The Paralyzed Dream (COMPLETED)

Chapter Eleven

      "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.