Faking it with the Hybrid: Kindred Tales 47 by Evangeline Anderson

Author:Evangeline Anderson [Anderson, Evangeline]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Evangeline Anderson Books
Published: 2022-11-18T18:30:00+00:00

TWENTY-THREE

MATTIE

“Mattie, honey, what was that awful Hutchinson girl talking about?” Mattie’s mom had her by the arm as she came down off the stage. “When she said that about Luke Hartsford—what did she mean?”

“Nothing Mom, honestly!” Mattie’s heart was suddenly in her throat. “She was just being nasty—she, uh spread a lot of awful rumors about me back in high school but that’s all they were—just rumors.”

“Oh…” Her mother looked cautiously relieved. “That’s good. But you know, if something happened, you could have told me or your father…”

Mattie felt her heart clench even harder. Maybe she should have tried to tell her parents about the attempted rape. Or Anna. But at the time, being so completely dismissed by the principal of her school had made her think that no one—not even her own family—would believe her! Then the victim shaming she’d been through afterwards had scarred her and made her doubt herself for years.

She wanted to cry but she knew she couldn’t let herself. So she tried to smile at her mom and Grath and the rest of her family as they surrounded her.

“Well—you won!” Grath proclaimed, neatly changing the subject, much to Mattie’s relief. “Your balls were victorious and you triumphed over your tormentor. I knew you could do it, baby!”

“Yes—you finally won!” Anna exclaimed, picking up the thread. “Mattie won!” she shouted to the rest of the family.

And suddenly Mattie found herself in the middle of a big family hug with her mom and dad on one side and her grandma and sister on the other. And then Grath stepped in and nearly encircled all of them with his long, muscular arms.

“I’m so proud of you, sweetie!” her dad was saying.

“You did good and that nasty Hutchinson girl got what she deserved!” Grandma Thelma proclaimed. “But I still say that stuff looked like cocaine!”

“It wasn’t cocaine, Grandma,” Mattie protested, laughing. “Oof—you’re all squishing me! How about helping me clean up my table so we can get out of here?”

“Yes—let’s go celebrate!” Mattie’s mom exclaimed. “What does everyone say to grabbing lunch at the Elm Street Market?”

The Elm Street Market was a local diner that served excellent sandwiches. It was a family favorite and everyone was happy to agree.

“Okay, but first we have to clean up,” Mattie pointed out. Her whole family pitched in—Grath included—and started packing up the remaining ingredients and equipment—including the recovered food processor.

Mattie was about to wrap up the remaining sticks of butter when a cool hand touched her shoulder.

“Excuse me…” someone said.

Turning, Mattie saw it was the girl from table eight—Shonda Smith.

“Oh, hi!” she exclaimed. “I’m so glad you’re still here—I need to thank you again for lending me the powdered sugar.” She bit her lip. “I hope you’re not upset you did—you definitely would have won if you hadn’t.”

“No, of course I’m not sorry!” Shonda exclaimed. “I wanted to congratulate you and, well…to tell you something.”

“What is it?” Mattie asked, mystified.

“Do you mind if we move out of earshot of everyone else?” Shonda looked around uncomfortably.

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