Chapter Forty-One

Molly woke up way too early for her liking at nine, meaning that she had three hours to kill and act normally before Jake came over. She used the time to tidy up her room to calm herself and mentally prepare what to tell her sister. Jennifer of course already knew that Jake was their neighbor but having told her sister not to spend any more time with him, Molly needed to find a way for them to have met enough for her to want to introduce him. She figured the best excuse was probably at the café, while trying not to make Hannah a suspect or no go in the process. 

Jake was up early as usual as well, using his chores as a way to keep his mind off of this afternoon. Duncan noticed quite quickly that his son was not in the mood for any friendly banter or even normal conversation, so left him to it. Truth be told, Jake hadn't quite forgiven him yet for forcing him to take his sister to San Antonio, even if it had turned out to be one of the best days he'd had in a long time. 

"How did yesterday go?" Beth asked when she found him in the stables after she'd had breakfast. Her brother didn't say anything as he concentrated on what he was doing with the horse's hoof. "Yer not gonna ignore me, are ye?" she asked when he still hadn't responded two minutes later. 

"It's yer punishment for draggin' me to San Antonio under false pretenses," he finally said, with a grunt as he tried to get Bullet to raise his other leg. 

"Ye wouldn't have come with me if I'd told ye the truth," she objected, which of course was true, he wouldn't have. 

And even though he was grateful for how the day turned out, he still wanted her to learn a lesson that she couldn't interfere with things whenever she wanted. "True," Jake conceded out loud, seeing her nod and smile pleased with herself. "But I'm still gonna punish ya," he added, seeing her face drop in disappointment. 

"Why?" she demanded. This was so unfair! 

"Coz it ain't none of yer business if me 'n Molly were talkin' or not. Ye can't meddle with whatever ye fancy," he lectured her now. 

"Yeah but if it worked out alright, it don't matter how it happened, right?" Beth said. 

"Oh so the outcome justifies the means?" he checked, thinking that was such a slippery slope to disaster. It would only take one guy to figure out that's how she operated and to convince her to do something illegal and end up taking the rap for whatever happened. "I think ye need to think carefully whether ye can apply that type of thinkin' to all walks of life without gettin' into serious trouble or doin' wrong by somebody. If ye can't, ye'll know I was right," he advised her now, seeing her look at him confused. "Trust me," he assured her and continued working. 

She didn't say anything, trying to take his advice but not quite managing it yet. "So yer not gonna tell me if ye had a good day 'n worked things out with Molly?" she checked after a couple of minutes of watching him work. 

"That's right," he confirmed. 

"Ye suck, ye know that," Beth said in a huff and started leaving the stables before he could answer, making him chuckle to himself. 

Jake finished working around eleven so he could take another shower and tidy himself up, hoping a good impression would help. It couldn't hurt, in any case. 

"Ye look nervous," Beth commented from his doorway, seeing him check his clothes and hair out in front of his mirror. 

"Yeah, guess I am," he nodded with a sigh, not sure what else to say. There was clearly no point in denying that that's how he was feeling right now. 

"How come?" his sister asked, thinking she might be able to help. 

He looked at her through the mirror, wondering if he should include her in this. She already knew that they'd been hiding their budding relationship from Jennifer and he'd been the one to make her tell Molly that he didn't think they should even have lessons until her sister knew. "Molly's introducin' me to Jennifer today, as her neighbor. We're hopin' we can stop sneakin' around then," Jake answered honestly, getting a low whistle back from her.

"Crikey, yeah I'd be nervous too," Beth agreed as she took a seat on his bed. 

"Yeah thanks Bethy, that's real helpful," he told her sarcastically, turning his attention back to his appearance. 

"Well, just be yerself. She either gonna like ye or she ain't," she said now, seeing quickly that again that was not the advice that he was looking for. "Clearly I ain't gonna be able to say anythin' right, so I'm gonna leave ye be," she realized as she cleared her throat and quickly headed back to her own room to finish up her homework. 

"Sisters," he muttered to himself as he gave up on his hair. She'd had a point about that.