Chapter Forty-Two

"Is someone joining us?" Jennifer asked confused when she noticed her sister had put out three place settings; she hadn't mentioned anything before now. 

"Yeah, kind'a," her sister nodded nervously, diving into the fridge to grab some of the bits they'd need. Molly kept her look lowered as she carried it over to the table and focused on setting it all out.

"What do ya mean, kind of?" her older sister asked now, sitting down in her usual place. 

"Well..." she started to answer when they heard a knock on the door. "Oh there he is," she said and hurried over to the front door.

"What do ye mean, he?" Jennifer almost demanded now, getting up and following her towards the door. She saw her sister open the door to a good looking, young cowboy, probably around the same age, holding a small bunch of wild flowers. Even though she knew she'd never met him before, she thought there was something a little familiar about him. 

"These are for ye," Jake said now, holding them out to her with a polite smile. 

"Thanks, but... who are ye?" Jennifer asked as she took them, straight to the point. She saw them exchange slightly nervous looks. 

"Jen, this is... who I told ye about from the barn dance," Molly started with that, hoping to make clear that she was interested in him, even if nothing had supposedly happened yet. 

"Oh okay, great," her sister smiled, thinking it was kind of cute how he was being introduced to her somewhat formally before anything happened between them. "What's yer name?" she asked now, turning to him again. 

He cleared his throat a little uncomfortably. "Jake Rodgers ma'am," he answered, inclining his head towards her politely. They both saw her look darken immediately. 

"Molly, I thought I'd made it clear that I didn't want ye hanging out with this boy," Jennifer said, sounding angrier than they'd prepared themselves for.

"Yeah ye did... but after bumpin' into him a couple of tahms, I found out he's really nice and..." Molly tried to explain why she hadn't listened. 

"So then what is he doing here?" her sister demanded.

"To meet ye 'n hopefully change yer mind. I'm not sure what I could've done to..." Jake tried to chip in now, stopping in mid-sentence when he saw that had not been the right thing to say at this point. 

"I'm sorry, but I won't be changing my mind any time soon," Jennifer was quick to cut to the chase and stop them from any undertaking to do so. 

"But Jen..." her sister tried to intervene. 

"No buts. I want him to leave." 

"Beggin' yer pardon, ma'am, but..." Jake started, sounding, without realizing it, exactly like Blake had when he'd first met Jennifer all those years ago. He'd also used it whenever she pulled him up on something and it would be his way of getting a smile out of her. 

"Sorry Jake, but I'm gonna have to ask ye to leave... now," she cut him short, shoving that memory back where it had come from. 

"But Jennifer..." Molly tried to protest again. 

"No Molls. I don't want us to have anything to do with that family," Jennifer used her 'and that's final' voice. She was trying her hardest not to let either of them see that her body was shaking, or at least it was on the inside. Her hand was on her hip, in a proper strict mom's pose to try to get her authority across. 

The boy from next door exchanged a look with her sister and sighed deeply. "Well.... I guess that's that then. Yer welcome by the way for all the upkeep we done over the years. Bye Molly, ma'am," Jake finally said, inclining his head to Jennifer and headed towards the front door. 

"I can't believe how rude or stubborn yer bein'," Molly almost hissed at her, pushing past her sister to follow out their neighbor, trying not to appear to be anything more. "Jake, ye know we're grateful for all ye and yer pa did," she said as she went, for her sister's benefit rather than his. She was relieved to see he hadn't made it past the edge of their drive and he'd turned when he'd heard her coming after him. 

"Don't worry about it Molly," Jake answered casually, again more for Jennifer's benefit, who was standing in the door opening watching them. "I promise I won't go back on what I said but maybe we should just do a couple lessons 'n nothin' else for a few days," he told her in a softer tone so her sister wouldn't hear.

She nodded with a sigh, stuffing her hands in her pockets, hoping she'd convey the appropriate levels of disappointment. "Yeah, that's fair enough," Molly agreed. "Wish me luck as I face her wrath," she now said wryly, looking back to see her sister's thunderous look. 

"Yeah good luck. I'll see ye tomorrow mornin'," he nodded, keeping his expression as neutral as possible, despite that thought cheering him up immensely. Jake gave her sister one more polite nod before heading home. Molly dramatically spread her arms in defeat before she turned back to the house. She knew the topic hadn't been closed yet. 

"Are ye kiddin' me?" was all Jennifer said when she finally made her way on to the porch. 

"I dunno what yer talkin' about," the younger girl said innocently as she continued past her into the house. 

"That does not look like someone you've only met twice," Jennifer explained what she was annoyed about in that moment, slamming the front door behind her now. 

"When did I say I'd only met him twice?" Molly asked, replaying the conversation in her mind, knowing she'd done no such thing. 

"Oh so you have been seeing him behind my back, despite me telling you not to see him?" her sister reacted, getting angrier by the second. 

"I didn't say that either," she responded. "Yes I met him at the barn dance and yes, I've seen him at the café, where I can hardly ignore him," she explained. 

"So he wasn't the voice I heard in your room the other day?"

"That was an audio book, I told ye already," Molly now lied properly for the first time that day. "Seriously Jen, what did Blake do for ye to be this unreasonable about his cousin?" 

"Do not mention him ever again," Jennifer responded murderously, actually making her sister step back a little worried; she'd never seen her look like that before and it did scare her a little. 

"Fine, but don't punish me for somethin' Jake or I didn't do," Molly said, careful not to mention his name now. "He lives next door, we can't ignore him forever." 

"Watch me," her older sister promised, giving up on lunch and headed up to her room. She couldn't believe that Molly had brought up Blake or had continued to see Jake despite her telling her not to. 

"Yer bein' unreasonable!" Jennifer heard her sister call up from the bottom of the stairs. "I'm not a teenager ye know," she added, not even sure herself whether she was trying to goad her or not but not being able to help herself. 

"No but ye live under my roof!" Jennifer screamed back, getting angry anyway. 

"Our roof!" Molly yelled back now. The house had been left to both of them and she was working and contributing towards it. The only response she got now was the slam of the bedroom door as Jennifer locked herself in her room. All Molly wanted to do now was head out the back door and make her way over to Jake, but she didn't think that would help the situation. She got as far as the back porch, where she curled up in her rocking chair.