Amarillo Sky

Chapter One

Whistling a discordant tune, Anthony Jordan dragged his leather jacket tighter across his body as he descended his porch steps. The snow had let out a little, so he decided to go and check how his cattle and horses fared during the long winter night. He placed his hat on his dark brown hair and swung his six-foot-one frame into his red truck parked in front of the ranch house. Still whistling, he started the ignition and drove beside the snow-covered fields to where his animals were housed.

His workers hadn't resumed the New Year celebrations as he had given them some extra days off since the weather wasn't particularly friendly. He couldn't wait for the winter to be over. He didn't like the cold season and the fact that it didn't help him to work much on the ranch. Spring was his favorite time of the year; when he could release his cattle and horses to roam around the fields, when he could ride his horse, Peanut, and feel alive. Now, it was too cold to put Peanut through such icy torture.

As he drove across the ranch surrounded by the Amarillo Mountains, he reminisced with wistfulness about how he had inherited the two acres of land when he was only twenty-two after he lost his parents in a car crash in the central business district. He had struggled to continue his father's legacy and make the ranch a success. And now, five years later, he was proud of what he had accomplished. The business was thriving. He sold meat from his cattle to suppliers, horses to people who needed them, poultry, and eggs as well. He also turned a part of the vast land into farmland where he grew his own crops. All in all, he had done well for himself. Now all he needed was...

He shook his head from such thoughts. Thinking about having a family only brought back painful memories. There was a time he had thought of leaving Amarillo for another part of Texas, but the thought of starting all over again someplace else put a pause on the idea.

He parked the truck in front of the stables and checked up on his horses to make sure they had enough feed and water for the day. He also mucked out the stables and fed the goats and hens he had in the barn. All done, he checked up on the cattle before driving back to the ranch house. A smile crossed his face when he saw the gray sedan parked in front of the house. Gabriel, his younger brother, had come to visit.

He climbed up the porch steps and hurried into the house. He strode down the narrow hallway to the kitchen where he found his brother making a pot of coffee.

"Make yourself at home," Anthony said with a grin, and placed his hat on the small table in a corner of the kitchen.

Turning from the gas cooker, Gabriel grinned. "You know me."

"How are Susan and little Joe?" Anthony asked as he ran his fingers through his hair before pulling out a chair to sit.

Gabriel poured the black liquid into two mugs and gave his brother one as he joined him at the table. Anthony always took his coffee black. His brother poured some milk and some spoons of sugar into his.

"They're fine. They sent their greetings."

Anthony nodded. He had spent the New Year's celebration with them a week ago. Sometimes, he couldn't help envying his brother, who had married his childhood sweetheart a year ago and then had a baby son.

"Dare I ask why you're here?" Anthony probed tentatively after taking a sip from his coffee.

Ranch work had never been Gabriel's forte. So, as soon as he got married, he moved out of the ranch to Downtown Amarillo. He worked as an engineer in a construction firm.

"Let's call it an intervention," Gabriel replied wryly.

Anthony sighed and leaned back in his chair to regard him with exasperation. He knew what his brother wanted to talk to him about. Ever since Gabriel got married, he had been trying to get him to do the same.

"I know you don't want to hear this, Tony, but you have to. It's a new year. You have this whole place to yourself, which isn't right. You need a wife and children to fill it."

Anthony chuckled. "Then you shouldn't have moved out."

"You know I could barely stand the smell of horses. Moving out was the best decision I ever made... Hey! This isn't about me. It's about you."

Anthony shrugged. "You don't have to worry about me. I'll get married when the time is right."

"When will that be? You've been pinning away for Kristina for three years now and—"

Anthony stiffened. "Please don't, Gabe. I'm not in the mood to talk about such things."

Gabriel sighed. "It's been three years since she broke your heart. Don't you think it's time to move on? You're twenty-seven-years-old yet you don't have a girlfriend. All the blind dates Susan and I arranged for you didn't work out because of your lack of interest in them. I'm worried about you."

Anthony shook his head. Gabriel had opened old wounds by reminding him how he was jilted three years ago by the girl he had loved with everything he had.

"I know you're concerned, but please don't be. I'll be fine. And I've gotten over Kristina. I'm just taking my time because I don't want to have my heart broken again."

"But—"

"Could we please talk about something else?" Anthony requested with a small smile.

He knew his brother meant well, but talking about his ex-girlfriend always rubbed him the wrong way. Having anything to do with women at the moment was the least of his troubles. Maybe in a couple of years, he would be ready, but for now, it still felt as if Kristina took a part of his heart with her when she left Amarillo.