Chapter Twenty-Six

As promised Hannah showed up at 9am to go over Molly's choices. Jennifer kept to herself as the girls started to get to know each other better, laughing at some of the clothes that hadn't made the cut. 

"Girls, I'm headed out to Walmart. Lock up when you leave?" she called when she left around 10.30. Their guest looked quizzical. 

"Will do," Molly called back. 

"Ye know ye don't have to lock yer door 'round these here parts?" Hannah asked her confused, looking through her wardrobe some more. 

"Yeah, and I'm getting better at leaving my door here unlocked, but we lived in a big city for fourteen years. We had to lock our doors if we wanted to have anything left when we got back home. Old habits tend to die hard," she explained with a shrug. It was just a different way of living. 

"Fair 'nuff," she nodded. "Right. So we narrowed it down to these 2?" she asked to check, holding up the two dresses. The first choice and her favorite for her new friend was a blue with white spots and 4 layers of light ruffle at the bottom in 2 different shades of blue. It was sleeveless though, which would be fine unless she stayed out really late. But then so was the second choice. That dress was a brown tie-dye with little stones adorning the front neckline. Both came to just above the knee and would look good with the boots that Molly now pretty much wore every day. "Do ye have summit to wear with 'em for later in the night?" Hannah asked when she saw her friend nod. 

"No... I don't think so," she answered as she went through her wardrobe again to look for some sleeves or a cardigan or something. 

Her friend looked at the two dresses pensively. "I know, ye can borrow my denim jacket," she offered after a few minutes. 

"Ye sure?" Molly asked. It felt like all Hannah had done since they'd met was do her favors. 

"Yeah course. I can drop it off on may way into work in the mornin'," Hannah answered firmly. "So... while my favorite is the blue dress, I think between my denim jacket 'n yer blue boots, ye'd be way too blue," she considered now. 

"Brown it is then," Molly concluded, holding her hand out for it. 

"Don't worry, we'll make sure ye look pretty," Hannah assured her now with a wink, making her friend laugh. "I mean it. Ye can borrow a necklace too if ye want, I got plenty," she added seriously now. "If it's okay, lemme take the dress with me when I go home, so I can make sure whatever I lend ye matches it. I'll drop em off in the mornin', so ye don't need to stress out or nuffin'," she said, getting a series of nods. 

"Sure? That'd be so great, thanks Hannah," Molly smiled, so grateful. She couldn't believe how helpful and friendly she was without wanting anything back. This would never have happened in Phoenix, not even with some of her longstanding friends. 

"Don't sweat it," Hannah said with a shrug. She really didn't think much of it, it's what she'd been taught to do from a young age. What everyone around here was taught to do, to look after each other and come together. 

"Wanna grab a bite before we head out?" she asked, hanging her choice of dress up on the outside of her wardrobe and put the others back in. 

"Sounds good. So if Jennifer happens to come back before we leave, we're still pretendin' we're goin' to my place?" her guest checked as they headed into the living room and then the kitchen. 

"Yup," Molly nodded. "Sorry I'm asking you to lie to Jen as well, it's just… For some reason, she doesn't want me to hang out with Jake," she tried to explain as she went in the fridge to find something to eat. 

"But surely he was like 7 or 8 when y'all moved away. How can he have done summit that wrong at that age?" Hannah asked confused, playing with an apple as she sat down by the kitchen island. 

Her friend sighed as she put a bunch of stuff out on the surface for them to choose from as they made their sandwiches. "I don't think it was something Jake did as such," she said, not sure what it could have been though. "Jake thought it might be Blake, his cousin. I just don't really remember anything about him or what it could've been," she continued. 

"Oh yeah, Blake. He was a bit of bad news while he was around," Hannah nodded. She remembered that he stuck around for a year or two, playing whatever girl he could. "I think he might be the same age as Jennifer." Molly looked up at that, thinking maybe it had been Blake that colored her sister's views. And Jake had been tarred by the same brush without even doing anything.

After lunch Hannah took the dress with her as she headed home. 

"I promise I will come by yours for real some other time," Molly promised as she headed over to her neighbors. 

"Sure, sure," her friend waved, not stressing about it too much as she got in her truck to go home. "Have fun!" she called out with a wink, laughing when she saw her blush a little. 

"See ya tomorrow," Molly said instead and kept walking towards Jake's front door. "Hello?" she asked as she knocked, not wanting to just walk in without knowing someone was in. 

"Come in," she heard, but realized it was Duncan and not his son. 

"Hi," she said as she walked in, a little hesitant. 

"Molly, come on in hon," he waved her over. He was sat at the office unit going over some bills but put them away when she came into the living room. "Jake's outside," he told her. 

"Thanks Duncan," she smiled with a nod and started crossing the living room. 

"Molly," he stopped her after a second. Molly turned to him curiously, wondering what he was about to say. "Can I … Hm, no… I like ye 'n my son obviously likes ye. It's been a while since I seen him like that to be honest," he started to explain, and she wasn't sure if she liked where this was going. They didn't need another obstacle. "And I really don't mind ye comin' over 'n everythin', but he's still workin' on finishin' his college. Ye need to let him," he finished, to which she almost sighed in relief. He wasn't saying they couldn't see each other, he was just saying they needed some moderation. 

"I'll keep that in mind. He hasn't told me about college yet, so… I'll think of something. I got job training coming up, so I'm sure that will help," Molly said now, seeing him nod satisfied. "I'm going to go out back now," she pointed towards the back of the house and, when he nodded again, headed out to the back door. She hesitated a little as she walked, trying to think of a way not to see Jake all the time but at the same time not wanting to think about what his father had just asked from her. As soon as she saw Jake look up and smile when he saw her however, she forgot all about it.