True Love Waits

Chapter Thirty Five

             "Ugh, I hate when you have to leave for work." Maleena pouted, leaning forward to give Cody another kiss. Still dressed in her pajamas, with messy hair and baggy, tired eyes, it was evident that she had just woken up, but yet she wanted to send her boyfriend off to work with a proper goodbye.

         "Trust me, I hate havin' to leave you, but I have to make money so I can keep takin' you out on dates." Bright eyed and bushy tailed Cody smiled, asking for another kiss that was followed by many more. The only thing that pulled the couple away from their make-out session was an alarm going off on Cody's phone. 

        Pulling back with a groan, Maleena stood with her arms folded. "And I hate your alarms sometimes. I wish you could stay here all day, especially since it is my day off." 

       Looking back up from shutting off the notification on his phone that was his final warning to leave for work so he wasn't late, Cody shot his girlfriend a grin. "So much hatred this morning, darlin'. Where's the love?" He kissed her cheek as he grabbed his cowboy hat off the hook on the wall, beside the front door.

        "Oh, you know I have nothin' but love for you in my heart. Otherwise I wouldn't have woken up before the sun on the only day off I have had since I started working at the feed store, just to give you a proper sendoff." She retorted, feeling extra sassy this morning. It didn't help that Cody and her had fallen asleep in the living room, watching a movie until two in the morning. Considering it was only 6am, that meant they only got about 4 hours of sleep; Maleena was confused how Cody could be so chipper this early, on as little sleep as he received. 

        "Yeah, about that proper sendoff." Cody hinted, wrapping his arms around Maleena's waist again, pulling her against him in a kiss. Every morning he had to leave to head to work, the harder and harder it was getting to say goodbye to his girlfriend.

       "Okay. No more until I get to see you tonight. I don't want you being late to work, and then the boss makes you stay longer just to get stuff done." 

        "Good point. I will be over later to help you staple up that fence line." Cody let go of Maleena to fish his keys out of his pocket, halfway out the door. 

        "Sounds good. See you in a few hours. Have a good day, sweetheart; text me when you get to work, even though I will most likely be sleeping." Maleena waved to Cody as he walked off the porch.

       "See you in a bit, darlin'." Cody smiled, hopping in his truck. 

      With a sigh, Maleena shut the door once Cody's truck was headed towards the road. Tromping her way back upstairs to her bedroom, Maleena tried not to let herself miss Cody too much. Every day she had been reminding herself to enjoy and cherish the days they still had together before school started back up. Never in her life had she expected to feel what she felt every time she was around Cody, and the absence and loneliness that overtook her when he left. Only time would tell, but she was starting to worry how their relationship would fare when school started back up, knowing how busy they would be on top of their jobs, rodeo, and hopes of a social life. Something would certainly have to go, but none of those things were something Maleena was willing to let go of. 

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

        "Oh, look at this. I just got an email from the same person who emailed me about my selection for the futurity race." Maleena stated to Cody later that day when her cell phone vibrated, telling her she had a new email. The couple was riding out through the fields to get to the pasture where they had to staple up a few lines of wire fencing.