"Clay, go left! No, no, wait. Go right! Try getting him towards the gate!" Misty shouted at her boyfriend from across the pasture. Casper had somehow escaped from his stall in the barn, winding up in the small, open turn out pasture beside the barn. Misty's family always left the gate to that pasture open since they don't graze it often due to the smallness of size. In this instance, their decision to leave the gate opened was actually beneficial. If Casper didn't have access to the small corral, he would have gotten out into one of the much bigger pastures, making it impossible to catch him on foot.

        "Babe, I'm tryin'!" Clay shouted back at Misty as he lifted his arm in Casper's direction, getting him to turn towards Misty and away from him. This was a game to Casper: green grass to munch on, only two people out trying to catch him, not to mention the freedom of being lose. Casper was enjoying himself with no plans to be caught any time soon.

        The sky above them cracked as the dark storm clouds began to open up, dropping down rain drops, ever so slowly. As the drops began to descend faster, falling in larger quantities, Clay took his eyes off of Casper, looking up at the sky. "Great, just great." He mumbled, upset that there was one more thing to add to his already bad day. "Come on, Casper, let's go. Back in the barn." Clay practically growled, taking a step closer to the gray grulla anxiously trotting around the green pasture. "Mist, can you at least try to get him over here, please?" Clay asked of his girlfriend, his voice rising in frustration. 

         Misty chuckled as the rain fell harder and faster. With each drop, she smiled as it tapped a beat on her cowboy hat. Glancing up, a few rain drops fell onto her face, making her face cold where the drops once were. The whole situation was amusing to Misty; in the past, storms had always put her in a bad mood for some reason, but today, she was enjoying the rain. Clay, on the other hand, was the one who was getting upset by the sudden onset of rain. 

         "Misty!" Clay shouted, drawing her attention from the sky, back to the situation at hand. When she looked at Clay, he said in a frustrated voice, "I really need you to pay attention, and help me get Casper back inside, please." It was taking everything in him to stay calm, knowing there was no reason to yell at his girlfriend. 

       "Sure, I'm sorry." Misty said in a calm voice, looking forward to getting the chance to sit down and talk to Clay about his bad day. Slowly making her way forward, Misty cooed to her horse, getting him to turn to her. Finally, after almost a half hour of Casper's game of tag, he finally obeyed Misty, giving into the temptation of the treat she held in her hand. "Good boy." Misty praised, slipping the lead rope over his neck, sliding the halter on over his nose. Just as she was about to clip the halter together, a loud crack of thunder shook the ground, catching everyone, including Casper, off gaurd. Casper spooked slightly, although he is a mustang who grew up outside and was used to the storms. With an anxious snort, Casper began backing up from Misty. Taken aback by her horse's action, Misty's boots failed to catch traction on the now muddy ground. "Babe, please take him." Misty called over to Clay who was already jogging across the grass to aid Misty. Just as Clay was about to take the lead rope, Casper bolted, dragging Misty with him. Misty refused to let go of the lead until she was certain Clay had a hold of it. When he shouted at her to let go, Misty freed her hand, and her body stopped sliding across the muddy ground. Picking herself up off the ground, Misty looked over at Clay. He had gotten Casper to calm down and was walking him into the barn. 

        Clay had barely gotten Casper back in to his stall before he was running back out into the pasture to make sure Misty was alright. "Mist, you okay?" He called over, walking towards her. 

         "Yeah, I'm fine." Misty said honestly, bending down to pick up her hat off the muddy ground. It had fallen on it's crown which had made it into a bucket for the rain to fill it. Picking it up, Misty tipped it over, pouring the water out of it before settling it back on her head. By this time, Clay was beside her. "Let's get out of this rain." Misty said with a smile, having to slightly raise her voice over the loudness of the now pouring rain. 

        Clay didn't say anything in response; instead, he turned and began walking beside Misty back into the barn. Misty walked slowly to test out her legs, making sure nothing was hurting as a result of the minor accident. Surprisingly, she wasn't that sore from being dragged; granted, it wasn't that far and it was on smooth, muddy ground. Her only hope was that once the adrenaline wore off, she still wouldn't be sore. She didn't want to give Clay anything else to worry about. 

      Once inside the barn, Clay left Misty's side when his phone rang in his pocket. Misty walked over to Casper's stall where he was anxiously pawing at the door. "Hey, Casp. What's wrong, dude?" Misty asked, peeking into the stall. Casper continued pawing at the door, snorting for attention. "I know you don't like being inside during storms. I know that it is in your nature to find your own shelter, but you have to trust me, okay? You know I won't let anything bad happen to you." Misty opened the barred window on his stall door, allowing Casper's head to be out in the aisle way. From there, Misty stroked his head, sliding two fingers to the tender spot under her forelock, slowly making counter-clockwise circles. After Casper calmed down, responding well to the T-touch massage, Misty closed the window again, turning from the stall to go find her boyfriend. 

         It had been two weeks since Clay had taken Misty on the date to the ice cream parlor. The night had ended with them watching the stars and talking about their future together all while laying on top of an old horse trailer. At the end of their heart to heart conversation, Clay had kissed Misty for the first time since they made their relationship official. The moment was incredibly special for both of them. Thinking of the night made a grin rise on Misty's lips. She continued her trek through the barn, looking for the man who was responsible for her smile.

         Misty found Clay in the barn office, talking with someone on the phone. It had turned into a heated conversation. Stopping in her tracks, Misty retreated from the door before Clay could see her. Sliding to the side of the door, Misty sat on the pile of feed bags that were stacked on a pallet beside the office. Knowing it was probably wrong of her, but worried about Clay, Misty eavesdropped on his conversation. The only things that she could pick up was something about court, and paying some sort of fine. Clay had interjected into the conversation several times with frustrated scoffs and remarks. 

        Finally, after what felt like an eternity to Misty, Clay hung up, slamming his cell phone down on the table with an aggravated sigh. Giving it a couple seconds, so Clay wouldn't know she was listening in on his conversation, Misty slowly stood up from her spot, walking over to the office door. Lifting her fist, Misty dropped three knocks on the door frame, making Clay look up. "Hey, can I come in?" She asked, making eye contact with Clay. 

         Clay straightened, nodding to Misty. "Yeah." When Misty was beside him, he leaned back against the desk, folding his arms over his chest. "Sorry I didn't help you after Casper dragged you out there." There was an edge to his words, despite him trying to apologize to Misty. 

         "That's alright. I'm fine. He didn't drag me more than ten feet." Misty smiled, walking forward to stand in front of Clay. "Thank you for caring, though." When he unfolded his arms, grabbing the edge of the desk with his hands, Misty laid herself against his chest, hoping he would embrace her.

         Instead of hugging Misty, Clay stated, "I am gettin' tired of him hurtin' you so often." Turning his head slightly, Clay mumbled, "I knew we should have let him out when we had the chance." 

        With that comment, Misty stood up off of Clay's chest. "What do you mean by that statement?" She asked, pushing her eyebrows together. 

         Rolling his eyes, Clay sighed. "I'm sayin' that that horse is way more trouble than he's worth. This is, what, the third, fourth time, he has hurt you?" Clay's voice was beginning to raise in frustration, again.

         "He didn't hurt me this time, Clay. He spooked, and I held onto his lead. What do you have against Casper? You don't get this way with any other horse but him." Misty didn't mean to raise her voice, but she blamed it on the rain pounded loudly against the metal barn roof. 

       Clay pushed himself off of the desk to stand up, causing Misty to take another step back. "Misty, I have told you repeatedly why I do not like him! He is way too much trouble. You have enough on your plate already. The last thing you need right now is an insane horse hurting you!" Clay shouted, using his hands as emphasis. Misty had never seen her boyfriend this upset before and it worried her.

          "This really was about to happen, wasn't it?" Misty thought to herself. Her and Clay were actually about to have their first fight. It sucked, but Misty would not tolerate Clay talking bad about her horse. "Insane? Are you serious? You're the insane one if you thing that Casper has not come a long way from the roundup. He has made great progress, you've said so yourself!" 

          "The only progress he has made is him landing you in the emergency room because he charged you. That horse is not meant to be tamed, Misty, why can't you just leave it go?!" Clay shouted at her. 

        Misty stepped closer to Clay; she knew that he had already had a bad day, and she should have backed down, but instead, she glared bullets at Clay, her voice taunting as she asked, "Are you scared of Casper?" 

        "What? Why on earth would I be scared of him? Misty, that is not it at all!" Clay's booming voice echoed in the room.

         "Then what is the problem?!" Misty yelled loudly at Clay. She spread her arms out wide only for Clay to push them down with his own hands, taking a step closer to her. 

         Lowering his voice slightly, Clay held onto Misty's arms. "I just want you to learn to listen to me, Misty. I have your best interest in mind when I say that Casper is up to no good."      

         "I do listen to you. How dare you say I don't." Misty growled through gritted teeth as she glared at Clay. "Maybe if you hadn't been so selfish and forced me to spend time with you all the time instead of workin' with my horse, then he wouldn't be so crazy!" 

         Clay groaned, letting out an aggravated chuckle. "Oh, sorry that spending time with me is just so horrible that you would rather spend time with a loco horse that could kill you at any moment." He said sarcastically. "But you know what? If that's what you want, then maybe we shouldn't spend so much time together!" Unintentionally, Clay's hands tightened their hold on Misty's arms, his fingers digging into her skin. Misty was too mad to really notice, however. 

      "Clay, don't say that." Misty pleaded through a tight jaw. 

      "I am just tired of seein' you get hurt, Misty!" Clay's voice was now louder than the rain pounding on the roof. 

        "You say that, but what do you think you're doin' to me right now?" Misty asked, nodding to his hands on her arms. She had begun to feel pain because of how tight his hands had wrapped around her arms; she knew it was unintentional, but regardless, the irony of his comment versus his action made her upset. 

         Clay, following Misty's nod, backed way off, immediately dropping his hands when he realized that they were still wrapped around her. He began softly stroking a finger over where his grip had been, doing anything to get to alleviate the pain he  had so unintentionally caused her. He had never meant to hurt her; he wasn't that kind of guy. Instantly, all of his anger towards Misty left as he took a deep breath, trying to form an apology. "Misty-" 

          Misty jerked her arms free with a scoff. "Stop, Clay. Don't say anythin' else. I have proved my point." And with that, Misty stomped out of the barn office, not even giving Clay time to finish his apology. 

         The second Misty walked out of the room, Clay slammed his hand down hard on the desk top, letting out an angry groan. This was all his fault. Tensions were high on the McAdams' ranch as it was; everyone was overly stressed and on edge as they rushed to get ready for the auction sale. Not to mention, everything that was happening in Clay's family. His day had just continually gotten worse, no matter what he did. 

         Seeing movement outside to his left, Clay looked out the window to see Misty jogging into the house, ducking her head from the rain. Taking a deep breath, Clay closed his eyes, and said a prayer, asking God to help him in this situation. He just hurt Misty, not only emotionally, but he was sure he had accidentally hurt her physically, too. "God, please guide me and help everything to calm down. I know that you will work everything out for the better, but please help me to believe that. Things are so messed up back home with my family, and now I just messed things up with Misty. Please give me the right words to say when I apologize to Misty. Thank you, Lord for always being there and for being the one constant that will never change. Love you, Lord. Amen." Taking one last look outside, towards the house, Clay hoped that he would say the right thing to get Misty to believe that he really was sorry, and that the last thing he wanted was to see her hurt.