1 Chapter One
"Oh my god, I can't believe you moved me here," Molly Matthews said in despair, looking at the ranch next to which her sister parked her pickup under the carport. It was mostly a log cabin, with a stretch of porch at the front. The wood was a red color mostly; some of the beams looked like they might need replacing and repainting or treating. It just about had a second floor, but they couldn't see from the front how far back it went. It did have big windows on most sides of the house, making it look quite open.
"You were born here," Jennifer said exasperated, thinking it really didn't look that bad. Their neighbors had maintained it pretty well after her mother had moved them away 14 years ago. It could've been a lot worse. "Anyway, stop sounding like a spoiled Yank and let's investigate," she continued as she quit the engine and got out of the truck.
Her sister rolled her green eyes before she slunk out of her seat too. She gave another glance at what was going to be her home again before turning to her phone to complain to her friends. "I don't have any signal," she sounded confused.
"Well you won't get much round these here parts, probably only really in town," Jennifer now gave her the heads up.
"Where the hell have you moved me to?" Molly exclaimed, sounding horrified as well as petrified. How was she going to keep in touch with her friends, with Michael? He'd finally asked her on a date the other week.
"You could've stayed in Phoenix," her sister pointed out, knowing that there was no way she would've been able to afford it on her own just yet.
"I hate you," Molly now muttered to herself as she walked over to the bed of the truck to grab her rucksack and suitcase.
"Let's go inside, see if you can still remember which was your room," Jennifer said now, only teasing slightly.
"I had the smallest room, there's no way I'm going back to that," her sister responded straight away. She didn't remember much if she had to be honest, but it wasn't hard to guess that would've been the arrangement; her parents in the master bedroom at the back of the downstairs floor, and on the upstairs floor her sister in the slightly smaller one and her, the youngest, in the smallest room. "I get dibs on mom & dad's room," Molly said quickly before she ran into the house.
Her older sister thought of objecting, but she had to be honest; she couldn't bring herself to sleep in that room anyway. She'd rather stick to her old room. That was big enough and also had a walk-in closet like the master bedroom. She just wouldn't have an on suite. And well, she could live with that.
They'd been born in Pleasanton, Texas and their family had had no intention of moving away any time soon, until their father Keith had died from a stroke. The doctors reckoned it was just 'one of those things', as he lived a healthy, rancher's lifestyle. It didn't stop their mother Jackie from no longer being able to live in that house though. Two weeks after the funeral she moved her two girls, aged six and 18 at the time, to Phoenix. She stopped doing everything that reminded her of her husband, which included horseback riding and listening to their favorite country music. Molly, having only been six, barely remembered living in this house, and only remembered bits about her daddy. As she made her way through the house, she recognized the odd thing here and there, but not much. Jackie had brought what they'd needed to Phoenix, but had left a lot of the sentimental things behind. She'd loved Keith too much to be able to hold on to some of those but was also unable to move on properly. She never went on another date for almost a decade until she was killed in a car accident four years ago. Jennifer had moved out of the family flat quite soon after the move to Phoenix but moved back in to be with Molly after the accident. But, when she was fired last month, she knew they'd have to move back to their old family home. Taking Molly with her, kicking and screaming.
"Molls, supper!" Jennifer called. After getting everything out of the truck and into their rooms, she'd set about making them some dinner, while Molly had tried to make her new room her own by unpacking. And trying to get through to her friends back home to complain, but there didn't seem to be any wifi in the house.
"Jen, why do I still not have any wifi signal?" she asked as she appeared in the kitchen, still furiously trying to connect on her phone.
Jennifer put the food on the table before she decided to answer that. "We don't have wifi. You'll have to connect your laptop to the internet hub once it gets set up next week," she said as she sat down. Her sister almost collapsed into the other chair.
"What do you mean next week? I can't wait a week, I'll go mad in this place," Molly complained, briefly considering flinging her plate off the table but deciding she was too hungry to do that.
"You'll have to go to the internet café in town then, won't you?" Jennifer suggested as she tucked into her food now.
"Those places still exist?" she reacted with disdain.
"Yes, luckily for you," was the response. "Look Molls, I know you didn't want to move here. And it'll take some adjustin'. But we didn't have much of a choice, so let's just make it work, okay?" Jennifer eventually spoke up, putting her hand on her sister's. Most of the time she did feel more like her mother rather than her sister, especially when she was acting like such a brat like she'd been all of today. But it had been the two of them for almost four years now, and she wanted it to work like it had in Phoenix. Most of the time.
Molly gave a deep sigh as she took her older sister in and gave a nod. "Fine. I won't complain the rest of tonight. That's the best I can promise," she offered, making her sister laugh now.
"I'll take it. Now eat up," Jennifer said, pleased to see her put her mobile away and turn to her plate.
