Having been so determined not to stress out over the weekend, when Monday came Molly was completely tied up in knots. She couldn't help but stress, especially as the day wore on and she hadn't heard yet.
It wasn't until almost 4pm that she finally got a phone call from the agency to say that she could start on Friday. It would allow them time to get the paperwork sorted and ease her in. It gave her the week to enjoy spending time with Jake during the day, before she would be limited to seeing him in the evening and at the weekends. She also used the time to see Beth before she started back at school and Hannah when she wasn't at the café. She figured it was best to make the most of her free time while she was still free and only being trained as an administrator. She was sure that once she started being trained as a TA and eventually teacher alongside her admin work, she wouldn't have that much free time left.
Her first day went really well and everyone was really nice. They made sure to take it easy on her, just showed her around the school and introduced her to some of her more basic tasks. If the basic tasks were anything to go by, she would be able to do this job in her sleep. Which meant that she'd better pass her probation so they'd train her up for more responsibility. She was really looking forward to proving herself capable and the challenge this job could present. Molly had liked working at the café, but she'd missed having an intellectual challenge. Having dropped out of college in her first year, she hadn't thought she'd ever say that.
Her first week showed her there was a little more to the job than what she'd thought on her first day, but that could only be a good thing. She couldn't wait to sink her teeth into it properly. Of course as it was the first week in a new job, it was still tiring and she went to bed early most evenings. But Jennifer suggested doing something together on the Saturday, which Molly took as a suggestion to go out to the town's bar. For a girls' night.
Jake didn't mind, as long as he got to see her during the day on Saturday and Sunday. Jennifer would rather see her sister for longer than just the Saturday night but conceded that she saw her in the evening during the week for longer than Jake did. So she agreed.
Jake came home from seeing Molly and Jennifer off after doing the dishes for them, having had dinner with the three of them. He'd helped play judge 'n jury on their outfits, keeping Molly's cute but safe from being hit on by others and encouraged Jennifer to go all out. He was just about to hop over the fence when he noticed a pickup truck on the drive that he didn't recognize.
"Pa? Who's truck's that?" he called out when he got in. He was surprised to see the solemn look on his father's face as he looked up from his paperwork.
"Blake's."
"Come again?" Jake asked, thinking he must've heard him wrong.
"Blake. He's come down for a visit," Duncan answered with a sigh, knowing that this could go wrong if Jennifer saw him.
"Perfect timin'," his son muttered to himself, of course his cousin had picked now when things were getting better to come by. "So, where is he?" he asked, not seeing any signs that his cousin was down here.
"He didn't waste much time. Dropped his stuff upstairs and headed into town to go to the bar," he answered with a disapproving shake of the head. If the real purpose for his visit was to see them, he would've stayed in the first night to actually spend time with them. But he couldn't get out of here fast enough, which gave his uncle a bad feeling.
"He went to the bar? Shit!" Jake swore as he rummaged around to find his keys.
"Why? Where's the fire?" his father asked surprised.
"Molly 'n Jen went there for a girls' night. Where are my keys?" he was getting flustered that he couldn't find them straight away. "Pa, help!" The rancher got up calmly and found them on the side in the kitchen where he usually flung them down on his way in.
"Here ye go. Hope he's not found 'em 'n don't get into any trouble please Jake?" he said as he held them out to him.
"I'll try, that's the best I can promise," his son said as he took them from him, hoping he would find his cousin before he found the girls.
"We should'a done this ages ago," Molly said to her sister. They'd had a few drinks already and danced and she hadn't seen Jennifer laugh this much in ages.
"Yeah well, if you'd been old enough ages ago, maybe we would've," Jennifer pointed out with a laugh. She was having a lot of fun, a lot more than she'd been expecting if she had to be honest. There were a couple of guys who'd looked her way and offered to buy them a drink, but so far she hadn't taken them up on it. She didn't want to feel like she owed any one of them anything. Molly had tried to convince her that a drink was harmless, even a dance was, but her sister kept saying, 'I'm here with you."
"Another drink?" Molly asked now as they took a break from the dance floor.
"Sure, same as before," her sister nodded, putting her purse down and took to scanning the room again as she headed to the bar. Jennifer hadn't minded the attention from some of the guys, I mean who would, but she was happy just looking around and holding off.
Hadn't had a good time, since you know when. Got talked into going out.
She froze for a second when she thought she heard a familiar voice that she hadn't heard in years, but shrugged it off.
I was feeling like myself for the first time, in a long time.
It can't be him, you're just imagining things, she told herself and tried to loosen up, rolling her shoulders and shaking her hands out. She looked over to the bar to see if her sister was coming back yet, but she was still trying to give, or pay for, their order.
Then you rode in, with your hair in the wind, baby without warning. I was doing alright, but just your sight had my heart stormin'.
"Howdy ma'am," the voice made her jump. Jennifer's heart was pounding in her throat as she turned back. Stood across from her was the last person she'd wanted to see any time soon.
You wrecked my whole world when you came. And hit me like a hurricane.
"I heard ye were back. Yer lookin' good," Blake continued as he gave her a winked smile. She simply didn't know what to say. "I hoped I'd get to see ye," he kept the conversation up, trying to get a response.
"Why?" Jennifer gulped, not able to understand why now he wanted to see her, but not all those years ago when she'd wanted him to.
"What do ye mean, why? It's been so long 'n I always had a soft spot for ye," Blake told her as he started moving around the table to get closer to her, happy to notice that his presence still had an effect on her. He started reaching out to push back a strand of hair from her face.
Knew it was gonna be a long night from the moment when we locked eyes over whiskey on ice. Started talking about us again.
"Who's this?" a young brunette got in his way, as she set the drinks down on the table. Given the look on Jennifer's face though, she could guess.
"Blake Rodgers, pleased to make yer acquaintance," he gave her a killer smile, not above chatting up someone else in his former girlfriend's presence. His outstretched hand held steady as if to hold it out to her.
But you rode in, with your hair in the wind, baby without warning. I was doing alright, but just your sight had my heart stormin'. The moon went hiding, the stars quit shining. The rain was driving, thunder, lightning. You wrecked my whole world when you came. And hit me like a hurricane.
"I wish I could say the same. I think ye need to stay away from my sister," Molly told him now, getting a surprised look from both of them. She ignored his hand.
"Little Molly Matthews?" he asked, trying to reconcile the confident, beautiful woman in front of him with his memory of her as a young girl. "My, my, my ye've really blossomed," he said, giving her a wink as he ran his hand through his hair.
"Yeah that shit ain't gonna work on me. If ye don't mind, I came here for a girls' nght with my sister 'n we ain't interested in anything ye've got to offer," she set him straight as she righted herself to her full height. She was still shorter than he was, but it got her message across.
Bend my heart back to your bedside. Then you rode in, with your hair in the wind, baby without warning.
"Ye sure 'bout that?" Blake asked with a knowing smile, nodding at her sister's face, who was trying her hardest not to stare at him, but was failing.
"Damn straight," Molly assured him, knowing her sister would thank her for it later. "Now please leave."
The rain was driving, thunder, lightning. You wrecked my whole world when you came. And hit me like a hurricane.
"It's a public bar, I can stay if I want," he said, only taking a step back to put a little space between them to humor her.