lot time laughing together. She was the one who wanted to change that.”
“You didn’t?” Amanda surveyed him with a raised brow.
“I can’t believe I’m telling you this,” Cade sighed and shook his head. “She came over and started trying to seduce me. I was trying to politely turn her down when she reached into my pocket and found your letter.”
“Oh?” Amanda waited.
“She demanded to know why I was dating her and writing another woman and to know who you were but stormed out before I could answer. When she came back the next weekend to apologize for blowing up at me and asked who you were I relayed your answer, credited to you incidentally, and she really did blow up. That was the last time I saw her in more than passing.”
“Good,” Amanda was smiling at him.
“Your brother is quite put out with me.”
“Why?” Amanda demanded.
“Because he keeps trying to set me up and I won’t go out more than once maybe twice with any of them and won’t sleep with them.”
“And this makes him angry?” Amanda was smiling in confusion.
“He suspects that it has something to do with you but he can’t prove it. I think he has it in his head that if I’m sleeping around it will ensure I’m not with you,” Cade shared.
“Does it have something to do with me?” she asked him and watched him smile.
“It has everything to do with you, Manny.”
“Good,” she smiled and leaned forward to kiss him.
“Manny?” he cupped her face.
“Yes?”
“We’ll both be finished with school by next summer. Wait for me and I’ll wait for you,” he requested.
Amanda nodded and closed her eyes as he kissed her again.
“We should join the others,” he recommended.
“We should,” she agreed almost reluctantly. She stepped back to let Cade hop down and then took his hand as they made their way to where everyone was starting to gravitate to the fire.
“Decide to join us?” Jenny teased.
“Figured it would be the polite thing to do,” Cade returned with a smile.
Jenny grinned back at him.
“Hey, we ready to start a movie?” Jason called.
A few minutes later the movie was going, the crowd settling down to watch, some seated on the hay bales and others leaning against them. Amanda settled with her back against Cade’s chest and his arms around her and sighed in contentment. Jenny plopped down beside her; a pleased smile on her face as she surveyed them.
“I’ve seen this movie; I don’t like it!” Chloe called a moment later. “It’s a horror movie!”
Amanda shuddered; she’d never been a fan of horror movies.
“I won’t let anyone get you,” Cade promised in amusement.
“I’m not a fan of scary movies,” Amanda admitted.
“Me either,” Jenny agreed.
A few minutes later Amanda was hiding her face against Cade’s shoulder. “She’s going to die,” Amanda predicted.
“Why do you say that?” Cade asked her.
“Because she’s having sex; the girls who have sex in these movies die,” Amanda informed him; it made him laugh.
“She’s dead,” he confirmed a moment later.
“Told you,” Amanda smiled up at him.
“Okay, I know he’s your man but I am so borrowing Cade’s other shoulder,” Jenny hopped up to move to Cade’s other side.
“The Dynamic Duo is scared of horror flicks?” Cade asked a laugh.
“Yes!” they returned in unison.
“I’ll protect you both, one of these days Trent’s going to come to his senses and you have to be in one piece when he does,” Cade teased Jenny.
“If only,” Jenny sighed.
“Ew!” Amanda shuddered and turned away from the screen again.
Chloe screamed from a nearby blanket and then jumped up. “Michael Lewis I’m going to murder you!” Chloe punched his arm. “Don’t scare me like that!”
“I’m sorry; I couldn’t help myself,” Michael was laughing.
“So I’m guessing the guys picked the movies,” Cade commented.
“Jason never said what we were watching but I’m guessing he decided,” Amanda, still refusing to look at the screen, answered.
Jenny startled and Amanda chuckled.
“Ugh! If we do this again, the women are choosing the movie,” Jenny grumbled.
“Hey, Mandy; isn’t that your brother’s truck?” Dede asked. Amanda sat up and peered at the truck coming down the drive.
“Yes, it is,” she sighed and settled back against Cade; let her brother deal with it.
“How did he find out about this?” Jenny queried. “I was careful to seek Cade out when he wasn’t around. I waited until after you and Trent were supposed to run to town.”
“Naomi knew where I was going; he might have asked her,” Amanda shared.
“I didn’t want him glaring and ruining your night,” Jenny was scowling.
“He’ll have