The next morning, the sun shone with promise. Stirring awake, Misty checked the time on her clock. 9:03. Man, did it feel good to sleep in so late for a change. Misty stretched her arms over her head, not feeling as rejuvenated as expected, but then again it was a long, long night. 

            Misty was still playing over her and Clay's fight in her head when she remembered to check her phone. To her surprise, there was a text from Clay, in response to last night when she had asked him if they broke up. Clay had texted, "No, we didn't break up, nor do I want to. But I honestly just don't know where to go from here."  Misty was relieved that they hadn't broken up, but she still wasn't content with his response. 

          Sighing, Misty rolled out of bed, getting dressed for the day. She kept Clay's sweatshirt on, even though it was too big on her; she just wanted to feel like he was still close to her. Just as she was about to walk out of her bedroom, Misty saw the two pairs of Wranglers she had gotten for Clay as their anniversary gift. It was then that Misty decided she would make a trip over to Clay's loft today during his noon day break. 

           After putting on her boots, Misty headed outside. Walking to the barn, she decided that she would work with Casper some. It had been a couple weeks since she was able to work with him, and she still didn't feel like he was thoroughly broke under saddle yet. 

          Grabbing his tack from the tack room, Misty passed Jace. "Hey, Misty. Happy belated." He smiled, following Misty into the tack room. 

           "Thanks. Missed seein' you yesterday." 

           "Yeah, I had to go pick up grain and drop off some of the shipments. I was bummed I missed the festivities, but I still got you a card. It's in my truck. Remind me to give it to you later." Jace grabbed Casper's saddle for Misty, following her out to the round pen. 

            "Thank you. You didn't have to do that." Misty grinned at her best friend. 

            "Sure I did. I have gotten you something every year that we have been friends, so I'm not going to stop now. Especially since you're 20. You're getting old now." He played.

             "Oh you hush up. You're older than I am." Misty walked back to the side lot to fetch her horse. 

             "That's true. So, I have to ask." Jace started, opening the gate for Misty. "Did something happen with you and Clay last night?" 

             Misty hesitated, knowing how much Jace disliked it when her and Clay fought. Jace thought it meant that Clay was mistreating Misty, even when that wasn't the case. Knowing the truth was always the best, Misty replied, "Yeah, we got into a pretty big fight. Why do you ask?" She slipped the halter on over Casper's nose, clipping on the lead rope. 

            "He was really on edge this whole morning. He's as grumpy and short as he was before y'all started datin'. I figured something had to have happened." Jace walked with Misty and Casper back to the round pen. 

              "Yeah. I'm fixing to go over there at noon, after I work with Casper some." Misty explained, grabbing the lunge line from beside the round pen gate.

              "Probably smart. Mind if I stay and watch you work with him?" Jace asked, pointing to Casper.

              "Yes please." Misty replied, sending her horse out to lunge. 

              Jace hopped up to sit on the top of the round pen fence. "How are things goin' with him otherwise?" 

               "Really good. He's still moody sometimes, and a little sour every once in a while. We have our good days and our bad days. But in the end, I still love him, even when he doesn't listen to me. I need to work with him more, though." Misty whistled to her horse, asking him into a lope. 

                Jace chuckled. "I was talkin' about Clay, not Casper."

               Misty looked over her shoulder at Jace. "What makes you think I wasn't talkin' about Clay?" She grinned, winking at her best friend. Slowing Casper, she turned in, smiling when he joined up and walked with her. 

             Grabbing his tack, Misty traded out the lunge line for a lead rope, tacking up her horse. Once his saddle and breast collar was on, Misty slipped the brown tooled Hackamore onto Casper's head. 

              "He still isn't receptive to the bit?" Jace asked, watching Misty mount the puppy dog that was pure wild just a few months ago. 

               "Yeah, he doesn't like having anything in his mouth. We have had his teeth floated and the vet has come out, but she said sometimes with mustangs, no matter how trained they are, they won't like any kind of bit, not even a snaffle." Misty led her horse in circles around the pen, working on her techniques to teach Casper how to neck rein, even without a bit. 

              "Makes sense. He is lookin' really great, Misty. It's awesome to see how far y'all have come." 

              "Thank you. He makes me really proud." Misty smiled down at her calm gray grulla. Never in a million years would she have expected him to remain this calm under saddle. But again, just like her and Clay, she was amazed with how much could change in six months. 

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

            Misty had never been this nervous to see Clay before, but then again, never before had they had this big of a fight. Taking a deep breath, Misty hopped into her truck, driving down the driveway to Clay's loft. She was still wearing Clay's sweatshirt, loving how it felt on her. 

         After driving for a few minutes, Misty pulled her truck up next to Clay's at the old barn. Taking the bag inside with her, Misty walked through the barn, up the stairs to the loft. Not to her surprise, Clay's door was wide open. Taking a step in, Misty knocked on the open door, seeing Clay sitting in the living room when she peeked in. 

          "Hey, can I come in?" Misty asked, dropping her hand from the door.

          "What are you doin' here, Mist?" Clay asked in a slightly irritated voice, standing up to take his plate into the kitchen. He didn't look at Misty.

          "I came for two reasons. First, you left this at my place yesterday." Misty followed clay to the kitchen, holding up his bag of jeans. "Also, I was hopin' maybe we could talk?" 

           "Did you come all the way over here to give me back that necklace, too? Cause remember how you didn't trust me, and you were gettin' all mad at me for not being here that much when you were sick last week? Well, I wasn't here because I was in town getting you that necklace, and paying the down payment on the ranch, but since you don't know how to appreciate things, I might as well take the necklace back, too, right?" Clay said bitterly, practically throwing his lunch plate into the sink.

              "Okay, just stop, Clay. Alright? Are you really going to keep this up today, too?" Misty asked, getting irritated. She really wished he would look at her. 

             "Isn't that what you want? Since it's always about you." Clay ran his hands under the water, then dried them off with a towel.

           Clay's words stung, but Misty knew better than to try keeping it up. Reaching out a hand, Misty grabbed Clay's wrist, rubbing a thumb over the back of his hand. "What I want is for you to not be mad at me, and for us to move on from this." 

           For the first time since she came over, Clay looked her in the eyes. "I'm sorry, Misty, but I'm just not ready for that yet." Clearing his throat, Clay pulled his hand from Misty's, tearing his eyes from hers. Walking over to the door, Clay sat down on the bench to put his boots on. "I have to get back to work, but there's lunch meat and pasta salad in the fridge if you haven't had lunch yet." 

            Misty walked over to stand in front of Clay, leaning against the wall next to the door. "Clay, can you please just tell me if we are okay?" 

            Stopping what he was doing, he glanced up at Misty, taking a deep breath. "It's goin' to take some time, darlin'." With that, Clay stood up, grabbing his hat and keys from the hook beside the door. Stopping beside Misty before he went downstairs, Clay hesitantly dropped a kiss on Misty's forehead. He then walked downstairs without another word.

           Heartbroken, and unsure what else to do, Misty walked to Clay's bedroom, setting his bag of jeans on the bed. She turned to walk away, but something gave her an idea. Finding a piece of paper and a pen, Misty scribbled out a note to Clay, taking off his sweatshirt, and placing the note on top if it. If that wasn't enough to make Clay forgive her, she wasn't sure what would. 

         Nodding contently, Misty headed out to her truck, driving the rest of the way down the driveway, away from the ranch house. She had somewhere she had to be. 

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

     Clay rolled into his loft late that night. It had been one of the longest and hardest work days for as long as he could remember. Exhausted as all get out, his feet seemed to drag as he made his way to his bedroom. Thankful for his bed, Clay was about to lay down and sleep, fully clothed, when he saw his sweatshirt with a note on it. Picking it up, Clay saw Misty's perfect handwriting.

        "Your scent is started to wear off on the sweatshirt. Please, wear it again so it can smell like you. I miss wearing it because when I do, it feels like you are always with me and always hugging me. If you still want me to wear it, please come see me at the ranch tonight with it on. Please forgive me, Clay. I love you." There was much more to the note, reminiscing on some of the couple's best memories, Misty pleading for Clay to forgive her, knowing they loved each other too much to let a stupid fight like this to break them up. She had closed the note, a full front and back page later with, "I love you always, Clay. Forever yours, Misty." Clay read right between the lines. Something in him clicked. It was time to move on.

       Suddenly, Clay wasn't so tired anymore. Dropping the note on his bed, Clay turned to sprint out of his loft. He was halfway through the living room when he realized he forgot the reason he was running out of the loft. Turning on his heels, Clay went back to his bedroom, throwing on his sweatshirt.

       Grabbing his keys off the hook by the door, Clay ran down the loft steps, and to his truck, while texting Misty asking if she was still at his ranch. Once he started his truck, a thought came to Clay. It was after eleven at night. There was no way that Misty would still be at her ranch. Surely she was already home and in bed, but he had to try.

      Turning out of his loft, Clay headed to the McAdams' ranch house. Once he got closer, he could see that all of the house lights were turned off. Getting even closer, Clay saw that Misty's truck wasn't parked in it's spot. The scene made him smile, knowing that Misty was still at her ranch. There was still a slight chance that she was up, and that they could talk yet tonight. 

        Turning his truck around, Clay sped down the driveway, only speeding up as he got closer and closer to Misty's property. He loved Misty with everything in him; he just wished that it didn't have to take such a big fight between them to make him realize that. Her note made it clear that she felt the same way about him, and that they had blown things way out of proportion. Clay prayed the whole way to Misty's ranch, unsure what he should do, but, all he knew was that he was wearing the sweatshirt, just like Misty had requested.