Under the Open Sky (Montana Heritage Series) (23 page)

             
“Get ‘em!,” David yelled to a couple of the guys around and grabbed Jenny to throw her in the water. Dede, a short distance away, squealed and started swimming for shore but wasn’t fast enough before Troy caught up with her. Amanda watched Chris coming her way and wrapped her arms around Cade’s neck and legs around his waist from behind.

             
“Please don’t let him get me, I do not want to spend the night dodging his lips,” Amanda requested in a near whisper; Cade laughed.

             
“I’ve got you,” he promised.

             
“Thank you, he just about drove me crazy at the start of the year,” Amanda admitted as Cade walked further from the water fight that had ensued between the girls and guys. Trent even seemed to have gotten in on it.

             
“Traitor!” David called to where Cade and Amanda were removed from the fight.

             
“Hey you catch more flies with honey,” Cade called back; Amanda laughed. Her brother, however, had taken notice of them and didn’t look so amused.

             
“Leave it to Mandy to find a way out,” Jenny, pushing her wet hair out of face, laughed.

             
“I knew who would be nice and who wouldn’t,” Amanda called back.

             
Over an hour later Trent had climbed from the water and sat in his jeans as he watched Amanda, Jenny, and Cade swim and talk. Many of the others had abandoned the water as the night air cooled.

             
“I’m pruning,” Amanda announced.

             
“I pruned a long time ago,” Jenny admitted.

             
“I’ve had fun; I’ve worked so many hours it doesn’t feel like I’ve had a summer,” Amanda admitted.

             
“I can’t get enough hours at the video store,” Jenny complained.

             
“Apply at Joe’s they could certainly use more help,” Amanda recommended. “We’ve been swamped…” Amanda froze. She could feel something swirling around her lower calf and unless she was delusional, it had scales.

             
“Um, I think there is a snake around my leg,” she informed them.

             
“What?” Jenny’s eyes widened.

             
“Snake,” she repeated forcing herself to stay calm as it slid along her skin. Jenny squealed and swam for the deck.

             
“What’s wrong?” Trent called.

             
“You okay, Manny?” Cade was beside her now.

             
“Snake!” she yelled at her brother.

             
“It’s not likely to hurt you, silly.”

             
“It is wrapped around my leg!” she shot at him in impatience.               “Which leg?” Cade asked her.

             
Amanda felt the snake, provided it was indeed one, uncoil from her leg and threw her arms around Cade’s neck and her legs around his waist from behind as she had done earlier.

             
“It’s gone; get me out of here!” she insisted. She could feel Cade laughing.

             
“Don’t make fun of me!” she chastised him.

             
“I’m sorry I wouldn’t have thought a rancher’s daughter would make such a big deal over a snake.”

             
“It was wrapped around me; ugh!” she shuddered.

             
“It was probably looking for somewhere warm; the water is starting to turn cold.”

             
Cade was moving toward the dock, his arms supporting her legs.

             
“Your sister is afraid of snakes,” he called to Trent.

             
“Yeah, I know,” Trent called back.

             
“He used to chase me with them,” Amanda admitted. “He was a brat; still is.”

             
“I heard that,” Trent informed her.

             
“Good,” she returned.             

             
“Here you are, safe from snakes,” Cade had brought her to the dock.

             
“Thanks,” she offered in relief as she wasted no time climbing onto the safety of the dock. Jenny, already wrapped in her towel, stood a few feet away.

             
“Here,” Amanda reached into her bag and pulled an extra towel from her bag to drop it on the dock for Cade.

             
“Thanks for telling me you had a towel,” her brother shot in her direction.

             
“He rescued me from Chris and then a snake, you sat here safe and sound,” she informed him before grabbing her bag and flouncing off toward the house in search of a bathroom.

             
Several minutes later she and Jenny emerged redressed; hair and makeup back in place.

             
“Here’s your towel back,” Cade was waiting when she emerged.

             
“Thanks,” Amanda smiled at him. He followed her as she and Jenny took their bags to Amanda’s Jeep and stowed them inside. Amanda grabbed the jacket Cade had given her and pulled it on against the evening chill.

             
“You kept it,” he noted.

             
“Yeah, it’s like the perfect worn jean jacket; I don’t know why you wanted to replace it,” Amanda shared her opinion. Cade shrugged.

             
“Where’s Trent?” Jenny queried as they approached the house.

             
“He ran into someone he knows and stopped to chat with him,” Cade explained.

             
“I wonder if there’s any food around here,” Amanda skirted the crowd as she made her way to the kitchen. She found a few finger foods and fixed herself a plate before moving onto the back patio and perching on a low wall of planters.

             
“There you are,” Trent approached. “I plan on keeping a close eye on you two,” he teased his sister and her friend.

             
“Sorry, I don’t need a big brother,” Jenny informed him irritably.

             
“Of course you do and in absence of one I’ll fill in for you.”

             
“I’d rather you didn’t,” Jenny scooted off the wall and stalked back into the house.

             
“What did I say?” Trent looked genuinely confused.

             
Amanda rolled her eyes and followed her friend into the house.

             
“You want me to hit him for you? We won’t even have to tell him why; I’ll just say it’s because he’s such a pesky brother,” Amanda offered.

             
Jenny smiled and shook her head. “Thanks, Mandy, but I should be used to it by now. I’m his kid sister’s best friend; how do I expect him to see me?”

             
“Maybe in a few years he’ll look at you one day and wonder why has never seen you in quite that light before,” Amanda suggested as she linked her arm through her friends.

             
“Mandy, dear, you read way too many romance novels; you know that right?” Jenny was grinning.

             
“Yeah, I know,” Amanda admitted as they entered the large main room. At the opposite end of the room from where they stood, a karaoke machine was being set up on the raised entry. Amanda grinned, grabbed Jenny’s hand, and dragged her across the room.

             
“You game?” Amanda queried.

             
“Can I join you on the chorus? You know firsthand I don’t sing as well as you,” Jenny offered a smile.

             
“Fine. Let’s pick a song.” Amanda asked their host to look through the options.

             
“Here you go ladies,” he grinned and nodded to a binder filled with discs.

             
“Thanks,” Amanda smiled at him. Several minutes later they had agreed on a tune; Amanda dragged Jenny to the bathroom to pull their hair up into sloppy buns. They reapplied their gloss and made notes as to what they wanted to do when and where. Both knew the song well.

             
“Come on,” Amanda, spotted Cade and dragged Jenny back into the crowd.

             
“Hey, can I borrow your shirt?” Amanda requested as she neared him.

             
“What?” Cade frowned at her.

             
“Please? I know you’re wearing an undershirt; it’s not like you’ll be undressed,” Amanda reasoned.

             
“What are you up to?” he looked rather amused as he unbuttoned his shirt.

             
“You’ll see; thanks,” she kissed his cheek.

             
“What are you doing, Mandy?” Trent walked up beside Cade.

             
Dragging Jenny behind her, Amanda waved at her brother as she pushed through the crowd.

             
“There’s David; go ask him for his shirt,” Amanda nodded in his direction. A moment later Amanda and Jenny stood waiting for Morris to finish checking the equipment, Cade and David’s shirts unbuttoned over their dresses.

             
“Okay ladies, the floor is yours,” Morris grinned at them.

             
Guests, gathering closer, were already looking their direction with interest as the first strains of Shania Twain’s
Man I
Feel Like A Woman
started playing. Amanda grabbed the mike and took the lead to sing the first verse with animation as she played to the audience. During a pause in the lyrics, she raised both arms over her head and shifted from side to side as she threw her head. The singing resumed Amanda, skipping and dancing along the entry platform they stood on. When she came to the chorus she and Jenny stood back to back and shared the microphone. Both kept sinking lower and lower as they neared the end of the chorus; they stood back up Amanda, delivering the last line of the chorus.

             
She had their attention now and was feeding off the energy the crowd was throwing her way. She strutted to the front of the platform to sing to those gathered at the front. Toward the end of the second verse she shook her hair down before turning to make her way back to Jenny’s side for the chorus.

             
Both girls were into it now, dancing and spinning before meeting in the middle of the platform again; Amanda placed the microphone back on the stand. They went into the final chorus, singing as they stood semi-facing each other as they grabbed the collar of the shirts and then ran their hands down the skirts of the dresses. By the time the song finished Amanda and Jenny were laughing as they bowed to applause and cat calls before hopping off the raised entry that had served as their stage.

             
“That was sooo fun,” Amanda slung her arm around Jenny.

             
“Yeah, but I don’t think your brother is too happy about it,” Jenny nodded to where Trent was glaring at them.

             
Amanda sighed and rolled her eyes, “What else is new? Come on,” Amanda led her friend toward where they stood.

             
“Thanks,” Amanda smiled at Cade as she handed his shirt back to him.

             
“Welcome,” he grinned. “I think we just figured out why they call you two the Dynamic Duo.”

             
“You two do that often?” Trent was glowering, his gaze bouncing off Jenny as though unwilling to meet her gaze.

             
“We only do karaoke on occasion and we save the strip tease for really special occasions,” Jenny assured Trent; Amanda snorted in an attempt to keep from laughing. Her brother didn’t look amused.

             
“That wasn’t very nice, Amanda,” Trent chastised her.              

             
“What? What was so bad about that, Trent?”

             
“That was very…”

             
“Hot,” Cade supplied what her brother couldn’t bring himself to say.

             
“Cade,” Trent shot him a look that would have left him dead on the spot had the old saying held.

             
“Just saying what you were thinking,” Cade shrugged as he buttoned his shirt.

             
“I suspect that people will still be talking about that when school starts back,” David informed them as he approached.

             
“Thanks for letting me borrow your shirt,” Jenny smiled as she handed it back to him.

             
“Welcome, it was worth the show. You two planning on starting a band?” David teased.