"Brooke." Lacey texted her best friend. Patiently, she waited by her phone....for two minutes...before texting her friend again. "Brookeyyyy."

       Waiting for her friend to reply, Lacey busied herself watching Slade work. He was carrying feed bags into the barn from the truck. "Brooks." Lacey shot her friend another text. She had something very important to tell her friend and Brooke was always really good at replying, so Lacey knew she was busy, but that didn't stop her nagging. "Brooke VanHorn!" Lacey added a new message after ten more minutes with no reply.

      "You want me to start opening these for you?" Lacey asked Slade, setting her phone in her lap. She pointed to the pile of feed bags that Slade had started setting by the grain bins.

      "Yeah, that'd be great. Thank you." Slade smiled at her, taking a break to wipe some sweat off of his forehead in the unseasonably warm weather.

      "You're welcome." Lacey smiled back, still on top of the world from their morning they spent together. As she reached into her pocket to pull out her knife, Lacey felt her phone buzz. Pulling it out, along with her pocket knife, Lacey saw Brooke finally replied.

      "What what what? Sorry, I'm in the barn and have been busy all day." Brooke had texted back.

        "I have something really important to tell you." Lacey sent, resuming her work on the feed bags. Opening her knife, Lacey broke the string at the top of the bag, ripping it and the plastic seal off.

       Slade brought two more bags in, setting them next to where Lacey had just hoisted the 50 pound bag onto her lap from the floor. Standing beside her, Slade watched, ready to help, as Lacey wheeled herself closer to the feed bins, locking her wheelchair brakes before manhandling the bag, lifting it above her head to rest on the edge of the feed bin, letting the contents empty into the container.

      With a smile at Slade, Lacey brought the empty bag down to the ground, starting a pile beside the bins. Before she could ask why Slade was so smiley all the sudden, he walked over, placing a kiss on her forehead. "I'm so proud of you for doin' that all by yourself, Lace. You've really come a long way."

       "Thanks, love." Lacey placed a hand on Slade's cheek, but pulled back when she felt how sweaty he was. "You need to take a shower." Lacey retreated her hand, wiping it on the leg of her jeans. 

       "Sweat just means we are workin' hard." Slade smiled, walking back outside to throw more bags on to his shoulder. 

        Lacey's phone buzzed again, signaling that Brooke had responded to Lacey's text. "What happened?" Brooke texted. 

        Blushing and smiling like a mad woman, Lacey responded, "Slade kissed me." Setting her phone in her lap, Lacey continued her job as she excitedly awaited Brooke's response. Her best friend, Brooke, tended to play matchmaker for a lot of people, Slade and Lacey being two of those people. Brooke had told Lacey that her "most favorite couple ever" was Lacey and Slade. Lacey figured that Brooke would be just as, if not more, excited that her and Slade finally shared their first kiss. 

         Lacey couldn't even pour one more bag of feed into the bins before she felt her phone vibrating like crazy. This time it was Brooke who was blowing up her phone with text messages. Eventually, the vibrating pattern told Lacey that Brooke was calling her. Picking up her phone with a smile, Lacey answered, "Hi Brooke." Slade walked into the barn just then, and Lacey motioned for him to stay to listen to the phone call. Putting her phone on speaker so Slade could hear, Lacey held her phone out in front of her. 

          "Slade kissed you?!" Brooke shouted, excitedly, into the phone. "Like he actually kissed you? On the lips? You're not just playin' with me, right? Because if you are playin' a joke on me, I will hang up and never talk to you again." 

         Looking up at Slade to see his reaction, Lacey smiled just like Slade was. "Slade, Brooke wants to know if we actually kissed?"  

         Walking over to Lacey, Slade placed a hand on each of the arm rests of her chair. Leaning closer to his girlfriend, and her phone, Slade replied with a grin, his cheeks bright red. "Yeah, I kissed her and it was the best dang kiss of my whole entire life." Leaning forward, Slade dropped a kiss on Lacey's cheek, really close to the corner of her lips. 

          "Aw, you're so sweet, darlin'." Lacey smiled, holding his cheek in her hand again. Their kiss honestly was the best one that Lacey had ever had, and being this close to Slade, kissing him again was all she could think about. Looking into his eyes, Lacey forgot all about the phone call she was on right now. Brooke's voice, however, brought Lacey out of her trance. 

         "Y'all are seriously the cutest thang in the whole world. Am I on speaker phone, Lacey? Put me on speaker phone. I need to tell Slade something." Brooke demanded.

        With a chuckle, Lacey told her friend, "You're on speaker, go ahead."

        "Slade Reid, what in Sam Hill took you so dadgum long to kiss her?!" Brooke scolded teasingly. With a smile in her voice, she added, "But regardless, I'm so happy for y'all. It's about dang time." 

       Slade, still only a few inches from Lacey, smiled as he said quietly, "It was well worth the wait." Leaning forward, Slade dropped a long kiss on Lacey's forehead.

        Lacey couldn't find any words to respond with because she was blushing so bad at Slade.

       A voice coming through the phone drew Slade and Lacey apart. "Aw, oh my goodness. Y'all are so cute. I'm gonna go now and leave you two love birds alone. Y'all be good." There was a smile in Brooke's voice again. "And Slade?" 

      "Yes?" Slade paid attention to Lacey's best friend.

      "Behave. And you better not break my best friend's heart or else you won't hear the end of it ever. Fair warning." 

       "Brooke, I can promise you I will never break Lacey's heart." Slade smiled at Lacey again; she loved how smiley he was being today, but she loved the fact that she was the reason he was smiling even more. 

         "Good. You better not. Okay, well I have to get back to work. Y'all love birds behave y'allselves." 

         "Bye Brooke." Lacey drew out, hanging up the phone. She smiled up at Slade. "You are the sweetest, you know that? You make me smile more than I ever have before." 

        "It's my pleasure, darlin'." His lips crashed into her forehead yet again, dropping a wet kiss from his sweaty lips. "Now, we have to finish this so we relax some tonight." 

        "No, you have to take a shower. You're wetter than a dog after a bath. My goodness." Lacey let out a chuckle as she reached her hands out to rest on Slade's neck, feeling how sweaty the collar of his pearl snap was. It was unseasonably hot out today despite it being late July. Looking forward to air conditioning and cold sweet tea, Lacey turned from Slade, picking up another bag of feed. The quicker they got their chores done, the sooner they could go inside and relax for the night. 

         Shortly after the phone call with Brooke, Slade and Lacey were finished with their work in the barn. It was close to time to start making supper. Slade walked beside Lacey as they made their way into the house. Rolling herself up the ramp, Lacey led Slade around to the side of the house where the mud room was. 

       "I need to do some laundry before you take a shower. That way I can put your stinky, smelly, sweaty clothes straight into the washer after your shower." Lacey chuckled, rolling into the laundry room.

       "Alright." Slade chuckled. "Let me help you." He grabbed a laundry basket from the stack on the table behind him, opening up the dryer and tossing the dry clothes into the basket.

        "Uh uh uh. No. You're dirty. Go get your stuff for your shower. I'll do the laundry." Lacey commanded with a smile on her face. 

        "Yes ma'am." Slade smiled back, tipping his hat and walking out of the house. 

       Lacey hummed to herself as she waited for Slade to come back and take his shower. Once the clean clothes were out of the dryer and the wet clothes were placed into the dryer, Lacey grabbed the basket of dark clothes behind her to start another load. As she began tossing the clothes into the washer, Lacey came across a pair of Slade's Wrangler jeans. She would have just added the jeans to the load, but a dark, stiff stain caught her attention. Looking closer at the shin of the jeans, Lacey noticed a tear in the middle of the stain. The stain, Lacey noticed, was blood. It was still fairly fresh, which made her come to the conclusion that Slade had cut himself on glass when Lacey had fallen. He never mentioned it to her, however. 

        Right as she was about to put the jeans into the washer, Slade walked into the mud room shirtless, with his shower stuff and clothes in his hands. "I'm goin' to go take my shower. Mind if I use yours?" Slade asked. 

        "Yeah, that's fine, but first, what did you cut yourself on?" Lacey asked, holding up his bloody jeans.

        Slade's smile faded. "Shoot, I didn't want you to see that and get worried." He moved closer to Lacey, grabbing the jeans from her. 

        "You're sweet, but you knew I would find out eventually. Did you cut yourself on the glass this morning when I fell?" She asked, adding more dirty clothes to the load in the washer. 

       "Yeah, I did, but it isn't bad. I'm more worried about you. How's your arm?" Slade changed the subject off of him, and back to being concerned for Lacey. His eyes drew downward to make sure her band-aid was still in tact and on her forearm.

       "It's fine. Doesn't even hurt. My boyfriend fixed it up really nice and took great care of it, so it should heal very well and very soon." 

         "Good. I'm glad." Slade bent down, kissing Lacey's forehead before saying, "You should probably take a shower tonight, too." He pulled back to give her a grin.

        "What, are you sayin' I smell bad?" There was a playful grin.

       "No, not at all. I'm just sayin' between fallin' on the glass, and workin' in the barn with all the dust, it might be wise." Slade realized he should have just kept his mouth shut. He didn't think she needed a shower, he had meant to simply ask her if she was fixing to. But yet again, the pretty little thing smiling up at him had made him tongue tied.

        "I was already fixin' to take one, but I can't when you're standin' here talking to me instead of taking yours. I cannot take a shower until you take one. So, scoot. Get outta here." Lacey flicked her hand in his direction as if to tell him to leave. 

        "Do I get a kiss first?" Slade decided to play along. He leaned down closer to Lacey.

        "Nope." Lacey popped the 'p' in response, turning away from Slade to start the washer. 

        "Seriously? What about after my shower?" He straightened back up, still looking at Lacey.

       Lacey tilted her head side to side. "We will see about that." Glancing up at her boyfriend to see his reaction to her teasing, she just saw him grinning at her. "What? I'm serious. Now skeedaddle before that 'maybe' turns to a 'no.'" 

        As soon as she finished the sentence, Slade jogged out of the laundry room, barreling up the stairs to take a shower. Lacey just finished sorting the clothes, chuckling at Slade's goofiness. 

       Once Slade was out of the shower, Lacey took hers. The cool water felt good on her body after being outside in the scorching heat for so long. Shutting off the water, Lacey dried herself, moving to the chair beside her shower so she could get dressed. 

       After fully dressed in sweats and an old charity rodeo t-shirt, Lacey combed her hair, grabbing a pony tail holder off her bathroom sink before heading downstairs. 

       About halfway down the staircase, Lacey could already smell the delicious supper that Slade was preparing for them. 

       Once her chair was on the ground floor, Lacey wheeled into the kitchen with a smile on her face. "Hey, good lookin', whatcha cookin'?" Her voice made Slade turn around from the stove to smile at Lacey.

       "How does chicken Parmesan with taters and asparagus sound?" He leaned back against the kitchen counter.

        "That sounds like a feast." Lacey moved further into the kitchen to grab plates, glasses, and silverware.

        "Only the best for my girl." Slade gave Lacey a look. Once it was reciprocated, he turned back to the stove to stir the potatoes. 

        "Anything I can help you with?" Lacey asked, dishes in hand.

       "No, everything is just about done. Why don't you go and set the kitchen table, then sit your pretty little self down, and I'll have this out in a jiffy." 

       With a chuckle, Lacey obeyed, crossing the kitchen to the little nook in the corner where the small kitchen table was. 

       Roughly ten minutes later, Slade's feast was finished. He brought the steaming, delicious smelling meal to the table, smiling as he sat down to grab Lacey's hands in prayer. Slade thanked God for their time together and for the meal before them. He added a request for safe travels for Lacey's parents and brothers as they were at Ryder's school for a play he was in. Concluding the prayer, Slade gave Lacey's hand a squeeze before telling her to dig in.

       "This all looks so good, Slade. Thank you for cookin'." Lacey smiled, doling out her portion. 

       "You're very welcome." After spooning some potatoes onto his plate, Slade asked, "So when is your family gettin' home from Ryder's play?" 

       "Pretty late. I would say like 10 or 11. The play gets done around 9, but they will have to help clean up, and the school is about 45 minutes to an hour away, so it'll be pretty late." Lacey cut her chicken into bite sizes as she responded. 

       "Good. That's just more time for you and me to spend together." Slade smiled, taking a bite of his food, giving Lacey a grin.

       Lacey nodded, forking some chicken into her mouth. Instantly, it practically melted in her mouth, it was so delicious. "This is so good. Where did to learn to cook? You haven't known me long enough for me to teach you." Lacey said with a playful smirk, taking another bite.

       "Food network." Slade said, lifting a forkful of potatoes to his lips. Lacey stopped chewing momentarily to look up at Slade. He smiled, giving Lacey a chuckle. "I'm kidding." Lacey scoffed and shook her head, but Slade turned serious. "No, my, uh, my mom taught me some stuff. Usually, I would just sit on the counter and watch her work her magic in the kitchen and as a result, I picked up on several things, like secret ingredients." Slade started, pointing down at the chicken on his plate. 

        "Well, if I ever get to meet her mom, I would love to thank her. She certainly taught you well." Lacey smiled as she bit off a piece of the perfectly cooked and seasoned asparagus. 

        "Yeah." Slade took a deep breath, looking between his plate and Lacey."Cookin' was an escape for my mom. Whenever things got rough or she needed a break, you could always find her in the kitchen. It was the main way her and I bonded. It gave us a time to talk and catch up."

        "When things got rough? You mean, with your dad?" She quietly asked, knowing it was a touchy subject for her boyfriend. 

        "Yeah. She was in the kitchen a lot." Slade said it with a chuckle, and a slight grin, but Lacey saw right through them. She knew they were fake. Setting his fork down, Slade knew he would have to tell Lacey what happened at one point or another and now seemed like a good time. Taking a deep breath as if to get the strength to continue, he added, "The kitchen door had a lock on it. When my dad would start to get bad, my mom would take me and we would go in the kitchen and lock the door. We would often cook and would talk or sing songs, but when that wasn't loud enough, we would turn on the radio or small television. When my younger siblings were born, we did the same thing. So, I learned to cook from my mom, but didn't do much when she was around. And then she left, so I was forced to. It was either that I cooked meals, bringing my siblings into the kitchen with me to escape dad, or lock them in the kitchen while I dealt with dad while we waited for the take out food to be delivered. One day, after mom left, my dad drank the most he ever had in his life and I was in the kitchen with my siblings and...um... my dad was able to unlock the door." His jaw was set firm as his eyes flickered across the table to look at Lacey. 

        "He was able to unlock the door without a key?" Lacey had stopped eating at this point.

       "He used a gun." Slade said plainly.

        Lacey set her fork down on her plate, her shoulders slumping; she couldn't find any words. The air was dead between her and Slade.

      Taking in a breath, Slade picked up his fork, and looking away from Lacey. "That's where I got this scar." He mumbled, stabbing his fork into his food. 

       With a shaking hand, Lacey reached out and touched Slade's forearm that was resting on the table. It was the same one that the large scar was on. Slade looked down at Lacey's hand on his arm, then back. In the most sympathetic voice she could, Lacey said, "I'd like to know what happened, if you want to talk about it." 

      Slade sighed and set his fork down again. He breathed in and Lacey thought he would say he didn't want to talk anymore about it, but instead, Slade jerked his head behind him towards the door and quietly whispered, "Come on."

      Lacey followed behind Slade as he led the way out to the porch, lifting Lacey up to sit next to him on the swing. When he took a deep breath, Lacey attempted to mentally prepare herself for whatever Slade would say, but nothing on earth would be able to get her ready for what he told her next.