night the night before. Little did he know. Amanda watched Cade turn to grab his water bottle and shook her head; if her brother wanted a fight she’d give him a fight.
“He had too much to drink and I took him to my place to sleep it off. Don’t worry, he turned me down,” Amanda informed her brother. She turned to leave; she could hear Cade coughing behind her.
“Damn, Manny,” still sounding slightly strangled, he called after her a moment later.
“Amanda Lynn!” her brother exploded as he started after her.
“What?” Amanda snapped and turned to face him, her chin high in challenge.
“Since when do you take men home and proposition them?”
“I am eighteen who I do or don’t proposition is none of your business!” she yelled back at him.
“You may be eighteen but Dad is still paying half your bills; what do you think he would have to say about your actions?” Trent was in her face now, fairly gloating.
“I won a scholarship that covers my schooling. After I turned eighteen the lease went into mine and Jenny’s name and we’ve been paying the bills with no help. I am an independent woman and I do not have to answer to you, Trent.”
Her brother looked as though he had been slapped.
“I love you and I thank you for looking out for me but I get to make my own decisions and if I make mistake they are MY mistakes, Trent. I get that right too, just like you. I get to live and learn. If I get my heart broken, it’s my heart.” Her brother staring after her, Amanda turned to leave. She hadn’t wanted to fight with him but he was going to have to learn that he didn’t get to make her decisions for her.
Nineteen
Amanda walked around the county fair and enjoyed the crisp air as it tugged at her hair. She and Jenny had driven back up for a weekend with their families and had agreed to meet at the fair that night. They now stood in line for one of the rides, both scanning the crowds around them.
“Maybe we should ride another of the rides,” Jenny suddenly suggested as she grabbed Amanda by the arm and started trying to drag her from the line.
“What is your problem, Jenny? This is your favorite ride and all I’ve heard all evening was how you were going to ride it first,” Amanda held her ground and looked at her friend as though she had taken leave of her senses.
“It looks scarier than I remember,” Jenny insisted and started pulling at Amanda’s arm again.
“Jenny, what is wrong?” Amanda insisted.
Amanda glanced around expecting to see one of Jenny’s ex-boyfriends or at least someone she didn’t care much for. Instead, she spotted Cade several feet away with a tall brunette on his arm. The woman fairly draped herself on him and was hanging off of his every word.
“We aren’t a couple, Jenny,” Amanda reminded her friend and tried to ignore the tight knot that had settled in the region of her heart.
“Don’t pretend that it doesn’t bother you, Mandy!” Jenny hissed at her.
“He made me no promises and nothing really happened; I mean not really so…” Amanda shrugged.
“You aren’t upset?”
“Yeah, I am but for all the reasons I just gave you I have little right to be,” Amanda admitted.
“He…the things he said and….”
“Let it go, please?” Amanda begged.
“Mandy, you didn’t tell me you were coming,” her brother accused, as he approached; he had his arm around Christy. Christy had ridden over from Washington with a friend and would be riding back to college with Trent the next week.
“Jenny and I were talking about it last night at dinner,” she reminded him.
“How are you, Mandy?” Christy asked.
“I’m fine,” Amanda lied.
“You’re Jenny; right?” Christy smiled at Jenny in greeting.
Amanda watched her friend smile back and knew it wasn’t easy for her to do so.
“Have you seen Cade? We lost him and his date earlier,” her brother inquired of her.
“There he is,” Christy pointed him out.
Amanda steeled herself, she was the one always pursuing him, not the other way around she reminded herself.
“Cade!” Trent called and waved. “Look who we found.”
Beside Amanda, Jenny suddenly looked outraged and stared at Trent with pure malice.
“What is wrong with you?” Amanda whispered furiously.
“Hey,” Cade offered a strained smile to the group.
Amanda smiled in return; at least she hoped it was a smile.
“Cade,” Jenny nodded curtly, though her angry gaze was still pinned on Trent.
“You haven’t met Cade’s date