Under the Open Sky (Montana Heritage Series) (3 page)

             
“The farm truck is sitting right there with the keys in it. If you can drive that old thing; you can drive anything,” Cade nodded to where the battered old pick up sat.

             
Amanda eyed it with longing.

             
“I don’t have a permit,” Amanda was watching him with interest now.

             
“We’ll never leave the farm,” Cade promised her.

             
Amanda hesitated and then climbed down off the fence. Cade opened the door to the driver’s side and made a gesture with his hand for Amanda to climb in. Amanda’s limbs were shaking as she climbed onto the high seat and grasped the wheel with suddenly damp palms. Amanda jumped when the passenger door opened and she shot Cade a nervous glance.

             
“You ready?” Cade was watching her expectantly. Amanda nodded in determination. “Okay, press in the brake and the clutch and turn the key,” he instructed.

             
“Okay,” Amanda licked her suddenly dry lips and did as he instructed. Pleasure shot through her when the truck started.

             
“Now, make sure you’re in the right gear.”

             
“The right gear?” She looked down at the gear shift to find all the numbers and letters gone; her mind had suddenly gone blank.

             
Amanda glanced at Cade nervously.  She had driven the tractor; she had thought the truck would be easy.

             
“Okay, turn the truck off; we need to cover a few basics first.” Cade instructed and waited for her to comply. “Put your hand on the gear shift.”

             
Amanda put her hand on the gear shift only to yank it away when Cade covered it with his.

             
“Relax, Manny; I’m not in the habit of hurting kids.” Cade’s gaze was amused which only further irritated Amanda.

             
She swallowed the sharp retort she wanted to offer and returned her hand to the gear shift. Cade took her through each gear and then had her find them on her own before having her start the truck again. A few minutes later the truck was jerking forward.

             
“Okay, now…” Cade braced himself when the truck jerked hard and the engine died. “Restart it. Press the clutch and brake and put it in first. Now, ease off the break and onto the gas.” The truck jerked and died. “You have to stay on the clutch a little longer.”

             
“I’m tryin’!” Amanda bit out impatiently. She had thought learning to drive was going to be fun.

             
“Relax, Manny, there’s no reason to clutch the wheel so hard. Now, try again.”

             
“It’s Amanda,” she corrected, “Or Mandy.”

             
Amanda bit her lip and started over in the process, this time managing to keep the truck going as they rolled forward across the field.

             
“Now, push in the clutch and shift into second,” Cade instructed. Amanda successfully shifted gears and felt herself relax a little; she could do this, it wasn’t so different from the tractor after all. Almost an hour later she was able to drive around the field fairly well, only grinding the gears on occasion. Amanda finally parked the truck, proud that she had succeeded and disappointed that Cade had to get back to work.

             
“I drove!” Amanda bounded out of the truck. “I drove,” she repeated when Cade had come around to lean against the truck.

             
“You drove; not bad kid.” Cade was grinning at her.

             
“Thank you so much, Cade.” Amanda spotted her father’s truck coming down the drive and dashed toward the house before her father spotted her. She and Cade had agreed not to tell her father of her driving lessons yet.

             
“Hi, Dad,” Amanda greeted as the men climbed from the truck.

             
“Dad?”

             
“How was your trip to town?” Amanda asked as she circled the truck, Big Boy panting from his run beside her.

             
“My trip to town was fine. What did you do with yourself?” Sterling was watching his daughter closely.

             
“Oh, I managed to keep occupied,” Amanda assured her father. “I’m going to go see if Aunt Naomi needs help with dinner.” Without further comment Amanda bounded up the front porch steps and into the house.

Three

              “You will go to college this fall, Trenton, and that is final! Furthermore you will not see Angela again; is that clear?” Sterling’s raised voice floated to Amanda from the floor below; Amanda sighed. The fighting had started a week earlier when school had ended for the year and Trent had graduated.

             
“I don’t want to go to college, Dad; I want to stay here and help you run the ranch and I don’t need a degree to do it.”

             
“If you want to help me run this ranch you will go to college.”

             
“It isn’t your future to plan, Dad; this is my decision and I don’t want to go to college and I will see Angela if I want to. I’m eighteen next week; I’m not a child anymore.”

             
Amanda jumped up from her bed and pushed her screen out of her window to climb onto the porch roof. It was a beautiful night; a refreshing breeze stirred the trees making them sigh and the night insects sang their familiar tune. Amanda loved late spring evenings.

             
She carefully scaled the length of the roof and swung her long legs down around the porch post to scoot to the ground below.  It was a trick she had learned to use in avoiding her aunt. Tonight she didn’t want to cross the battleground of the main floor of the house. Knowing she would find refuge from the yelling, she quickly set her path for the barn. She could see lights on in the men’s bunk house and Benjamin’s truck. He must have come back earlier this evening when she wasn’t paying attention. Benjamin was her father’s foreman and had been out of town for several weeks helping his recently widowed mother move. She would look forward to seeing him the next day.

             
Amanda entered the barn and climbed into the loft to scoot the edge of the double doors that were used to raise hay into the loft. The large two story clapboard she called home looked like something from a picture, its windows lit in the night’s darkness. As peaceful as the house looked, tonight peace did not reside in its walls. She hated it when her brother and father fought. Fortunately it was seldom enough despite the two of them being just alike.

             
Amanda observed a truck moving down the farm lane and recognized it as the clunker Cade had recently bought. When he parked under a tree near the barn, Amanda watched with interest as he led a young woman into the shadows of the barn and crawled to the edge of the loft to peer down on the interior. She recognized the girl from around school. A recent graduate and classmate of Cade’s, Miranda was known more for what she was willing to do than her brains.

             
Figures, Amanda mused in irritation. Now what? No matter how she left the barn she was going to have to interrupt the pair who were busy kissing and groping each other. Amanda sighed; was that all men ever thought about? Unless she wanted a show it was time to get out here, she decided as she stood and hopped onto the beam opposite her perch.

             
“Forgive me for interrupting but could I get out of here please? It’s getting a little hot for me,” Amanda had swung to the floor by the time she finished her sentence. She heard Miranda gasp and watched as the two jumped apart.

             
“What are you doing out here at this time of night?” Cade demanded.

             
“I was trying to enjoy a peaceful moon lit evening but that looks unlikely,” Amanda shared as she sauntered in their directions.

             
“You should probably take me home, my parents are going to be wondering about me,” Miranda edged around Cade and out of the barn. Cade was standing arms crossed as he stared at Amanda in irritation and she stopped to match his pose.

             
“A word of advice, Cade, my father doesn’t cotton to the men bringing women to the ranch to mess around with, his having an impressionable young daughter and all so I would tread lightly if I were you.”

             
“Is that a warning, Manny?”

             
“I have no intention of telling if that is what you’re asking but Daddy has been known to check on the animals before bed.”

             
“Look, Manny, Miranda and I were just…”

             
“It’s Mandy, and I am fifteen, not five and I know exactly what you and Miranda were
just
up to,” Amanda rolled her eyes in disgust at his attempt to play down his actions. “All I’m saying is if my dad catches you, you will lose your job.” Amanda started around Cade; he stopped her by grabbing her arm lightly.

             
“You won’t tell?” his gaze probed hers.

             
“I know you think I’m a brat but I’m not mean spirited, Cade; I know you need this job and I have nothing against you. If you like bimbos knock yourself out, but I suggest you do so somewhere where my dad isn’t likely to walk in on you.”

             
Amanda turned and left the barn; she noted Miranda who stood, her arms crossed as she leaned against Cade’s truck and glared at Amanda. Amanda was fairly sure she had heard her every comment. Amanda saluted the older girl as she passed and continued to the house at an unhurried pace. She wasn’t particularly anxious to return the turmoil inside.

____________________________________________

              Amanda watched her father place a worn cap on his head as he readied to go to town, her brother dragging his feet as he prepared to go along.

             
“You comin’ along?” Sterling inquired of his daughter.

             
Amanda shook her head; her father was still in a crappy mood and she had no intention of being stuck between him and her brother all the way to and from town. Nuh uh, she was
not
crazy. Given her father’s mood there was no chance of getting her permit either.

             
“Suit yourself,” her father shrugged. The pleading gaze her brother shot her direction almost changed her mind…almost. She walked to the truck, closed the gate after Big Boy had hopped in, and waved them on their way before meandering her way to the barn to see how one of the new colts was faring. She waved to several of the men, all mounted to ride out and stepped through the barn doors. The interior of the barn was dark after the brilliant afternoon sunshine and Amanda had to blink before she could see where she was going, though she could make the trip in the dark if she had to. In the last stall, she found the growing colt tossing and shaking his shiny head. He was going to be temperamental, she could already tell, but he was a beauty with his deep chocolate coat.

             
“Pretty isn’t he?” Cade asked as he entered with a bag of feed on his shoulder.

             
“He is; temperamental too.”

             
“Nah, he’s just high spirited, with the proper training he’ll make someone a good mount,” Cade predicted.

             
“That’s what Dad said too,” she acknowledged; she still maintained that he was temperamental.

             
“I figured you would head to town with your dad and brother and pester them for your permit,” Cade teased, his blue eyes bright.

             
“I know better than to put myself between them when they’re having a round,” Amanda was shaking her head.

             
“Still into it over Trent’s schooling?”
              “That’s what drove me out here last night,” she admitted as she turned, put her back to the stall, and crossed her arms over her chest.

             
“Thanks for not getting me in trouble, Manny.”

             
“I don’t know why you thought I would and it’s Mandy,” Amanda pushed off the stall and strolled toward the open double doors of the barn.

             
“You want another driving lesson?” Cade called after her.

             
Amanda stopped and turned to face him, “You don’t have to buy me off, Cade; I’m not a tattle tell.”

             
“I wasn’t trying to buy you off but suit yourself,” Cade shrugged and turned to lift a bale of hay.

             
“Alright,” Amanda agreed.