The Paralyzed Dream (COMPLETED)

Chapter Five (New)

     Lacey ignored the stares from the customers as she looked around the small restaurant and smiled. She missed Amarillo's. It is the closest sit down restaurant to her house. Lacey's family used to come here all the time, but Lacey hadn't been here for months...ever since her accident.
Lacey looked over her shoulder at Slade. He was looking around at the small town atmosphere of Amarillo's. There were a few tables made from old pallets. Mason jars were hanging from the ceiling; lightbulbs were in the jars, making a beautiful chandelier. The wooden floor still creaked with every step you took. There were only two booths in the small restaurant; each seat in the booths were different, but had one thing in common: they were bench seats from old trucks. All the other seats at the tables were either bar stools or mismatched chairs from yard sales, thrift stores, donations, etc.
     The same old jukebox was in the corner, still playing old, classic country songs. Each table's centerpiece were still the old cowboy boots with fake flowers in them.
     Lacey noticed that Slade took his cowboy hat off once they stepped inside the tiny restaurant. Telling Slade to follow her, Lacey led Slade to the same exact table that she had sat at every time that she came here. Lacey grabbed the chair that was there and moved it to the side so her wheelchair would fit underneath the table. She hadn't realized that she was staring at the chair, reminiscing on the innumerable times that she had walked herself in here and sat down in that exact chair. Her and Jeremy had had so many dates here, sitting at this exact table.
     Lacey felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up at Slade. He had a concerned look on his face. "Y'all right?" He asked Lacey.
     "Yeah." Lacey smiled. Slade had that affect on her, she was finding out. He could make her smile at the times when she felt like crying. He was so sweet and caring too, which Lacey loved.
     "Awesome." Slade smiled his famous smile then took a seat across from Lacey at the table.
     Lacey was about to wheel herself from the table and to the bathroom when she heard someone calling her name from across the room. Slade and Lacey both looked in the direction of the voice. Lacey smiled and saw Paige. Paige, Brooke, and Lacey had been best friends since childhood, but after Lacey's accident, Paige and her lost touch because Lacey stopped coming to Amarillo's.
     "Lacey?" Paige said again from across the room.
    Lacey smiled and nodded. Paige squealed and practically dropped the plates and drinks that she was holding down to the customers table and ran over to Lacey. She bent down to engulf Lacey in a huge bear hug.
    "I'm so happy to see you!" Paige said, practically squealing. She pulled back, but quickly hugged Lacey again. "It's been so long!" Pulling back, Paige stood up straight. "How have you been? I've missed you so much. I got a new phone and lost your number and your folks have come in several times, but we've been really busy and so I didn't have time to ask them for your number. And I keep meaning to come over to your house, but like I said, we've been super busy and, oh, I got accepted into the college that I wanted and oh I can't wait to tell my parents that you're here. I have to go tell them now!" Paige was talking so fast that Lacey could barely understand what she was saying. Before Lacey could even move a muscle, Paige ran off to the kitchen to get her parents.
     Lacey laughed at her friend. She certainly missed Paige. It had been way to long and they had so much to catch up on. For the short time that Paige was gone, fetching her parents, Lacey was thinking about how she was glad that her accident didn't seem to put any kind of dent on their relationship, just like it had with her and Jeremy.
     "Lacey Ferry, it is so good to see you! It has certainly been way to long." Paige's mom said and bent down to give Lacey a hug.
     Paige's dad, the quiet one of the family, smiled at Lacey and said, "Good to see you." And gave Lacey a friendly pat on the shoulder. He then turned and walked back to his kitchen.
     Paige's mom opened her mouth to say something, but closed it when the customers behind her called for her attention.
     "So what are you doin' here today?" Paige asked, holding her order pad in her folded hands against her legs. "I didn't mean that like it sounded, I'm just so happy that you are here. Like actually here. It's so good to see you!" Paige hugged Lacey and said against her shoulder, "Ugh I missed you so much!"
     "I missed you too." Lacey said honestly. She needed her bubbly Paige fix; she was right, it had been too long since they'd seen each other last.
     Pulling back, and standing up straight, Paige said, "Well, unfortunately, I do have to get back to work, so what can I get you to drink?" Paige scoffed and threw her hands into the air as she said, "Why am I even asking? You're just goin' to have the usual aren't you? Of course you are."
     Paige scribbled down something on her order pad and looked like she was about to walk away until Lacey said to Slade, "Slade, what do you want to drink?"
     Paige turned back to the table and looked at Slade. "So sorry I almost missed you. I was just so excited to see my sister Lacey that I almost don't see you. What do you want to drink hon?"
     "Uh, I'll just take a peach sweet tea with lemon." Slade said.
     "Oh how perfect, y'all are getting the same thang. Awesome. Okay. Well, I'm goin' to go get y'all's drinks for you then." Paige said and turned back around.
     Lacey watched Paige bounce away, and when she drew her eyes back to the table, she noticed Slade looking directly at her and smiling. "What?" Lacey asked, her turn to smile.
"Your friend there..." Slade started. He sat back in his chair. "She's certainly a character, huh?" He winked at Lacey.
     "Hey, don't make fun of my friends. Paige and I have been friends since we were kids. I know she can be a bit much, but once you get to meet her, she's not so overwhelming."
     "Oh no, I think shes great. I'm pretty sure I just heard her entire life story in the thirty seconds that she was standing here, and that includes the time that she went and got her parents."
     Lacey laughed. "When Paige gets excited about things, she talks as fast as lighting. Once you've known her for as long as I have, it becomes easier to decipher. She can also be a bit oblivious when shes that excited."
     "Yeah I noticed. Neither Paige nor her parents even recognized I was here until you said something. I didn't even know Paige's name until you said it just now." Slade smiled.
     Paige walked up to their table holding two mason jars of peach sweet tea with lemon. She set one down in front of Slade and one in front of Lacey. "K, Laceylace, it's Friday. It's lunchtime. Same old same old?" Paige pointed her pen at Lacey.
     "You got it." Lacey said, winking at Paige.
     Paige wrote down Lacey's order then turned to Slade. "And for you?"
     "I'll have-"
     "I don't think we've met yet." Paige interrupted Slade to extend her hand. "Hi. I'm Paige. And you are?"
     "I'm Slade. It's a pleasure to meet you." Slade smiled his cockeyed smile that showed his dimples.
     "The pleasure is all mine." Paige said, smiling. She looked down at Slade's and her hands. Paige was still vigorously shaking his hand. She dropped her hand from his quickly and cleared her throat. "So, uh, Slade, what will you like to eat?"
     "I'll just have whatever she's havin'."
     Paige looked at Lacey. "Extra everything on his." Lacey told Paige.
     Paige smiled and wrote the order down on her pad. "That's so cute! You two getting exactly the same thing! Okay, well, I have to check on the other tables, but I promise I'll get your orders placed ASAP."
     "It's fine, P, no rush." Lacey said, smiling at her crazy friend.
     Slade took Lacey's menu from her and handed them to Paige. "Thank you." Paige took the menus and smiled a slightly flirty smile to Slade.
     Once Paige walked away from the table, Slade looked at Lacey and asked, "Uh, what did I just order?"
     "Don't worry; you'll like it." Lacey smiled.
     "I hope so. Everything on the menu looks so good, I didn't know what to choose, and so I'm glad that you've been here enough times before that you know what to get."
     "I used to come here all the time. So many good memories started here." Lacey looked around the tiny restaurant. Nothing had changed. The walls were lined with the same pictures and decorations that were there the last time that she stopped in. It had only been a few months, so she didn't really expect much to change, but it was comforting to Lacey to see everything was just how she has always remembered it.  
     "That's cool. It seems like a neat place. And Paige makes it even more...interesting..."
     Lacey looked back to Slade. "Haha. Very funny. Like I said, once you get to know Paige, she's not as bad."
     "Well, I never said that she was bad, but she just probably used more words in the five minutes that we've been here then I have used in a year."
     "She's a talker. That's for sure." Lacey smiled. "Hey, I'll be right back. I need to use the restroom." Lacey wheeled herself back from the table.
     "Wait, you weren't kiddin' in the truck when you said you had to go to the restroom?" Slade had a surprised look on his face.
     "No. I was serious. I really did need to use the restroom."
     "I thought that you were just sayin' that as an excuse so that you didn't have to admit that I won our singing contest...I'm sorry."
     "Nothin' to be sorry about; I'll be right back." Lacey said and wheeled away from the table and headed to the bathroom.
     When Lacey came back out, she saw Slade standing up, looking at the pictures and different paraphernalia on the walls. He stood with his hands in his hips, squinting at a picture. Lacey knew exactly which one it was.
     Lacey wheeled herself up beside Slade. He turned and smiled down at her. "Is this you?" He asked, pointing to the barrel racing picture of the first championship that Lacey won in barrel racing. She was seven.
     Lacey smiled at the memory. "Yeah. That's also why it has my name on the picture, hon." Lacey said, pointing to where her name was in the caption.
     "That's how I knew it was you." Slade said. He chucked slightly. "You were a cute kid."
     "Were?" Lacey asked with a smile, being half serious.
     "And you still are." Slade winked at Lacey.
     That wasn't the answer that Lacey was expecting, but it was better then what she did expect, she just hoped that Slade was serious.
     Lacey had never really been much of a flirt, but Jeremy liked it when she was flirty, so she often flirted with him, but it was unnatural for her...it just felt awkward in public. That being said, Lacey ducked her head so Slade wouldn't see her blush, then headed back to the table.
      Less then five minutes after they were seated again, Paige walked out with two plates of food. She handed the smaller meal to Lacey and gave Slade the bigger plate. Lacey watched Slade's reaction as Paige set the plate down in front of him. He seemed to be curious, but also as if the meal was mouthwatering.
     "Anything else I can get y'all?" Paige asked, her hands on her hips.
     "I think we are good, Paige. Thanks." Lacey said. Paige smiled and walked away.
     Lacey looked down to her plate with all the food on it. This meal was her favorite dish on the menu, well, it actually wasn't on the menu, but Paige's parents always made it special for her whenever she came to Amarillo's. The meal consisted of four ribs, a cornbread muffin, two barbecue wings, and special potato French fries/chips. Instead of the chips being cut off of the potato, the potato was sliced thin, but not off of the potato; it was then sprinkled with various spices. It was a large meal and Lacey hardly finished it all. Paige's parents constructed the meal because when Jeremy and Lacey would come in, they'd always get something different each time, but these food items were always Lacey's favorites, so after a while, Paige's parents created it just for her.
      Slade's meal was larger. Instead of four ribs, his had eight. His meal had two cornbread muffins, and four wings. It was essentially twice the size of Lacey's.
      Looking back up, Lacey saw Slade looking at her with his hands extended out. "Let's pray before we eat." He said, smiling at Lacey.
     Lacey nodded and slipped her hands into Slade's. She really wished that his hands didn't have to feel so natural in hers. As Slade prayed, Lacey tried hard to listen, but when he said "Amen" and gave her hands a little squeeze, Lacey realized that she had zoned out.
     "Amen." Lacey echoed and let go of Slade's warm, welcoming hands.
     "Let's dig in. This smells so good, and I'm starvin'." Slade said, picking up one of the pieces of ribs and taking a bite out of it. "Mm." Slade said and closed his eyes. "These are so good. These are by far the best ribs I've ever had." Slade said after the first bite.
     Lacey smiled. She knew how good they were; it was half the reason that she came here so often. Lacey grabbed one of her wings and took a bite out of it. Yep, still as good as ever.
     "Can I please be completely honest with you, Lace?" Slade asked Lacey after swallowing a bite of his cornbread muffin.
     "Sure." Lacey said, taking a bite of her potato.
     Slade folded his hands on the table. "I'm really glad that you are a Christian. And not just you, but your whole family." He paused to look at Lacey. They locked eyes, and Slade continued. "I haven't been a Christian for long, but I wish that I was. If I followed Jesus a year or two ago...well, my life could've been a lot more different. I would've lived with a more positive outlook and I probably wouldn't have gotten into a lot of the trouble and stuff that I did. And who knows, I might have been able to help my dad and to stop his..." Slade tried to play his comment off with a forced chuckle, but Lacey saw right trough it. He was starting to open up to her about his past. Lacey saw Slade's eyes glaze over at the mention of his past. This was the first time that Slade had ever mentioned his father, and Lacey wished that he would say more or at least finish his sentence, but he never did. Instead he said, "But now I realize the importance of bein' a Christian. I cannot change my past, as often as I wish I can, but I can certainly change my future and try hard to stay on the right path in the present."
     Lacey didn't realize that her and Slade were staring intently at each other in this tense moment until Lacey hear her name called.
     Forcing her eyes from Slade, Lacey looked over at Paige. She wondered how long she had been standing there. "I'm sorry; what?"
     "I asked if you wanted more peach sweet tea." Paige repeated her question.
     "Oh yeah, thanks." Lacey said, handing her mason jar to Paige.
     Turning to Slade, Paige asked him the same thing. Slade nodded his head, silently asking for a refill, and Paige took his mason jar as well. After Paige walked away from the table, Slade was quiet. He didn't say another word for a while.
     Lacey wondered if this was a good time to tell Slade that her faith walk with Jesus wasn't as strong as it was before her accident. She decided it wasn't the time, especially since Slade thinks she is walking close to God. Lacey was also wondering, since Slade mentioned little tidbits about his past, if now would be a good time to find out more about Slade and his background, but looking back up at Slade now with his jaw clenched, Lacey decided it wasn't a good time for that either. Slade opened up to Lacey some and when he was ready to talk more about what his life was before he came to work for Lacey's dad, he would bring it up himself without pressure from Lacey.
     "I'm glad that you're a Christian too, Slade." Lacey opted for, unsure of what else to say. She tried to give Slade a reinforcing smile, but that glaze over Slade's eyes didn't dare to melt away.
     Paige brought back Slade and Lacey's drinks, and Lacey expected her to wait on her other customers, but instead she pulled a chair up next to Slade and Lacey's table.
     "So, uh..." Paige stared, taking a seat in the chair. Lacey took a sip of her peach tea. "You two like on a date or something?" Lacey almost spit out her tea all over the table.
     She swallowed hard and coughed before she answered Paige's blunt question. "No. No, not at all. We just...we were..." Lacey stammered nervously. Of course her and Slade weren't on a date. They had hardly said more then five sentences to each other in the three weeks that Slade had worked for Zane. Lacey looked up at Slade for help. He just smiled at her and leaned back in his chair as if to say, "This is all you." Lacey looked away from not-so-helpful Slade and said to Paige, "I had physical therapy, and my parents and Ryder went to the store, so Slade had to take me to therapy. Then on the way back home, Slade decided he was hungry so we stopped here to get some grub. That's all. No...we aren't on a date." Lacey took another sip of her peach sweet tea to avoid Paige's gaze. Paige was the third person in two days who thought that Slade and Lacey were either dating or would make a cute couple. First Brooke, then Trevor, now Paige.
     "Oh..." Paige said, sounding disappointed. "Well, I think that y'all would make an adorable couple." She tried to whisper it, but Lacey knew that Slade heard it.
     Paige was also known to say exactly what she was thinking, even if it might not be the best thing to say at the time. "That's what my physical therapist said too." Lacey replied to her friend's straightforward comment.
     Slade almost choked on a piece of his rib meat. Lacey looked up at him. The glazed look over his eyes had faded. Judging by the look on his face, Slade "choked" on his meat because he was surprised by Lacey's comment. "Trevor said that? That we would make a cute couple?" Slade asked after taking a sip of his tea to wash down his rib meat.
     "Yeah. I almost dropped a dumbbell on his foot." Lacey said and chuckled at the memory.
     Slade chucked too. "That would make a pretty funny story to tell his doctor when he's the one who needs physical therapy." Slade was laughing hard now. Lacey found herself doing the same.
     "Well, I uh, have other tables to check up on, I'll be back in a bit." Paige said awkwardly, but neither Slade nor Lacey heard her over their laughing. Paige put the chair back to the table it belonged at and walked away.
     A few seconds later, Lacey wiped her eyes. Slade had made her laugh so hard that she was practically crying. "Oh, hey, before I forget, I wanted to ask you something."
     Slade's laugh slowed too. "Yeah what's up?"
     "Before we left for physical therapy, you texted me and said that you needed help in the barn...did you actually need help, or were you just tryin' to get me outside?" Lacey asked.
     "I actually needed your help." Slade said, taking a bite of food.
     Lacey felt bad. When Slade hadn't texted Lacey back right away, she was afraid that he actually did need help. "What did you need my help with?"
     "I was getting more hay bales from the hay barn and bringin' them into the horse barn, and I couldn't find the keys for the white truck." 
     "The white truck? You mean 'the bull'? Why did you want to drive that one?" Lacey asked, taking a bite of her food, chasing it down with a sip of her sweet tea. 
     "The white truck is 'the bull'? I thought that was the red one. Either way, your dad told me to drive the white one." Slade explained, wiping his fingers and mouth off on his napkin. 
     The truck had earned the nickname "the bull" because it had a lot of problems, but it still ran and could haul a lot in the bed, and could tow a huge trailer, too. But because of it's age, parts are hard to find; the power steering line is almost completely shot as well as the brake line. Occasionally, you would be driving it to get gas or through a pasture, and the engine would just quit. Lacey's dad had started calling it the "bull" because every time he drove it, he said it was "bull crap." More times than not, Zane had said he would sell the "dumb truck" for scraps, but the truck was still on the farm, being used. 
     "That's weird that he had you drive that one. Probably because you can haul more in that truck than some of our other ones. Either way, did you look in the tool room for the key?" Lacey asked.
     "I did. They weren't on the peg board where the other ones were. I finally found them underneath the seat in the cab."
     "That's strange. They have always been hanging up on the cork board right inside the tool room to the left. I wonder why they weren't there. I know that the keys to our daily drive trucks we keep inside, but the work trucks keys we always keep in the barn. Remind me once we get back to the ranch and I'll-" Lacey stopped herself before she finished her sentence. She was just about to suggest that she go out to the barn with Slade to help him look for the other truck keys once they got back to the ranch. No, she refused to go out to the barn.
     Lacey expected Slade to ask her to finish her sentence, but he didn't. They dropped the matter, and Slade and Lacey finished eating their meal, and said goodbye to Paige and her family. Paige's mom insisted on paying for Slade and Lacey's meal as long as "y'all come back soon."
     Lacey wheeled herself outside of the restaurant and to Slade's truck just fine, but she did not turn down Slade's offer to help her into his truck. As always, Lacey set the brakes on her wheelchair, and Slade slipped one arm behind Lacey's shoulders and the other under her knees. He carefully set Lacey into the passenger side seat of his truck, folded up Lacey's wheelchair, and after setting it into the bed, Slade jumped up behind the steering wheel.