Page 58 of Hometown Girl

Beth peeled off the gloves and tossed them in the sink. “I’m not going to talk to you until you calm down.”

Molly turned to face her. “You know I’m right. You did the exact same thing I did. You made a decision without talking to me, only your decision is a whole lot riskier than mine. A sheep isn’t going to set fire to our farm. Or slit our throats when we aren’t looking.”

They both looked at Drew, who stood wide-eyed, like the collateral damage he was.

“I don’t really think those things about you. I’m just making a point,” Molly told him. He nodded. “Good to know.”

“What do you want me to say?”

Molly narrowed her gaze, locked tight on her sister. She raised one eyebrow in a challenge. A challenge Beth recognized instantly. “You know what you need to say.”

Beth crossed her arms over her chest. “We’re really going to do this now?”

Molly’s only reply was to cross her arms over her own chest and stare Beth down.

“I think I’ll excuse myself,” Drew said.

“No, stay,” the sisters said in unison, neither of them looking away.

He froze. “I can find another place to sleep.”

Molly’s eyebrow popped upward ever so slightly. “Well, that’s up to Beth.”

Beth didn’t know when this ridiculous game had started. Maybe it was right after Molly’d had the brilliant idea to let her hamster “sleep” in her underwear drawer. Or maybe it was after she’d dropped out of college, throwing a full year of work—not to mention money—straight down the toilet.

Somewhere along the way, Molly had begun taking great pleasure in pointing out every single time Beth was wrong—payback, of sorts, for all the times Beth had pointed out one of Molly’s blunders. The difference was, Beth wasn’t trying to be mean or condescending. She was trying to be helpful. What was she supposed to do? Let Molly carry on as if nothing was wrong?

If Beth hadn’t intervened, who knew where her sister would be right now?

That didn’t change her current situation, however. Beth saw that familiar twinkle in Molly’s eye. Right now, there was only one thing her sister wanted from her—and she wasn’t going to stop until she got it.

There were three little words that would make this all go away. Three words that had Beth wishing this standoff hadn’t happened in front of the handsome stranger from Colorado.

For the sake of the farm, Beth pressed her lips together and took a deep breath. “I ...”

Molly leaned a little closer. “Yes?”

“I was wrong.” In her periphery, she saw Drew’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise. A contented look settled on Molly’s face.

“Can you say it one more time, please? I didn’t quite hear you.”

“Don’t push it, Molly.”

“It’s just music to my ears. I mean, it’s not often I’m the smart one around here.”

“That’s a fact,” Beth said.

“Does this mean I can stay?” Drew asked.

“Of course, Cowboy,” Molly said, her false anger dissipating. “I just wanted Beth to admit it out loud. Very hard words for her to say.”

“When are you going to grow up?” Beth threw a dish towel onto the counter, genuine anger building inside her. Sure, Molly may have been half kidding with her, but Beth didn’t like feeling stupid, especially not in front of her employees. As she opened the back door, she heard Molly say to Drew, “I told you we have to stick together.”

The screen door slammed behind her, and Beth picked up her pace, her mind spinning. They wouldn’t have enough money to complete the repairs on the farm. They didn’t have enough help to get any substantial work done. And now they had a sheep and a boarder with a big German shepherd.

The wordsI was wronghad never echoed so truly in her life.

Chapter Seventeen

---