Under the Open Sky - By Michelle Maness Page 0,1

lack of result was that the jury had obviously been bought; likely by one well-meaning but meddling aunt.

“I hired a new hand.” Sterling made the comment in an off handed manner, but a new hand always brought interest from the family.

“Tell us about him, Daddy,” Amanda prompted when he offered no further information. Sterling put down the farm journal he’d been reading and took a sip of his coffee.

“He just turned eighteen and is in his final year of school. He’ll be moving into the bunk house.”

“Who’d you hire?”

Trent, too, was in his final year of school; chances were he already knew the new hand.

“Cade Winston.”

“Cade Winston? He’s the biggest bad ass in the school; you can’t be serious?” Trent was staring at his father in disbelief.

“Watch your mouth,” Sterling shot his son a pointed look.

“Sorry.”

“I hired him on the condition that he will finish school; just because his father was worthless doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve a chance.”

Amanda finished her breakfast, grabbed her plate and slipped out the screen door, across the screened in back porch, and to the dog’s food bowl.

“Hey, Big Boy,” Amanda rubbed the large dog’s scruffy neck and turned to retrace her steps into the house. After rinsing her plate and placing it in the dishwasher, Amanda slid back into her seat to finish her juice.

“Shouldn’t you be dressing for school?” Naomi surveyed Amanda before rising from the table.

“I am dressed,” Amanda knew that would get a rise from her aunt.

“You are not going to school in cutoff jeans; I took you shopping for school clothes for a reason.”

Amanda rolled her eyes but stood and bounded up the stairs to change. She closed the door to her room and admired the papered walls. Her Aunt Naomi wasn’t all bad; she had talked her father into letting Amanda give her room a more mature make over. The walls now sported new wall paper of white background scattered with vines and lavender colored flowers. Her white, iron bed frame, an antique nearly as old as the house, was now covered with a light purple spread. Amanda yanked open the top drawer of her oak chest and pulled a pair of jeans from the top of the pile. She paired them with a t-shirt and long sleeved floral printed shirt, with western, silver buttons; she knew that it would please her aunt that she had taken the time to layer her clothes. In Amanda’s view clothes were an accessory and anything serviceable would do. In Naomi’s view they were a part of the person wearing them. Amanda pulled on her socks and struggled into her boots, before checking that her braid was still neat and grabbed her books to catch the bus. Sometimes she rode with her brother; today she was in a hurry to be on her way.

“That’s much better; where are your tennis shoes?” Naomi was standing at the bottom of the stairs.

“What’s wrong with my boots?”

Amanda didn’t wait for an answer as she strode forward to hurry out the door, the screen door snapping shut with a slap behind her.

“Sterling, that girl is growing up wild!”

Naomi’s voice carried through the open windows and made Amanda grimace. Naomi had it in her head that Amanda was becoming a young lady and should act and look it. Amanda raised a hand in greeting to a couple of hands who stood outside the bunk house opposite the house and across the pond. Amanda hadn’t made the end of the drive when her brother’s truck stopped beside her.

“Hop in,” her brother ordered.

“You’re leaving early,” Amanda climbed into the cab and dropped her book bag onto the floor to put on her seat belt.

“I’m meeting Angela before classes start.”

“You know how dad feels about her,” Amanda glanced at her brother. She knew the girls found her brother attractive and she supposed he was. He was six foot even, his long, lanky build deceptive of the firm muscle he had earned through hard manual labor.

“I know.”

“I won’t tell,” Amanda smiled at her brother.

“Thanks, Squirt.”

“I won’t tell that I saw you making out in the barn with her either,” Amanda smiled and waited for her brother’s reaction.

“You were spying on me?” Trent turned his attention from the road to shoot his sister a fierce frown.

“I was reading a book in the loft. I was in plain sight; you just weren’t noticing anything but Angela.”

“You brat!”

“I told you I wouldn’t tell but if you want to abuse me…” Amanda lifted one thin shoulder