City Lights, Country Nights

15.mouths to feed

Liora pushed open the door to the shop and made her way to the counter, where a dark-skinned woman stood. Although she didn’t know her well, Liora recognized her as Will’s fiancée.

"Hi, you're Jackie's sister, right? Rory?" the woman said. Liora nodded with a smile. "Yes, it's Liora. It's nice to meet you," she replied, smiling as she glanced over the array of sweets.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I thought she said Rory," the woman remarked.

"That's my nickname. You're more than welcome to call me Rory, though," Liora said, looking back up at her. The woman nodded.

"Is there something I can get you?" she asked. Liora nodded in response.

"Yes, um, two hot teas and if you can remember whatever Jackie got last time," Liora requested. The woman nodded as she began to prepare the order.

"Oh, Rory, how are you doing?" Will asked as he walked in.

"Fine," she replied. "I'm actually glad I found you. I want to ask you something." Will looked at her and nodded.

"You know that older couple who don't live terribly far from the house," Liora began, and Will hummed in acknowledgment. "Well, they have a jeep for sale."

"Yeah, I think I've seen it. It looked nice," he said. Liora nodded. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, me and Jackie have been talking, and we want to have our own car," Liora explained. "But I haven't asked, and I just wanted to know if you think they will let us. I mean, I have the money and everything for it," she said. Will stopped and looked at her.

"Well, I don't see why not, but," Will said, "they might say neither of you have driver’s licenses," he pointed out.

"Yeah, speaking of that, I have my permit," Liora mentioned. "But I haven't done much driving. I mean, after everything, I just didn't want to," she explained. Will nodded.

"Maybe if you have time, you could give me a lesson or two because I need to take it?" she asked. Will looked a bit surprised but smiled.

"Yeah, yeah, I will. Just tell me when you want to," he said. Liora nodded.

"Um, tomorrow? If you're free?" she asked. Will nodded. "Okay, thank you," she said, handing him some money before grabbing her things and walking out.

As Liora left, she took out her phone and checked the time. It was 10:00.

Liora huffed out a breath as she scrolled through her phone until she found Jackie’s number and clicked it.

"Hey, what's up?" Jackie said through the phone.

"I'm heading back to the house. I got you some stuff," Liora said.

"Okay, I'll be there in a few," Jackie replied. There was a small silence before she spoke again. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Are you?" Liora shot back as she got up and began walking down the sidewalk.

"It's hard," Jackie said. Liora hummed. "Her birthday is in 3 days, and it just came so fast," she said. Liora couldn't agree with her more; it came faster than she was ready for.

"Yeah, I know," Liora mumbled as she rubbed under her eyes. "We can still get the teapot and... make the tea," she added.

"Yeah, it would feel weird if we didn't," Jackie said. Liora nodded. "Anyway, I'll see you in a bit, okay?" she asked. Liora hummed as she hung up and took the very long way to the house. When she walked in, Jackie turned to her, putting her finger over her lips to shush her.

Confused, Liora opened her mouth to say something but stopped when she heard voices. She walked to the bottom of the steps and stopped next to Jackie as she strained to listen to George and Katherine. It sounded like they were talking about money, and from what she heard, it didn't sound good.

"And now with Jackie and Rory, that's 14 mouths to feed," Liora overheard George saying. She looked down, clenching her jaw, as Jackie grabbed her arm and silently pulled her back up the stairs and into her room.

Liora walked over to the bed and sat down, her eyes glaring up at Jackie, who sighed.

"I'm sure they didn't mean it the way you're taking it," Jackie said. How they said it? Those were complaints about money, and they specifically mentioned their names.

"Well, I took it that way," Liora said. They might not have intended it that way, but now Liora felt like it was their fault that theh was lacking money.

"Rory," Jackie said, but Liora shook her head.

"No, it's fine. I'll..." Liora huffed out a breath and closed her eyes. "I'll figure it out, okay?" she said. Jackie shook her head.

"Rory, there's nothing to figure out," Jackie walked to her and sat down. "What really could we even do?" she asked. Liora looked up at her.

"I'll get a job, Jackie. I'll give them money to pay our way here until we can go," Liora said. Jackie was just getting settled here, and Liora didn't care if they left at this point. She knew it would be hard on Jackie, so she had to do something.

Liora was the kind of person to not let something go unheard, even if she wasn't supposed to. She did.

"Okay, let's not jump to conclusions, Rory," Jackie said. Liora never used to see the bad in anything, but now that's all she saw, and Jackie knew that.

"Whatever, I'll figure it out," Liora huffed. "Here, I got you some tea and sweets," she said, handing them to her.

"Oh, thanks," Jackie said, taking the bag.

"Alright, I'm going to my room," Liora said as she walked away.