“Oh!” Jane paused, her hand on the doorknob. “I thought we could swap for a few days. Yours gets better gas mileage, and mine’s making this strange rattling sound every time I go over eighty.”

There were so many things wrong with what her mother said that Molly couldn’t decide where to start. She ended up going with a flat “No.”

“Molly…” It was her stern mother voice, which had lost all of its power by the time Molly was a teenager.

“If you take my car, I’m going to report it stolen.” Molly grabbed her backpack off the hook next to the door and rummaged through it, searching for the key fob that she always kept tucked in the front pocket. It wasn’t there. Setting her backpack down with a solid thump, she held out her hand, maneuvering her body to block the garage door. “Keys.”

“My car isn’t safe right now.” Jane tucked her fingers into her back pocket, but Molly knew that she was protecting her access to the keys rather than moving to pull them out and hand them over. “Do you really want your mother driving around Denver in a dangerous vehicle?”

Molly kept her hand outstretched, palm up expectantly. “Do you want your daughter driving around in a dangerous vehicle?”

Jane did that familiar sweep of her hand again, doubling Molly’s resolution to remove the motion from her own repertoire. “You’re in Langston. You don’t need a car. Where would you need to go that you couldn’t just walk to?”

“Work.” Molly’s tone was heavy with sarcasm, but her position in front of the door didn’t waver. “I need to work, so that we can eat and have nice things like heat in the winter. The same work that often requires me to go to Denver to chase after skips or meet with bail-bond agents. Why don’t you stay home tonight and take your car to the shop tomorrow morning?”

Dropping her chin, Jane peered at Molly through her lashes. “I can’t afford to have it fixed. Can I borrow some money from you?”

“No.” The response was immediate and unhesitating. “You know the rules. We let you live here, but you have to support yourself otherwise.” Even though she didn’t want to get into another drama-filled conversation so late at night, the words just popped out. “That’s one of the things we need to talk about. You’re supposed to be helping with utilities and groceries, but you haven’t contributed in months.” More like years, Molly thought, but she was trying to be a little tactful, at least. “I know you scammed some money from Cara last week. If you’re not going to give that back to her, at least use it to fix your car.”

Annoyance flickered over Jane’s face, disappearing so quickly that Molly would’ve thought she’d imagined it if she didn’t know her mom so well. Jane’s expression morphed into something that somehow radiated sad guilt and martyrdom in equal measures. “I didn’t scam my own daughter. Just because you’re hard and suspicious doesn’t mean you should bully your sister into being that way as well. Cara’s sweet and caring, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”