Chapter Thirty-Four

Molly was sorting out the washing for the day, one of the chores that Jennifer had gladly relinquished when she'd offered, when there was a knock on the door. Looking a little confused Molly headed over, thinking maybe it was the postman, and was surprised to find Brianna, her friend from Phoenix, standing on her porch. 

"Bri? Oh may God, what are ye doin' here?" Molly reacted, reaching out to hug her. 

"I'm here to rescue you, obviously," Brianna responded, looking around her with slight disdain before focusing her attention on her friend's clothes. "What are you wearing?" she asked before heading into the house without waiting for an answer. As her host closed the door, she looked down at her clothes, not knowing what was wrong with her outfit; a stringy top with her white and blue checkered top, her Daisy Dukes and her boots. "So, this is your hillbilly hell huh?" the girl from the city asked as she looked around the house. She could see her friend's touches around in places, but at the end of the day it was still a ranch. On the outskirts of a Texas country town. 

"I thought it was, but I got used to it," Molly said with a shrug. "I got a job at Café Chris 'n I bin learnin' how to ride horses," she told her friend, her hands shoved in her pockets, looking at her friend a little uncomfortable. 

"I can tell, you're so tanned, seriously, you need to start using sun block," Brianna said now, seeing how tanned her friend had gotten over the last few weeks. Someone from Phoenix would never look so naturally tanned. "So, what's fun to do around here?" she asked, wondering if there was anything normal around here.

"There's the cinema or bowlin' alley. Or I went to a barn dance a couple o' weeks ago," Molly started. "Oh, I gotta tell ye about may neighbor 'n ridin' instructor. His name's Jake 'n we've started seein' each other," she rambled excitedly, wanting to share this with her friend. While she had been able to share things with Hannah and Jo-Lillie, bare minimum of course as Jake wanted to keep things between them, she had missed being able to share things with her oldest friend.

"Honey, what have they done to your accent? I can barely understand you," Brianna put a stop to her little rant, without even taking notice of the subject. 

"Oh well, I guess I've just picked it up," her friend said, now taking extra care with what she said and how she said it. Molly was a little taken aback with how small her friend had made her feel so quickly. "Have you decided how long you're stayin'?" she asked now. They had the spare room obviously so that wasn't the issue. But she may have to rearrange one or two of her shifts and not meet up with Jake while her friend was here. 

"As short as I can. Like I said, I'm here to save you," Brianna answered. 

"Save me from what?" 

"From here. That's what you wanted right?" she remembered the email vividly. It had read so pathetically and described this like a city girl's hell.

"Yeah, no not really. I sent that email after my first day here. A lot's changed, which I think I did say in another email," Molly answered now, feeling a little awkward. "Anyway, let me show you around," she said and gave her a quick tour of the house. Her friend didn't seem too interested so she led the way out to the back porch to show her the outside. "Isn't this great?" she asked as she took a deep breath of fresh air. She'd really grown to love where she lived now. 

Brianna frowned as she looked around her. All she saw was grass and field. "What's that smell?" she asked as she dared to take a similar deep breath. 

"Country side," Molly said, almost with a duh tone. 

"Hm, lovely," she responded wryly, sitting down in the rocking chair that her friend had put out there so she could enjoy the sun setting most evenings. "Anyway, you'll never believe who JJ started dating?! … Michael!" Brianna didn't give her the chance to respond. 

"Michael, okay… Well, he's free to do whatever he wants, we never actually went out 'n I'm datin' Jake," Molly answered with a shrug, a little surprised that her other friend had jumped at the chance within weeks of her being gone. Then again, she really didn't care about Michael anymore. But she could see that wasn't the response her friend had been hoping for. Clearly she'd been hoping that Molly would flip or get angry, so she'd have some gossip to bring back to Phoenix with her. 

"Yeah but he's now dating one of your friends," Brianna tried to goad her into a response. 

"Honestly, it's fahn," her friend answered without thinking and slipping back into her new accent, having spotted Jake riding one of the horses. "Oh Bri, that's may boyfriend Jake," she pointed out with a proud smile, using the word boyfriend for the first time since they'd started seeing each other. It felt good to say it out loud. 

"You're dating one of the locals?" her friend asked, sounding shocked for some reason. Clearly she'd barely listened to a word she'd told her. 

"I only mentioned it lahk three tahms since ye got here," Molly said, now wondering if her friend had always been this superficial and not listening to anything that didn't interest or affect her. 

"Oh honey, you could do so much better. I mean, clearly he's never going to be more than a horse rancher. And if he's where you've picked your accent up from, he can't be too bright," Brianna launched into a little rant. Clearly she'd been waiting for an excuse to try to get her friend to see how much better off she'd be back home in Phoenix and this was the perfect opportunity. 

"I'm startin' to see why folk 'round these here parts hate city girls," Molly said incredulous at what someone she'd once called friend had just said. 

"Come on, don't be silly. Who'd hate us?" her friend responded, still including her in the category of city girl, which actually rubbed her the wrong way. 

"Not may, y'all," she corrected her. "And how dare ye judge Jake lahk that? He's smart 'n kind. And he's just raght for may," she laid into her old friend. "I think ye made a mistake comin' here, ye best be leavin' now," Molly concluded as she got up to show her the way out. "I mean it, Brianna, ye need to leave," she repeated when her now unwanted guest didn't show any inclination to get up. 

"Fine. But know that you won't be welcome at mine or any of the others back in Phoenix after this," Brianna said petulantly as she got up and headed into the house to walk out the front door towards her over-the-top, show-off rental car from the airport. 

"If they think the same thangs that ye just said, that's fahn by may," Molly told her without hesitating. "Goodbye Brianna," she ended their 10 years of friendship before Brianna stormed off the porch, slammed the car door shut behind her and left with a wheel spin.