"So did you grow up with horses?" Lacey asked Slade a week and a half later. When he emerged from one of the horses stalls, Lacey handed him the next grain bucket. 

      "Yeah." Slade started, taking the bucket from Lacey. "My mom taught me how to ride, actually." Slade poured the feed into the corner feeder in the horse's stall, stroking the horse's muzzle before latching the stall door. After closing the stall door, Slade leaned against it, letting out a chuckle. "I was only a few months old the first time she let me on a horse. I would never sleep at night, so my mom would take me out to the barn and hop on her horse, holding me in front of her. In fact, my earliest memory is riding double with my mom." For the first time since Lacey had known Slade, he actually smiled when he told her something that happened in his past. His eyes remained that beautiful, electric blue/gray color. Slade walked forward, following Lacey down the aisle of the barn, taking the next grain bucket she handed him. "I got my first horse when I was four. I named him Buster. He was a brown and white paint, and boy, was he a snot." Slade let out a deep chuckle, the kind that instantly warmed a person. 

       Lacey couldn't help but smile as she watched Slade do his chores around the barn; numerous times she offered to help him, but he always told her that he had a routine and her company was the best help he could receive. 

      Rolling over to the water spigot, Lacey attached the hose, turning off the flow at the end before pulling up on the handle, starting the water flowing through the hose. Rolling down the aisle, Lacey opened up the small doors on the front of the horses stalls that swung open on a hinge, revealing a water bucket. Turning the knob on the end of the hose, Lacey began filling up the horse's water buckets.

      Slade, walking out of the tool room, saw Lacey filling the buckets, and didn't say anything at first, instead, he just smiled. Walking closer to where Lacey was rolling down the aisles, Slade said, "Thank you for doin' that." He smiled at her. Leaning against a stall door, Slade folded his arms across his chest, and Lacey had to peel her eyes away from the lines of muscles bulging from his forearms. "Once you're done with that, do you want to come with me to feed the cattle?" 

      "Sure, I would love to." Lacey smiled, her eyes watching Slade; how did he get more and more attractive every time she saw him? 

      "Great." Slade's smile faded, followed with him leaning forward, pointing to the hose Lacey was holding. "Um, Lace?" 

     Peeling her eyes from Slade, Lacey looked at the hose. The bucket was about to overflow with water. Quickly retreating the hose from the bucket, Lacey tried rolling away so she didn't get wet. Her plan would have worked, however, if she had remembered to turn the hose off. Swinging it to the side, it sprayed Slade, who was trying to help her turn it off. At this point, Lacey was laughing too hard to turn the hose off. By the time Slade was able to intervene and grab the hose from a laughing Lacey, his clothes were almost entirely drenched. 

     Letting out his chuckle he had been holding in, Slade stood in front of Lacey, hose in hand, and water dripping from his shirt. 

     "I'm so so-" Lacey tried to apologize, but the sight in front of her made it impossible for her to speak. 

      "Oh, you think this is funny?" There was a mischievous look on Slade's face as he slowly walked closer to Lacey, putting his free hand on top of the hose nozzle, acting like he would spray Lacey with it. 

      Lacey's hands went to her wheels, rolling herself backwards, away from the snake of a hose Slade still held. "Oh, no, not at all." Lacey let out a chuckle, teasing Slade. 

      "Really? Cause it sounds to me like you're still laughin'." Slade walked forward a little more, turning the hose on slightly, spraying water near Lacey's feet.

      Lacey let out a shriek, backing up more. Just like that, Slade stopped walking and just smiled at Lacey. Unsure why he did such a thing, Lacey tried to back up more, but her chair wouldn't move; it was backed up against an empty stall, leaving no where to escape to. 

      "Oh, I gotcha now, huh?" Slade teased, walking forward again. Lacey shielded her face with her hands, expecting to be sprayed, but no spray came. Putting her hands down from her face a little bit, Lacey peeked through her fingers and saw Slade wrapping the hose up on its stand. Glancing over at Lacey, Slade let out a warm chuckle. "You didn't think I was actually goin' to spray you, did you?" 

     "I wasn't sure, to be honest." Lacey replied, dropping her hands from her face. She rolled away from the stall door. 

     "Well, now that you decided you wanted to have a water fight, I'm going to have to go change my shirt." Turning away from the water spigot, Slade asked Lacey, "Do you want to come upstairs with me? You can see my loft." 

      "How will I get upstairs? You don't have a lift." Lacey said, fingering the arm of her wheelchair.

     "Darlin', I'll carry you. And before you tell me that you're too heavy like you always tell me, let me remind you that you weigh 100 pounds soaking wet." Letting out a chuckle, Slade added, "Even though I'm the one who is soaking wet right now." 

      "Exactly. Somehow, I'm dry, and you're the one who is dripping water, so you're not goin' to carry me anywhere, Slade Reid." Lacey pointed a finger at Slade. 

      "Alright. Yes, ma'am." Slade said with a smile, stepping back from Lacey. Turning, he walked to the steps of his loft. "I'll be right back." Slade told Lacey, taking the stairs two at a time. 

     Less than a minute later, Slade came jogging back down the stairs. Lacey gave him a confused look when she saw that he was still wearing his soaking shirt, but it was unbuttoned, and his cowboy hat had been left upstairs. "Everything okay?" Lacey asked, a smile finding it's way to her lips. 

     "Yeah, I just forgot that all my clean t-shirts are in the house being warshed." Slade explained, walking towards the house. He motioned for Lacey to follow him. As they made their way to the house, Slade teased Lacey, "Are you sure you don't want one of my famous hugs?" Slade turned slightly, playfully stretching his arms out. 

      "Ew. No, get those away from me." Lacey chuckled, smiling at Slade. "By the way, you're not allowed in the house until you take that shirt off. My mom will be so ticked if you track water all over the house." All on her own, Lacey used her upper body strength to push herself up the ramp her dad and brother had fashioned for her shortly after her accident. Slade was right behind her the whole way as they walked across to the other side of the wrap around porch. 

      Being obedient to Lacey's wishes, Slade shrugged off his soaking, long sleeved pearl snap, wringing it out over the porch railing. Spreading the shirt out on the banister, Slade took off his white undershirt, setting it next to the button up. 

     Turning to Lacey, Slade's bare midsection took Lacey only slightly by surprise. He was well built, to say the least. But, it wasn't in the way that made him look like a body builder; rather Lacey knew that every one of Slade's nicely toned muscles came from endless hours of hard work out in the sun. Her eyes exploring, Lacey thought that she saw some skin that looked slightly different on Slade's right side, below his pec. Before she could be sure, Slade turned towards the house, almost sensing Lacey's stares on his scar. As they made their way into the laundry room, that had access from the porch, Lacey remembered that Slade had a tattoo on his left forearm. She kept having to remind herself to ask Slade what the tattoo was. 

      Slade opened the mud room door for Lacey, allowing her to wheel in before closing the door behind them. Walking to the dryer, Slade pulled out the freshly dried clothes. Picking through the clean clothing, Lacey watched Slade. Rolling a little closer, Lacey cautiously put a hand out to his side, fingering two ribs on the right side that were still black and blue. Slade stopped what he was doing to look down at Lacey. "You didn't listen to me." She said, trying to hold back a smile.

      "What?" Slade asked, his hands on the dryer. 

     "I told you, after Smokey kicked you, to go get your ribs checked out because I was worried that you cracked a rib or two, but you didn't listen to me. You didn't go to the doctor's and now you're in pain and your ribs are still bruised." She explained to Slade, giving her unprofessional doctor's opinion.

      "I'm not in pain." Slade defended, his words doing an invisible eye roll.

     To prove her point, Lacey softly pushed her fingers into Slade's bruise. Looking up, she saw him shift slightly, and quickly, but quietly, sharply inhale. "I'm sure you're not in pain." Lacey said sarcastically. 

      "I meant to say that I didn't break a rib. I've broken a rib before, and this doesn't hurt nearly as bad." Slade explained, turning to look at Lacey a little better. He reached down, putting his hand on top of Lacey's, giving it a slight squeeze. 

     With Slade's hand on top of her's, Lacey slowly drew them up slightly on Slade's midsection, her finger straying upon skin that felt different from the rest when she stopped just below his pec. Even though Lacey's eyes were fixed on Slade's, Lacey knew that what she was feeling was the scar she had seen earlier. Her face must've shown question that Slade saw before her eyes drifted down to Slade's side when he dropped their hands. "Tried to jump a barbed wire fence." Slade said in a rehearsed line. Bringing her eyes back up to Slade's to see if he was telling the truth, Lacey immediately wasn't convinced by Slade's response when she saw the look in his eyes. Sadness filled her own eyes as she saw Slade's eyes glaze over, turning the cold gray color, the way they did whenever Slade was thinking about his past. With a firm jaw set and rigged motions as Slade searched for his shirt in the pile of clothes on the dryer, Lacey regretted silently asking Slade how he got that scar. Just like that, Slade had entirely shut Lacey out again.