The next couple of days they stuck to the minimum of riding lessons during the day, as there were no lies involved then with Jennifer being at work. But Molly was finding it really hard to just stick to the riding lessons. She wanted to stay behind to spend time with him, but he was trying to be proper. Jake of course did want to spend more time with her, but it made him uncomfortable to keep up the charade. It would be better if they had Jennifer's approval, or at least knowledge.
"Hannah, what do I do?" Molly asked after almost a week of this.
Her new friend sighed as she wiped her hands on the kitchen towel she had tied to her apron. "The obvious solution is to come clean to yer sister, but I'm guessin' that ain't the answer ye wanted," Hannah started and rushed to finish her sentence when she noticed her friend was about to interrupt. "Ye could say ye told her, but then ye'd be lyin' to both of them, which can only end badly," she continued.
"Then why mention it?" Molly asked exasperated, venting her frustration at the wrong person.
"I'm just tryin' to help," her friend pointed out now. "How come he had the change of heart?" Hannah asked curiously.
Now it was her friend's turn to sigh. "I don't think he did really. It always made him uncomfortable, but he went along with it for may. It just got to him when I couldn't let him know I was gonna be at his late and he got worried," she explained.
"Girls, I ain't payin' ye to talk," Chris hollered from the kitchen, when he noticed that's what they were doing.
"Alright," Hannah glared back and started cleaning the surface in front of her. "We'll think of summit," she promised her friend now as they both got back to work.
What happened the next day just made her feel even worse. Molly had headed over to her neighbors for her lesson, only to be greeted by Beth.
"Howdy Beth, ye alright?" she asked, not yet suspecting what was about to happen.
"Yeah, just a bit uncomfortable," Beth answered, aiming an angry glare towards the kitchen, leading her friend to suspect that Jake was hiding there.
"Okay I'll bite. How come?" Molly asked, stuffing her hands in her jeans' pocket to stop them from shaking as she started feeling nervous.
"Jake asked... well he asked me to tell ye that he don't think ye should be havin' lessons 'til Jennifer knows," the younger girl now answered, feeling crappy for putting the hurt look on her friend's face. "Look, he wouldn't want me to say this, but this is makin' him miserable. He wants to see ye but he wants to do the right thing," Beth said a little softer so her brother couldn't hear her from the kitchen.
"Yeah well, he's bein' stupid," Molly said in frustration.
"So ye admit ye think I'm stupid?" Jake's voice sounded from the kitchen as he appeared on the back porch.
"No I said yer bein' stupid, there's a big difference," she answered, thinking he needed to do something about that massive chip on his shoulders. "Jake, I didn't come here to argue with ye," she said a bit calmer now. He stayed where he was on the porch waiting for her explanation. He didn't think he was being unreasonable in wanting her to be open to her sister about them.
"I'm gonna go," Beth reminded them of her presence and headed to the kitchen so she could still listen in.
"I know," he said simply with a shrug, now responding to what his girlfriend had said. He felt a tug at his heart when he saw the helpless look on her face. But he had to be strong on this one. "Lemme know when ye've told her," Jake said now and headed back in.
"But I miss ye," Molly said softly before she headed back to the fence and her house, not realizing both he and Beth had heard her.
"Yer bein' mean to her, ye know that?" his sister said accusingly when he came in and, before he could respond, walked away to try to think of a way around this. She paced a few minutes in her room before she decided she needed more space. Beth ignored her brother as she passed through downstairs to get her bike. They'd been given the day off from school to study, so at least she didn't have to worry too much about getting caught. She ended up in Café Chris, where luckily Hannah had just gone on her break.
"What's got ye lookin' so glum?" Hannah asked as she invited her to sit in the booth with her and started getting her cutlery and napkin ready for her to eat.
"Jake's bein' an ass. He now won't even see Molly for lessons 'til she tells Jennifer," Beth explained. "But the stupid thing is that it's makin' both of them miserable," she added.
"Yer way too invested," Hannah commented as she started eating. The comment earned her a glare in response.
"Ye could be a bit more helpful. She's yer friend too," Beth sounded like she was going to lecture her now.
"Yeah, yeah," her friend cut her short. "What ye thinkin'?"
"I dunno yet," Beth said, looking at her thoughtfully.
The two of them sat quietly, both trying to think of something.
"I think I might have summit," Hannah suddenly said putting her cutlery down to explain.
"Come on, it'll be fun. Ye need to stop mopin'," Hannah said. She'd been trying to convince Molly that they should do something fun together on Saturday. "Ye haven't actually broken up, so stop it. Ye should be tryin' to make amends," she added.
"Yeah, so how does us goin' to San Antonio gonna help with that?" Molly asked, sounding like a stroppy teenager.
"It'll cheer ye up. Come on, let's go on Saturday. Ye said yerself that Jennifer was workin' an extra shift this weekend," her friend pointed out.
"True. Okay, fine. Let's go to San Antonio on Saturday," she nodded now, figuring it would keep her from dwelling on everything by herself while trying not to remember that that was supposed to have been her and Jake's next proper date.
"Great, I'll pick ye up at nahn," Hannah smiled, trying not to look too pleased with herself. "We'll be doin' lots of walkin', so maybe don't wear yer daisy's. Wear one of yer cute summer dresses," she told her, going into her friend's closet to find the dress she was referring to. "Here ye go," she said triumphantly. It was a dark blue dress, strapless, with an extra layer at the bust. It had creamy white flowers stitched along the bottom, which came to just above her knees.
"That looks awfully dressy up for a girls' day, don't ye think?" Molly asked a little doubtful as she took it from her friend. She did really like it, but felt like it was more of a date dress.
"Nah, it'll be good. Show off yer new tan 'n everythin'," Hannah waved away her objections. "Okay, I gotta go to work. I will see ye in 2 days at nahn," she continued when she saw the time, leaving no room for arguing.