"You about ready to head into town?" Chandler asked Maleena, hopping up on the wooden planked fence of the outdoor arena where Maleena was practicing running barrels on one of their barrel horses.

       "Just about. I want to run around one more time. That last run wasn't great." Maleena, short of breath with her hair windblown, remarked. 

        "Mal, you've already been out here for an hour. If you run too much more, Brutus here is gonna collapse." Chandler grinned at his stubborn sister. 

        "I know. Just one more time." She held up her finger, indicating only one more run. "I promise." 

       Letting out an airy chuckle, Chandler groaned, knowing he wouldn't be able to change Maleena's mind. "Only one more run, and that's it. We have stuff to do."

      Maleena put a hand up in defense. "I know. I know. Here, can you please record and time this run for me?" She asked, pulling her phone out of her pocket, handing it to her brother.

      "Yep." Chandler took the phone, pulling the camera app up on his sister's phone, positioning himself on the fence to hold the phone still enough to get a good enough video. "Ready whenever you are." 

       Maleena positioned herself and Brutus at the end of the arena before taking a deep breath , seating herself deep in the saddle, picking up her reins. Squeezing her heels into Brutus' side, the pair took off at a dirt spitting gallop, heading straight for the first barrel. Rounding it perfectly, the pair headed for the second barrel. Leading off the barrel, one of Brutus' front hoof slipped, but barely enough to compromise his composure as he ran towards the third. After a clean left turn around the final barrel, Brutus gave it his all, running his heart out despite being tired after already running the cloverleaf for an hour. Any time that they lost after tripping off the second barrel, they certainly made up for on the stretch home. 

        "15.5." Chandler smiled, checking the time on the video recording. "Not bad for a tired, beginner horse." 

         "Not bad, but not good enough to win a futurity race, either." Maleena shrugged, patting Brutus' neck, praising him on a good run. Reaching down, she grabbed her phone from her brother. "Considering we have been running for over an hour, and Brutus hasn't been run for a while, I will take the time." Maleena watched the replay on her phone, instantly seeing several areas where she wanted to improve. Instead of giving into the urge to run the pattern again to try working out the small mistakes, Maleena shoved her phone in her pocket, thanking Chandler for recording and timing it. "I wanted to ride practice on Stryker, but since he's almost 7, he's way older than the futurity horses. I mean those horses are only three or four, and have never competed in a rodeo before. Hence, why I wanted to practice on Brutus today. He's four and is still fairly new to the barrel game. But I will tell you what. He is an awful hard worker. I might have to start entering him in some events, just to see how he does around crowds and under the pressure of the lights and races." Maleena thought out loud, rambling on excitedly. "Anyways, I am goin' to cool Brute down here, then I will be ready to go into town." Without waiting for a response from Chandler, Maleena led Brutus to the edge of the arena, setting his reins down on his neck, letting go of them. Dropping her feet from the stirrups, she allowed herself to fully relax, telling her barrel pony to do the same. Periodically, Brutus would lift his head to look at the blue plastic barrels in the arena, wanting to run the race he was falling in love with. 

       Maleena walked Brutus around the arena a few more times before sliding off his back by the gate, lifting the reins off his neck to lead him into the barn. Chandler joined her, walking beside her into the barn. "Y'all are really lookin' good out there. Stryker is fixin' to be jealous." Chandler teased. 

         "That's what I'm worried about. But I could never desert my sweet boy." She smiled at Stryker's stall when they passed it. Leading Brutus to the far end of the barn, Maleena grabbed his halter, replacing it where his bridle was. Clipping the lead rope to the metal ring on the halter, Maleena carefully held the sorrel still as she took off his saddle. 

      Chandler stood back and watched Maleena, knowing better than to offer her any help. His sister was stubborn, he would give her that much.

       "As hard and as much as we ran, I would have expected him to be a lot more sweaty, but he really isn't sweating that bad at all. I'm surprised." Grabbing one of his brushes, Maleena brushed his matted wet hair so it was standing upright, making it dry quicker and easier. "Would you mind grabbing him two of the apple biscuits from the tack room, please?" Maleena asked her brother over her shoulder, grabbing a hoof pick from the brush caddy.

      "Here you are." Chandler handed his sister two of the horse treats, wary of keeping them free from Brutus' line of smell. 

      "Thanks." Maleena stuffed them in her pocket until she was completely done brushing down her pony. Once she was sure that he was dry and clean enough to prevent any saddle sores from the sweat, Maleena reached in her pocket, grabbing one of the sweet smelling apple treats. Holding her hand out flat, she fed the treats to Brutus one at a time, praising him again for a great ride. Leading him out of the barn, Maleena opened up the gate leading out to one of their grazing pastures behind the barn. Slipping the halter off of Brutus' head, she stood back, allowing him to run out into the pasture. 

      "Okay, now I'm ready to head into town." Maleena said with a teasing smile. 

      With a chuckle, Chandler shook his head, walking with his sister to his truck. Once inside, heading down the road into town, he asked, "Are you still lookin' for a job around here?" 

        "Yeah, but I have been busy with riding and Cody and everything, so I haven't had much time to really hunker down and search for one, y'know? Hopefully while we are in town, I can pick up some applications and such." She stated, her arm out the open window. 

       "Lookin' like that? You might scare folks away before they even think of giving you an application." Chandler grinned so his sister knew he was completely kidding.

      "Oh really? Well, at least Cody thinks I'm attractive. You're the single one here, so I don't think you have much room to talk." She countered, loving the playful banter between her and her brother. 

       Chandler, knowing he lost, kept his mouth quiet as he drove the rest of the way into town. Even though him and Maleena were about four years apart, they were still close friends, and he was forever thankful for that. 

      Arriving at the feed store, Maleena hopped out of the truck, following Chandler inside. Taking a deep breath once she walked inside, Maleena couldn't help but smile at the smell of the shop. The sweat smell of feed and the scent of leather filled her nostrils. Like always, the shop was decently busy with customers. 

        Waiting in line behind two other customers at the pick up counter, Maleena looked around and a thought instantly sparked in her mind. Once it was their turn, Maleena watched as Chandler signed off on the shipment papers, paying for the order. When he turned to walk away, Maleena hesitated. Turning back to the woman in her mid-twenties behind the counter, Maleena asked in her most professional voice, "Do y'all happen to be hiring?" 

       "Actually, yes, we are! I'm so glad you asked. Would you like to fill out an application?" The dirty blonde smiled happily, reaching below the cash register counter. 

      "Yes, please, I would love to." Maleena said nervously, but excitedly. Back in her hometown, when they lived in Wyoming, Maleena worked a lot. She had three jobs; she worked at the feed store, the local diner, and a friend's horse barn. Ever since they had moved here, Maleena had been wanting to get a job, but never had the time to go out and actually look for one. Before her and Dillion broke up, she was fixing to get a job at Roadhouse, where he worked, but because of how things ended with them, she decided it would be better if she found work elsewhere.

        "Here you go. You can fill it out now, or take it home and bring it back, either works." The lady behind the counter handed Maleena the white piece of paper. 

        "Great. Thank you so much." She gave her shiniest smile, taking the application and a pen, meeting Chandler outside in the truck. "They're hirin'." Maleena grinned, hopping into the truck, holding up the application.

        "You would be a great fit here. They would be goofy not to hire you." Chandler complimented, driving the truck around the back of the feed store to load up their shipment.

       Working together, Chandler and Maleena had the bed of the truck full of their feed shipment in record time. Before they left, Maleena turned in her application, given the promise she will get called either way, whether she was being given an interview or not. Excited, Maleena texted Cody, telling him that she applied for a job. He replied fairly quickly, telling her that was great and that he was taking a break from work to eat lunch. Adding a second text, he let his girlfriend know that he missed her.

      The smile faded slightly from Maleena's lips as she told Cody that she missed him as well. This was the first time since they had been dating that they had been apart for more than 24 hours. It was a change, but it wasn't necessarily a bad change. 

       Looking out the window as Chandler drove them home, Maleena watched the white capped mountains roll past, decorating the endless Montana sky. 

      Taking a deep breath, all Maleena could think about wasn't just if she would be asked to come in for a job interview at the feed store, but rather the only thing really conquering her mind was how to pass the time until she got to see Cody again on Wednesday.