Beth tried helping Jake and Molly arrange to meet up over the next few days with Jennifer now home getting things ready before she started her job on Monday.
Wednesday wasn't too hard in the end as Molly just told Jennifer that she had her first training shift at Café Chris. This meant she could go for her lesson and then stay to help Jake catch up on his chores afterwards. To try to avoid some of the horse and hard manual labor smells, she even brought a spare change of clothes so she could get changed before she headed home. He let her use Beth's room to get changed in as he stayed downstairs to start cooking dinner.
"Ye wanna stay for dinner?" he asked when she came down in her clean clothes.
"Ehm no that's okay, I should probably get going," Molly made her apologies as she hesitated in the kitchen doorway with her hands stuffed in her jeans' pockets. She'd brought her bag with her dirty clothes in down already and left it in the hallway by the front door.
"My cookin' ain't that bad," Jake said now, making her laugh.
"I wasn't insinuating that it was," she assured him. "I'm just not sure if Jen will believe me that I was working if I don't come home until after dinner."
He looked at her thoughtfully. "Say Chris wanted ye to see what the dinner rush was like 'n fed ye afterwards," he suggested as an excuse. He'd believe that.
She seemed to consider it. "Yeah okay, I'd like to stay then," she smiled. "Is it okay if I just give her a ring so she knows not to cook enough for me too?" she asked, thinking there was no point in wasting food in the process of hiding their budding relationship.
"Sure. Phone's in the next room by the office unit," Jake pointed out the kitchen now.
"Okay, be right back," she nodded and, after giving him another smile, headed out into the living room. The office unit was a small desk with shelfs sat on top of it, for when Duncan had to crunch the monthly numbers. She quickly punched in her phone number as she looked around their living room. It was very similar in size to theirs, but more open. "Hi Jen?" she asked when the phone was answered.
"Who else would it be?" she heard her sister say, making her feel a little stupid. She had no idea who else she thought might have answered their phone.
"Good point. Anyway, as part of my training Chris wants me to experience the dinner rush, so I gotta stay a bit longer. He's promised to feed me afterwards, so don't worry about saving me any food," Molly got right to it now, curling the phone wire around her finger. She raised a finger to her lip when Beth came bouncing in to ask if she was really staying for dinner as her sister asked what time she might be back then. "Not sure, probably no later than nine, half nine," she guessed, seeing that would still give her more than three hours over here before she had to go back. She'd try the excuse of being trained to close up the café some other night. There was no way they'd train her on both things in one night on her first shift. "Yeah I'll be fine getting back by myself. I'll see you later then, okay?" she rounded off the conversation, not wanting to have to lie any more than she strictly had to. "Bye," she said now and hung up.
"Was that Jennifer?" Beth asked now that she was allowed to, getting a nod in response. "Jake said yer stayin' for dinner. Do ye wanna hang out upstairs until it's ready?" she continued now. She wanted her brother to get together with her and spend time together, but she was also really enjoying having a new friend.
"You know what, maybe later. I think I might keep Jake company in the kitchen. Besides, he'll just tell you to do your homework anyways," Molly said now. She also liked hanging out with her new friend, but she'd told her sister she was working late so she could spend time with him, not his younger sister.
"Ugh, yer right. Fine, I'll go do my homework now then," Beth said with a disgusted sigh and traipsed upstairs to her room, as their guest headed back to the kitchen with an amused shake of the head.
"We're all good. I told Jen I'd probably be back around nine, half nine," Molly informed Jake as he looked up questioningly from what he was cooking.
"Plenty o' tahm then," he smiled at her, getting a nod and smile back.
After dinner, Beth insisted they play Monopoly with the four of them. She was hoping that with another girl to play against, she wouldn't come last to her father and brother as usual. They definitely didn't make any allowances for her being younger or a girl.
Molly did try to help her out a bit, but also really wanted to beat Jake at a game he claimed he always won.
It was almost nine by the time they finished and, while Jake still won, she'd given him a good run for his money and held her own. Beth was a little grumpy that she'd come last again, but she'd had fun on the whole nonetheless.
"Right, time to get ready for bed Beth, it's still a school night," Duncan said as their guest helped clear up the Monopoly money and pieces.
"But pa..." his daughter started to object.
"No buts," he told her strictly, to which she conceded with a sigh. There was no way he was going to change his mind anyway.
"Fine. Night ye guys," Beth said to the others and trudged up to her room to get ready for bed. Molly continued clearing up the game as Jake took all the plates from dinner back to the kitchen. Duncan quietly took in the girl from next door, considering her character and her connection to his son.
"Ye ah'ite pa?" Jake asked when he came back and saw his father seemingly lost in his own world.
"Uh huh," he said and pretended to yawn, to play it off as him being tired. "I think I might get ready for bed too. Night ye two," Duncan said as he got up in a stretch and left them in the living room.
"He's so not subtle," his son said with a shake of the head, making Molly laugh as she put the lid back on the box and held the game out for him to put away. He took it and put it back on its rightful shelf before he sat down on the sofa, next to where she was still sat on the floor for now. "I guess ye need to think about headin' home in a minute huh?" he asked, glancing at the clock. She looked up too from where she was sat.
"Probably," she sighed ruefully but making no attempt to get up just yet.
"What do ye want to do for lessons tomorrow 'n Friday?" he asked, wondering if maybe they would have to leave it for the rest of this week until Jennifer would start work on Monday.
"Friday should be easy. Hannah's coming over in the morning, so I could just say I'm going over to hers after and come here instead," Molly started. "Tomorrow.... I'm not sure. Maybe skip tomorrow," she said thoughtfully, not wanting to not see him, but it might be tricky to think of something that would get her out of the house for over two hours.
"Unless ye want to do what we did last Saturday," Jake suggested slowly after a few minutes, sinking down on to the floor beside her. He didn't want to encourage her to constantly be sneaking out at night, but selfishly he wanted to spend more time with her. She took him in as she thought about her options.
"Yeah we could do," she nodded in the end, concluding that she would take the risk of sneaking out if it meant spending more time alone with him. Tonight had been mostly spent with the four of them after all.
"Okay, shall I pick ye up at 10?" he asked as he reached for her hand. He realized they probably couldn't always bank on Jennifer going to bed as early as she did last week. She gave another nod, thinking the same thing, as she lifted her hand up a little for him to take hold of. She smiled when their fingers interlaced comfortably. "Shall I walk ye home now?" he asked, after enjoying it for a few minutes. Molly gave a sigh.
"You don't have to walk me home, you know," she told him, though of course she didn't really mind that much if he insisted.
"Course I do," Jake said now.
He ended up pushing her bike as they walked. She'd brought it over with her so it would look more like she had actually gone into town. She put it away under the car port and then led the way round to her back door. Molly quickly peeked over the window sill to see if her sister was sat in the living room, but it looked like she was either in the kitchen or on the computer in the corner near the dining table.
"See ya tomorrow evening," she said softly, reaching for the door handle. She figured they probably didn't have much time before Jennifer realized that she was at the back door.
"It's a date," Jake nodded as he headed down the stairs. She smiled as she realized he'd used the words on purpose this time. "Night," he smiled back and headed back towards the fence between their properties. He wasn't going to bother walking round this time. They'd only done that on the way over because she had the bike with her.
"Night," she said, knowing he'd heard her when he glanced back, and headed into the house. "Jen?" she asked a little louder to find out where her sister was.
"Up here," Jennifer called back from the upstairs landing, causing her younger sister to sigh in relief that she hadn't been anywhere near downstairs where she might have been able to see Jake had been with her.