Chapter Fifty-One

After having had such a good time at the market, that week Molly felt more guilty than she had in a while lying to her sister about what she did during the day, so whenever she was with Jake she was distracted and just wanted to hang out, rather than do something that she wouldn't have done by herself. 

"Molly, come on, let's go for a ride. The weather's really fine 'n it'll be calmin'," Jake said after the fourth day of just spending time either on her porch, in her room or on his back porch. 

"But what do I tell Jen if she asks what I've done?" she asked, sounding a little petrified. 

"The same thing ye always told her," he said, not understanding what had changed from before when he'd wanted to be up front about their relationship and her rather wanting to keep it secret. 

"Work, or seeing Beth, or meeting Hannah in town," she answered, still looking nervous.

"So tell her you went to see Bethy," he shrugged, wondering why she was acting so jumpy. Unless Jennifer left work early because she was sick, there was no way that they'd get caught at this time of day. 

"Yeah… Maybe, I don't know," Molly still hesitated, making him sigh now. 

"Well… I need to go for a ride in any case, as I got horses to work 'n train. I'd like ye to come with me, but it's fine if ye don't want to," her boyfriend told her as he got up from the porch step now. He didn't want to force her into anything, but he had work to do and he was getting a little restless. He could see she was torn, but he couldn't just sit here for another afternoon not doing anything. "I'll see ye tomorrow if ye don't wanna come now," Jake said now and leaned in to give her a kiss. 

"Jake, come on… I…" she started to plead to change his mind, but he shook his head. 

"I gotta go," he said firmly and started backing away from her. He didn't get more than 10 steps before she called him back. 

"Wait Jake, I'll come with ye," Molly decided and jumped up to follow him. As much as she didn't want to lie to her sister, she didn't want to not spend time with him more. 

The following evening Jake was going to come over, as Jennifer usually worked the late shift on Fridays. Molly had already tidied her room up and made them dinner. It was just gone 6 when she headed out towards the back door to meet him, when she heard "Molls, I'm home!" She frowned to herself and gestured for Jake to duck away before she turned towards the front door. "Jen?" she called out confused. 

"Yeah, come help me," she got back from the open front door. Jake hesitated on the porch, not sure what was going on in there. His girlfriend gave him a shake of the head and again gestured for him to move out of plain sight as she mouthed her sister's name at him. Molly gave up trying to gesture and headed towards the front door before her sister could get impatient. 

"Gosh darn it, what did ye buy? Is there anything left in the supermarket?" she asked when she saw the pile of shopping bags that were being unloaded by the side of the truck. 

"Course there is, I just thought it'd be nice to do some stuff in the kitchen together this weekend," Jennifer told her now. "Start taking those in," she instructed and pointed out the ones she meant. Molly picked up a couple of bags and headed in, almost letting out a surprised yelp when she saw her boyfriend standing in the back door. 

"What's goin' on?" he asked confused. 

"Jennifer's home, she can't see ye," she almost hissed at him, in the hope her sister wouldn't hear and held up the shopping bags. "Ye need to go, I'll try to come by later, now go," she almost shooed him out the door as she put the bags down and walked over. "Go, Jake," she now tried to push him out the door. 

"But…." he protested. There was no guarantee she'd be able to sneak out and come round if Jennifer was home already and he'd really been looking forward to tonight. 

"No, just go. I'll try, okay," Molly repeated again and gave him another push towards the door. Jake's shoulders dropped as he resigned himself to the fact that tonight was not going to happen as planned. He grabbed hold of her shoulders and pulled her in for a quick kiss. 

"Molly, I've got more out here, you don't have to unpack as we go. Let's just get everything inside," Jennifer's voice sounded from outside, but getting closer as if she was headed in. 

"Jake, go now," she implored as she pulled away and pushed him out, quickly turning back towards the front door to head her sister off. 

"Meet me at the barn," Jake told her before he finally made his way off the back porch and back towards home. He stopped for a minute to look back when he was on top of the fence, but he couldn't see her from where he was. He heaved a sigh at what had happened and really hoped she would come meet him later. 

"Yer back early, I thought ye were gonna be with Molly tonight?" Duncan said a little surprised when his son entered the kitchen through the back door. He'd just started getting some food ready for himself and Beth. 

"Jennifer came home early. Any chance of gettin' some grub?" Jake sighed as he leaned against the bar. 

"Sure," his father nodded, knowing better than to ask any further about their situation. 

Jennifer wanted them to start making stuff straight away, so together they made two different cupcake mixes and put them in the oven while they ate the food that Molly had made for her and Jake. 

"This was really good Molls, thanks," Jennifer said as she finished and put her cutlery down. Her sister fought back a sigh as she thought, 'at least someone got to enjoy it, even if not who I intended.'

"Thanks," was all Molly said out loud though. 

"Those cupcakes should be ready in a minute. Want to take them out and, once they've cooled down a bit, decorate them in front of the TV?" the older of the two said as she got up and opened the oven for a peek. "Oh they look good," she continued without waiting for a response and, quickly grabbing the oven gloves, took them out and set them on the hob to cool down a bit before moving them over on to a wire rack. "This weekend is going to be so much fun," she said excitedly, seeing all her pans unfold in her mind. First they were going to decorate the cupcakes and watch a film tonight. She might start preparing the bread dough tonight so it could rise overnight and then they could make their own bread for breakfast. She also wanted to make homemade lemonade and maybe have a picnic out in the field. And on Sunday she really wanted to go into town and have some ice cream together. An old fashioned fun sisterly weekend. 

"Beth might need me to come round on Sunday to help with her homework, but other than that…" Molly said to prepare her sister that this weekend might not go entirely to her plans. After all, she didn't check whether Molly already had any plans when she came up with all of this. And she'd be damned if, after tonight having been ruined, she'd not see Jake at all this weekend. 

"Okay that's fine. We could head into town a little earlier or not stay too long," Jennifer said, feeling a little disappointed at first, but having to concede that of course she hadn't run her plans past her sister first. "Right, do you want to choose a film or shall I, while these are cooling down?" she continued, gesturing to the cupcakes. 

"I don't mind," she said as she started clearing the table and putting stuff by the sink. She honestly didn't care what they watched, as she'd be trying to think of a way to sneak out at a reasonable time to see her boyfriend. And trying to find a way of letting him know that she'd be a while without her sister noticing. 

"Great okay, you choose the film, I'll get what we need to decorate," Jennifer decided for her and started rummaging through the cupboards and some of the bags of shopping she'd brought home. Her sister nodded and headed into the living room. She couldn't even quickly go on the computer to send Jake an email because Jennifer could see her from the kitchen. She would have to think of something else. As she sat in front of the bookcase that had the DVDs in, she quickly tried to send him a text in case her phone picked up signal. Molly made sure to put the current time in and the time that she thought she might be able to get away from her sister. "I'm so excited," Jennifer said as she made her way out of the kitchen, making her sister quickly stuff her phone in her jeans' pocket and grab a DVD off the shelf. 

"This one?" Molly asked, only then looking at the title, "Rodeo & Juliet". Great choice, a story about a city girl moving to the country and lying to her mother about barrel riding lessons and falling for a local cowboy. Only she could've chosen that one. 

"Nah, I'm in the mood for something a bit more fun," her sister said as she shook her head and also looked at the shelves of DVDs they had. "How about, 13 going on 30?"

"That works for me," she nodded and put the other one back quickly, sitting down in her favorite spot before she realized she couldn't see the porch. She quickly jumped up and moved across while Jennifer put the TV on and put the DVD in. 

"You don't normally sit there," she observed as she sat down in her own usual spot. 

"Fancied having more space," Molly shrugged as she stretched her legs out. She usually loved curling up in her favorite seat, but occasionally it was nice to stretch out. 

"Fair enough," her sister conceded and started the DVD. 

"Ah'mo turn the light off, make it more homey," she jumped again and turned the main light off, leaving only one of the corner lamps and the small light in the kitchen on. While it made it nicer for them to watch TV, it also meant it was also less likely for Jennifer to see Jake should he decide to come round instead of waiting for her to come round.