Chapter Thirty-One

Molly was surprised that not only had she been able to lie in until almost 11, but that Jennifer had let her. She must've been dying to know how the night had gone and how come she hadn't gotten home until so late. 

She came out of her room with a yawn and saw her sister sat on the sofa with the TV on, but with one eye trained on her bedroom. "Morning," she chuckled and took her spot in her favorite seat, crossing her legs underneath her. 

"Morning. That must've been a good barn dance for you to be home so late," Jennifer didn't disappoint and got straight to it. 

Her sister chuckled to herself at her curiosity. "Yeah, it wasn't half-bad," Molly nodded. 

"That's it? Half-bad doesn't keep you out until gone one," she objected, making her laugh again. 

"Okay, so it was quite good," she conceded. 

"And that's all you're gonna tell me?" Jennifer asked, sounding a little annoyed. It felt a little to her younger sister as if she was trying to live vicariously through her. 

"I met some of Hannah's friends. Jo-Lillie especially was quite nice. And I danced quite a lot of the night," she decided to stick to the bits that weren't lies. It was easy to sound enthusiastic then and she wouldn't have to feel guilty afterwards. 

"Any one boy in particular?" her sister asked curiously. Molly did her best to fight the blush that she could feeling coming on, but she knew some of it made it onto her cheeks. "So that's a yes then. Tell me more," Jennifer said with a small laugh. 

"There's nothing to tell. Nothing happened, so still too early to say anything," she played it down, hoping her sister would take comfort in the fact that nothing untoward had happened, that she was taking her time. 

"Oh well, that's good then," she didn't disappoint. As curious as she was, she knew it was better for her sister to not rush into things and potentially get into trouble. 

"Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to have some breakfast," Molly said pointedly as she untangled her legs and padded over to the kitchen. Her sister decided to leave her be for now and picked up the book that she'd started to read last night. 

"Last night went well then?" Beth asked as she poked her head up, still climbing up the ladder to join him in the barn, where he'd been hiding for what felt like most of the day.

"Go away Bethy," her brother groaned. He didn't want to have to answer any questions; he just wanted to think about how last night went and how to get see her again as soon as possible. 

She pointedly ignored him and sat down next to him. "If it went well, why are y'all not seein' each other today?" she asked curiously, not meaning to make him feel bad, but of course did. 

"We couldn't think of a reason to give Jennifer to keep her out of the house on a Sunday," Jake said honestly now. 

"Ye'll think of summit," Beth said, convinced that he would, one way or the other. "But how d'ye feel about helpin' me with my homework 'til ye do?" she asked after a minute, making him laugh despite feeling a little down. 

"Sure, why not," he answered, open to moving from this spot for the first time since he'd occupied it this morning. "I'll be down in a minute, ye go ahead," he told her now, wanting to take another minute or so to himself. His sister, for once, did as he said and headed down the ladder and towards the house to get her homework ready. Jake pulled open the roof shutter, from where he could see her house, wondering what she was up to today. He could see the back of the house best, which is where her room was and the empty spare bedroom upstairs. As he looked at it for a bit longer, he suddenly had a thought. Molly had mentioned once or twice that Jennifer had the front room upstairs as it was bigger with a walk-in closet. The car port was on that side of the house, which obstructed some of the view Jennifer would have out of her side window. Perhaps, rather than getting Molly to sneak out, he should try to sneak in this time.