"Lace?" Slade knocked on her bedroom door. "You decent?"

       "Yeah, come on in." Lacey grabbed her tennis shoes from her closet just as Slade walked into her room. 

         "You about ready to go?" He asked her with a smile on his face.

        "Yup. I just have to finish putting on my shoes, and then I will be ready." 

         Slade knelt down and grabbed Lacey's shoes out of her hands before she could even say anything. Lifting one of her legs and setting it on his knee, Slade slipped on her tennis shoe, tying the laces. He did the same with her other foot, too. Once both shoes were on and tied, Slade stood up to smile at Lacey, a starry look in his eyes.

         "What?" She asked, a smile rising on her lips as she stared at the most handsome man in the world. 

         "You're just so beautiful. I don't know how you do it." And with that, Slade leaned forward, dropping a kiss on his girlfriend's cheek, making her blush. 

          "Enough flattery, cowboy. We are gonna be late for my physical therapy." Lacey teased, rolling past Slade to grab her duffle bag off her bed, but Slade snatched it up before she could. Playfully, Lacey stuck out her tongue at Slade. "You're bein' so helpful today, I don't know what to do." 

         Slade just smiled and shook his head as he followed Lacey down the stairs and into his truck. She was getting better at lifting herself into the cab. Nearly every day she had been practicing, and she had it down almost perfectly. Watching her now, Slade's heart practically burst because of how proud he was of her. Sure, at first it wasn't easy, and she was less than interested to improve, but ever since they had started dating, Slade had set out to try to help her as much as he could. Lacey had realized that going on dates with Slade often meant having to go places outside of the ranch, and since she wanted to spend time with him, she reckoned it wouldn't be too bad to begin doing the things that her parents and her physical therapist had been trying to get her to do. Plus, now, she was feeling the best she has felt since her accident. Doing her exercises and getting outside more had really helped her to improve. 

       "So," Slade started once they were on their way to physical therapy. "Have you made a decision about that ranch that Trevor got you into?" 

        Lacey let out a sigh before she answered. "I have decided that I for sure want to do therapy at the ranch, but we can't really afford the cost of it right now. And, I missed the deadline for the really nice scholarship, so I just don't think it would be feasible for us right now. So, in the meantime, I plan to just keep goin' to Trevor, and hopefully work up the strength to eventually ride again." 

         Slade slowly nodded his head, an idea brewing. "Don't they allow anonymous donors? Or, we could do a fundraiser or something." He glanced over at Lacey to see a small smile rising on her lips. 

          "I appreciate the thought, but seriously, it's okay. I will figure something out." Lacey said, shutting down the conversation. 

           A while later, Slade parked his truck in front of the therapy building. Lacey pulled her chair next to the cab, carefully sliding down into it. Before Slade could, she began to wheel herself away from the truck. 

          Walking beside her, Slade grabbed the door for Lacey. After checking in at the front desk, the couple made their way upstairs to the waiting room. Once seated, Slade picked up a cooking magazine from the table. "What sounds good to you for lunch?" He asked, flipping through the pages. When Lacey let out a chuckle, Slade looked at her. "What?"

          "You're always hungry and always thinkin' about food, aren't you? I have no clue how you stay so skinny. You're insane." Lacey teased her boyfriend, laughing.

          "That still didn't answer my question." He winked, giving Lacey a smile. Reaching to his left, Slade grabbed Lacey's hand in her lap, interlacing their fingers.  

          "I'm fine with whatever you decide." There was a smile. 

         Slade knew better than to pick a place for her, so he began thinking of suggestions, but before he could present them to Lacey, Trevor came out, calling her back to therapy. 

          "Wish me luck." Lacey smiled, rolling out of the waiting room. 

          Lacey's therapy session took longer than usual, which made her more tired than usual afterwards. Once all of her exercises were finished, Trevor had walked with Lacey back out to the waiting room. Seeing Slade patiently waiting for his girlfriend made Lacey smile. 

          Slade stood up when he saw Lacey, a smile rising on his own lips. Before he could ask how everything went, Trevor answered for him. "She did great today. We worked hard, so she will probably be sore. Y'know, might need a back rub from her boyfriend later." Trevor winked at Slade before walking away. 

           Turning back to look at Slade, Lacey pointed a finger at him. "You heard the man. I need a back rub later. Doctor's orders." Lacey playfully pursed her lips and raised her eyebrows at Slade. 

            With a chuckle, Slade asked, "How does Subway sound for lunch?" He cautiously asked, knowing 99% of the time Lacey disagreed on where to eat; he usually just let her pick which normally ended up with them having lunch meat sandwiches at home. 

            "Why are you always thinkin' about food?" She chuckled. "You read my mind. Subway sounds perfect." Lacey smiled, rolling to the elevator, heading downstairs. 

             Slade teasingly put a hand on his chest, being dramatic. "Who are you and what have you done with my girlfriend? My girlfriend never agrees on a lunch place on the first try." He teased, walking in front of Lacey to grab the doors for her. 

            "Oh you hush up. It's not my fault that you give crappy suggestions every time you want to go out." 

           "Oh, is that it? It doesn't have anything to do with you being super indecisive?" Slade played back, unlocking his truck, opening the passenger side door. 

           "Okay, so maybe I am indecisive." Lacey shrugged. "I'm awful sore, wanna lift me into your truck?" Lacey bit her lip, knowing she could get into his truck just fine on her own, but she really wanted to be closer to him right now. 

            "It would be my pleasure." Slade smiled, setting the brakes on Lacey's chair and carefully lifting her up. Before he could sit her in his truck, Lacey ran her hands over his shoulders, smiling as she looked at his handsome face. "What?" Slade smiled; he could feel a blush coming on, something he never did. 

           "You are so handsome." Lacey leaned forward, closing her lips over Slade's ever so slowly. She could feel Slade smile as he kissed Lacey back. Before they could kiss again, Lacey pulled her head back with a smile.

            On their way to Subway for lunch, Lacey looked at Slade. "You know that I didn't really need help gettin' into the truck, right? I really just wanted to be near you, so that I could kiss you, y'know?" 

             Slade tilted his head back with a slight groan. "I figured you didn't need help, but I wasn't fixin' to pass up an opportunity to hold you." He winked at her before focusing his attention back to the road. 

          Lacey smiled contently the rest of the way to the only Subway within an hour of the ranch. Slade's flirty mood never stopped, even while they got their lunch. There was no one on the planet who could make Lacey smile as much as Slade did. 

                ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

             There was no one on the planet who could make Lacey more annoyed as much as Slade was right now. He had been so cute, and such a gentleman the whole morning to her. All afternoon he was sweet talking her, and being all flirty and such with her, and all she wanted to do was have him give her a back rub and cuddle on the couch, but Slade was no where to be found. 

            After they got back from lunch, Slade had said he needed to run to the barn really quick, but that he would be right back...that was over an hour ago, and he wasn't responding to any of Lacey's texts, or anything. 

             Pulling out her phone, Lacey checked it again. Still nothing from Slade; deciding to try one more time, Lacey typed out, "Everything okay out there? I miss you and can't wait to cuddle with you. <3"  A text like that was always enough to make Slade high tail it back into the house, but after waiting ten more minutes with no reply, Lacey was beginning to get worried. 

             Deciding she would go outside and check on Slade if he wasn't back in fifteen minutes, Lacey grabbed the TV remote, flipping through the channels, not finding anything that interest her. 

              After five minutes of boring channel surfing, Lacey heard the screen door creak open. Turning off the TV, Lacey looked to her left to glare at Slade. "Where on God's green earth have you been? And why haven't you answered your cell phone?! I have been worried sick about you, and it ticked me off that-" Slade shut Lacey up real quick when he leaned over her on the couch, passionately dropping a long kiss on her red lips. 

              After Slade pulled back from the kiss, Lacey tried to catch her breath to ask him to kiss her a second time, but a smiling Slade had another idea. "Come on outside, I have a surprise for you."