as they walked out to the corral together.  

      Misty held Clay's hand as they walked, but she felt like it was wrong. All she could think about was Jace and her kissing and him professing feelings for her that he had never even hinted he had. Jace's kisses were different than Clay's; she didn't know how to explain it any other way- they were just different. 

      "You seem quiet today. Everything okay?" Clay asked, looking at Misty as they walked further from the round pen, towards the pasture.

     No, everything was not okay, but how did Misty explain that to Clay? In the moment, holding hands with Clay, Misty decided that she wasn't going to tell him that she was "breaking up" with him...yet. She would tell him when she was ready, which certainly wasn't right now. In the meantime, Misty tried to rationalize what she felt when she kissed Jace. What she had felt was certainly not what she was expecting. 

     "Yeah, everything is fine." Was what Misty decided to respond with. 

     "Okay." Clay was still staring at Misty as if trying to decide if she was telling the truth or not. "Come on, Misty. Smile." Clay stopped walking to turn and shoot Misty a smile. He wrapped both his arms tight around Misty's waist, pulling her close to him. "What's it goin' to take? Do I need to kiss you? That's always seemed to work in the past." Clay bent his head down, about to lean in to kiss Misty.

     "No!" Misty replied, pulling away quickly. This time, Clay picked up on the rejection. Instantly, confusion filled Clay's face. "I-I just mean...I think that..." Misty took a breath. Should she just tell him why she couldn't kiss him? Yes, she should have, but instead, Misty lied, "I'm gettin' a cold, and it might be contagious, so I don't want you getting it." 

     Clay, seeming content with Misty's answer, started walking forward again when Misty did. "I'm sorry you're not feelin' well. I can drive to the store after we are done workin' with Casper and get you some soup if you'd like." Chivalrous Clay offered. 

     "No, that's alright. Thank you though." Misty pushed her hands into her pockets, preventing Clay from holding them. They weren't walking as close to each other now as they were before. 

     "Alright. Let me know if you change your mind." Clay smiled, pushing the halter up further on his shoulder. "For the record, I wouldn't mind gettin' sick if I meant I still got to kiss you." Clay replied, that cock eyed grin taking over his lips.

     "Duly noted." Misty nodded. Any other day, she would've thought that that was the sweetest thing Clay could say to her, but today was not that day.

     Arriving at the corral, Clay opened the gate. "I'll go grab Casper. You mind getting the gates for me?" 

     Misty nodded in response, waiting outside the medium sized corral for Clay to catch her mustang. Watching Clay, Misty was still in awe how quick Casper was learning. Sure, Misty and Clay had been working with him for several hours every day for the past three weeks or so, but even still, Casper was one of the craziest horses in the herd this year, so it brought Misty satisfaction to see the stallion being willing to have a halter slipped over his head. 

     Misty opened and closed all of the necessary gates for Clay as they walked back to the round pen. "So, I was thinkin' we could try some sacking out methods with him today. That's why I brought out the saddle pad. He's been receiving all of our training really well, so I thought we could go ahead and try a pad. What do you think?" 

     "Sure, sounds good." Misty replied, walking next to Clay and Casper. 

     When they got back to the round pen, Misty opened the gate, allowing Clay to walk Casper in. However, Clay handed the lead rope to Misty. "Shoot, I forgot the lunge whip. You go ahead and unclip the lead rope, and I'll go grab the lunge whip and some brushes. I'll be right back." Clay said, closing the gate behind Misty and Casper. He jogged over to the barn as Misty walked Casper to the center of the round pen. 

     Misty stroked Casper's neck a little before unclipping the lead rope from his halter. Walking to the rail of the round pen, Misty added the lead rope to the other tack. Grabbing the lunge line, Misty stared at the barn, anticipating Clay's return. Why was she having such a hard time telling Clay that she kissed Jace, and that Jace had feelings for her...true feelings. Her mind clouded with indecisiveness, Misty didn't see Clay emerging from the barn, let alone hear him shout her name, and start running towards her in the round pen. 

     Snapping out of her conflicted feelings, Misty heard a sharp whinny behind her. Turning a second too late, Misty saw a spooked Casper running around the round pen, heading straight for her. Misty tried to jump the fence, but was too late. Casper, who tried slowing down, but with little avail, collided with Misty, hitting her hard. Misty fell to the ground with an "Umph." Before she could roll away, Misty felt one of Casper's hooves come down on her rib cage. Immediately, Misty exclaimed in pain, grabbing her side, and curling up into the fetal position. 

     Finally, Clay was in the round pen, sliding down right beside Misty. "Misty, sweetheart, are you okay?!" Clay shouted in concern, on his knees, resting a hand on Misty's leg. 

     Keeping one hand on her ribs, Misty used her other to try to push herself off the ground so she could sit up. A hand gently pressing downward on her shoulder forced Misty to lay back down on the round pen dirt. "Don't try to sit up, Misty. Just lay down." Clay demanded. Out of the corner of his eye, Clay saw Casper trying to come back over to where Misty lay. Taking his hands off of Misty, Clay removed his hat, waving it at Casper as he stood up. Walking away from Misty, Clay told Casper to "git." Opening the round pen gate, Clay waved Casper out, shutting the gate after him. 

     Misty lifted her hurting body so she was sitting upright. Using the hand that was not on her ribs, Misty scooted herself over to the round pen fence, leaning back against it. Clay, seeing Misty had moved, ran over to her. "Misty, I told you not to move!" Clay's voice said, raised in concern. 

     "I'm fine, Clay." Misty lied to Clay for the second time. She tried taking a deep breath, but found it hurt her left side way too much. Her breath came out in a shaky cough, only hurting her ribs more. 

     "No, you're not, Mist. Here, let me see your ribs." Clay said, kneeling down to Misty. He reached out his hands to her shirt. 

     Misty moved her hand off of her ribs to lift her t-shirt enough for Clay to see the ribs that were causing her so much pain. Clay, carefully reaching out a hand, felt around Misty's rib cage. When Misty winced when he touched two particular ribs, about halfway up on Misty's ribcage, Clay retracted his hand, apologizing before helping her pull down her shirt. "Misty, I think you might have broken a rib or two. They're already bruising and they are really tender, especially those two that you winced when I touched. I'm goin' to take you to the emergency room. Do you think you can stand up?" 

     Misty, grabbing her side again, turned slightly, using her free hand and the rails of the round pen to pull herself up to her feet. "I'm fine. We don't need to go to the ER." Misty replied, grabbing the lead rope from the rail. Telling herself to toughen up, Misty slowly made her way over to the gate. 

     "Where are you going, Misty?" Clay asked, following after her.

     "I'm goin' to get Casper. He needs to learn better than that. He needs to know he cannot get away with doin' that kind of thing." Misty replied, stopping at the gate to take a breath. She couldn't remember the last time that she was in this much pain, but it wasn't that she hurt all over, but mainly just on two of her ribs on her left side. 

     "Misty, we are not workin' with Casper today. At least you aren't. He spooked, that's why he charged you. No offense, but sweetheart, you are in no shape to chase him around the pen." Clay said, his voice calm but concerned. He placed a hand on the small of Misty's back.

     Misty, attempting to take another breath, nodded her head, knowing Clay was right. "Let's go inside, then." Misty said to Clay. 

    "Okay. You want me to carry you, or do you think you will be alright to walk?" Clay asked, softly rubbing his hand up and down Misty's back. 

     "I think I can walk." Misty replied, swallowing before turning to walk out of the round pen. Once they were out of the pen, Misty turned to Clay. "Can we please go to your loft? I don't want my dad or Darlene to know what happened yet." Misty asked of Clay. Truthfully, Misty knew that if they went to the main barn, or inside the house, they had a good chance of running into Jace, and that was something Misty definitely not want to deal with. 

      "Sure. Let me pull my truck over here, and I'll drive you. Just wait here." Clay said, jogging over to where his truck was, parked in front of the main barn. Less than a minute later, Clay pulled his truck up next to Misty. Immediately, his hands were ready to lift Misty into his truck, but Misty put a hand out, rejecting Clay's help. 

     Once Misty was fully in her seat, Clay put his truck in drive, heading over to his loft. The drive would take about five minutes, driving fast. 

     Because of the age of the McAdams' ranch, the layout of the buildings was strange. Clay's loft was above a five stall barn where the hands keep their horses. Because of the ranch rapidly increasing in herd size, and the addition of more hands, about six months after Clay joined on, Misty's family had built the new barn, completed with 40 stalls. Above the main barn, the McAdams' had small apartments built. Two hands were assigned to each apartment; their housing was provided in exchange for their work on the ranch. Misty's dad gave Clay the choice to move to an apartment in the new, main barn, or stay at his current place. Clay decided to stay above the old, five stall horse barn with two of the other hands. However, the other two hands moved to the new barn, leaving Clay the entire loft to himself. In exchange for having to pay rent, Clay feeds and checks on the five horses in the barn beneath. The barn was a good five, or so, minute drive from the main barn, making it inconvenient to walk to, but at the same time, it was more secluded, something Clay loved. 

     The original farm house burnt down before Misty's family moved in. The barn that Clay lives in was near to the site of the house that burnt down. The owners before Misty's family had built the current house, with a small barn next to it, abandoning the 5 stall barn down the lane. Because of the distance from the main barn and house from Clay's barn, Misty's family plans on moving the hands' horses to the main barn, using the old barn for storage. 

     "Let's get you upstairs." Clay said to Misty, parking his truck in front of the barn. He opened Misty's door for her, offering her a hand down, which she rejected. 

     Walking beside Misty, Clay opened the main barn door for Misty. Once inside, Clay offered, once again, to carry Misty upstairs, but independent, stubborn Misty declined the offer, slowly creeping her way upstairs. 

     "You sit down on the couch, I'll go grab you some ice." Clay said once upstairs. He threw his hat and truck keys on the coffee table before heading into the kitchen. 

     Misty looked around Clay's loft. She had been up here a few times, and Clay had even invited her over once or twice to watch a movie, but Misty had never really had the chance to take in the space. It was much bigger than she remembered it. Behind where she sat in the living room was the open dining room and kitchen. In front of her was a hallway. To the left was Clay's bedroom, completed with an attached bathroom. Across from his room was a smaller bedroom. Beyond that was the second full bathroom. The loft apartment had been decorated nicely, especially considering that a guy, who worked full time, lived here. 

      "Here's some frozen peas. I thought I had some ice packs up here, but I reckon I don't." Clay said, handing Misty the bad of peas. 

     "Thank you." Misty said to Clay, shifting sightly on the couch so the bag of peas would rest comfortably on her side. 

     "Do you need anything else? A blanket? More pillows?" Clay asked.  

     Misty loved Clay's gentlemanly, caring ways. Any thought of Jace dissipated from Misty's mind when she said, "No, thank you, but I would like it if you would sit down here with me."  

     For the first time since her wreck, Clay smiled. "Okay." Sitting down, Clay took off his boots, joining Misty on the couch. Bending over, Misty reached down to take off her boots so she could lay on the couch, but pain shot through her left side. "Here, let me help you." Clay said, immediately jumping up, stepping in front of Misty. Kneeling down, Clay grabbed each of Misty's feet, slipping off her boots for her. "There you go." Clay grabbed a blanket from a basket in the corner of the room before coming back to sit down on the couch with Misty. 

     Once Clay was seated, Misty scooted herself up, leaning against Clay's chest. Clay slung one arm over her shoulder, resting his hand on the bag of peas Misty was still holding. With his free hand, Clay laid the blanket out over him and Misty. "I'll hold the peas for you. You just relax."  

     Misty took her hand off the peas, accepting Clay's offer. Looking up at Clay, Misty said in a quiet voice, "Thank you for takin' such good care of me." Reaching a hand up, Misty fingered Clay's jaw line and lips. Truthfully, she missed kissing Clay, but she was concerned that if she kissed Clay, all she would be able to think about was kissing Jace. Only one way to tell. Pulling Clay's face down towards her, Misty stretched her neck up to meet Clay's lips. She slowly and softly kissed him, twice; both times she refused to think about Jace. 

      "You're welcome, Misty." Clay said, his face an inch from Misty's. After placing another kiss on Misty's lips, Clay pulled back, saying, "I'll leave these peas on for twenty minutes, then I will go and get you something to eat so you can take some ibuprofen, and then I'll get you a fresh cold pack. I think there are some ice wraps downstairs in the tack room freezer." Clay said, looking down at Misty.

     "Why do you take such good care of me?" Misty asked Clay. She wanted to added, "especially after what I did," but Misty wasn't ready for that conversation yet.  

     "Because I care about you Misty. Just like I cared about you when you got thrown over the roundup. I hate seein' you hurt, so I will do whatever I can to help." Clay explained.

     "Thank you." Misty said, smiling at Clay. It was true, Clay had been there for her through her most recent accident-prone moments, and each time he made sure that she was taken care of, doing whatever he could to lessen her pain and make her comfortable. 

     "You don't have to thank me, Misty. This is what I'm here for." Clay smiled. "Besides, I would much rather be up here with you then workin' Casper." 

    Misty smiled, snuggling closer to Clay ever so slightly, wincing at the pain her side was causing her. 

     "Sorry, hon. It's been over twenty minutes, I'll go grab you a fresh ice pack and some ibuprofen." Clay said, carefully standing up from the couch. 

     "It's alright, Clay, I can get it." Misty said, sitting on the edge of the couch to stand up. 

     "No, you just stay there, and I will be right back." Clay smiled, taking the now melted bag of peas with him. 

     Misty obliged, honestly not feeling like moving anyways. 

     Clay walked into his kitchen, grabbing something out of the fridge. "Here you go." Clay said a few minutes later. He handed Misty a small plate with cheese and crackers on it. 

     "Thank you." Misty replied, taking the plate. 

     "I'll be right back, I am goin' to go get you an ice pack from downstairs." Clay said. As he walked downstairs, Misty heard him talking on the phone. Because of what Misty picked up from the conversation, she wondered if he was talking about her.

     Misty ate the cheese and crackers that Clay provided for her. Clay was gone for well over fifteen minutes. Walking up the wooden loft stairs, Misty heard at least three pairs of boots, plus two voices that was not Clay's. 

     Clay was the first one through the door. "Your parents are here." Clay said simply, stepping to the side, allowing Darlene and Bill into his apartment. 

      "Oh my goodness, Misty, Clay told us what happened. Are you okay?!" Darlene asked, walking straight towards Misty. Once she was seated on the couch, Misty's stepmom looked at Misty with an overly concerned look. "Where does it hurt?" Darlene asked, reaching out a hand. 

     "Just two of my ribs on my left side. They really don't hurt that bad right now. The ice really helped." Misty said, really not liking all of this attention. 

     "It's your ribs that hurt?" Darlene asked. Turning to Bill she said, "Honey, we have to get her to the emergency room right now!" Darlene exclaimed, jumping up from the couch. 

     "Really, y'all, I'm fine. I don't need to go to the ER." Misty replied, her voice increasing with irritation. 

     "Misty, it's best if we go just to get you checked out. There's no harm in just getting checked out." Bill said calmly, standing next to Darlene. 

     "No, dad, I'm not goin'. Clay has taken great care of me, making sure that I keep ice on it and everything. I'm not goin'!." Misty replied, her voice raised. 

     "Misty, I am goin' to go get you the ibuprofen now." Clay said in a sheepish voice; Misty knew this argument had to be awkward for him. He walked out of the living room, disappearing into his bedroom. 

     While Clay was in his bedroom, Misty, Bill, and Darlene argued about whether or not Misty should go to the hospital. No verdict had been reached when Clay emerged from his room, walking back into the living room, a pill bottle in his hand. 

     "Clay, please help me out here. I'm fine. I don't need to go to the hospital, right?" Misty asked in an irritated voice. She gave Clay a pleading look. 

     Clay looked to Darlene and Bill before looking back to Misty. "I think that you should go and get checked out. Best case scenario, you just bruised your ribs, but if it's something more serious than that and you don't get it checked out, it could affect you more in the future." Clay gave his opinion. He was the only calm one in the room. 

     Misty just stared at Clay; she did not like attention being put on her, and she especially did not like going to hospitals. "Unbelievable." Misty mumbled, tearing her eyes from Clay. 

     Clay, taking a deep breath, came over and sat next to Misty on the couch. He placed a hand on her thigh. Leaning close to Misty, Clay whispered in her ear, "Please go. Just do it for me, if not for your parents." 

     Misty sighed. "Fine. I'll go." She replied. 

     "Good. Here, first take these." Clay said, opening the pill bottle, giving Misty a few pills before jogging to his kitchen, getting her a glass of water. 

     "Thanks." Misty said, dropping the pills in her mouth, chasing them down with water. 

     Once Misty swallowed her pills and set the horse leg wrap that Clay got her from downstairs on the coffee table, she carefully stood up from the couch, leaning on Clay for support. 

     "Bill, go get the truck ready, please." Darlene ordered Bill. Misty knew that Darlene was just concerned about her, but her concern was just too much sometimes...take now for example. 

     While walking out to Bill's truck, Clay had to politely tell Darlene to give Misty space. Once in the truck, Misty thanked Clay for picking up on her silent signals that Darlene was smothering her. 

    The whole ride to the hospital, Clay held Misty's hand. His caring actions never once stopped as Misty was set in a wheelchair and wheeled down to the room once they were checked in at the hospital. Throughout the whole visit, Clay never once left Misty's side. Misty truly appreciated his presence, it definitely made the visit easier on her. 

     Looking at Clay one more time before being wheeled out to get x-rays done, Misty saw the genuine concern for her on Clay's face. She instantly wondered how she could ever do something to hurt him as bad as he knows it will hurt when she explains what happened between her and Jace today.