Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79587 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79587 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
“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. “I really don’t want anyone to hear.”
“Oh—sure.” Mattie went with her to the other end of the hall, leaving the cleaning and packing to her family. They were also helping the judges clean up the spilled powdered sugar, and that should take a little while, she estimated. “What is it?” she asked, once they were alone.
“It’s about what Amanda said—about Luke Hartsford,” Shonda said. “I…I wanted you to know that…” She swallowed hard. “That you’re not alone. Because he did it to me, too.”
“Oh, no!” Mattie’s knees felt suddenly weak and she had to clutch at the other girl’s arm for support. Shonda held onto her, too, the two of them staring into each other’s faces.
“I’m sorry if that hit you hard,” Shonda said. “I just…I wanted you to know you’re not alone. He, uh, got me before you, though. Behind the bleachers after the homecoming game—the choir was there to sing the National Anthem, you know? Anyway…” She cleared her throat. “I spent the whole next month afraid I was pregnant. It screwed me up pretty bad.”
“Me too,” Mattie whispered.
“I’m just so sorry I didn’t say anything.” Shonda’s eyes were bright with unshed tears. “Maybe if I had, he wouldn’t have had a chance to get to you, too!”
Mattie shook her head.
“Don’t do that—don’t feel guilty for something that wasn’t your fault,” she said firmly. “You probably would have gotten the same treatment I did—Principal Thurgood completely refused to believe me. He told me I’d imagined the whole thing!”
“That asshole!” Shonda’s eyes snapped with anger. “Too bad he’s dead already—makes me want to go spit on his grave!”
“You and me both, but we can’t let what happened in high school ruin the rest of our lives,” Mattie told her. “I kept what happened inside for a long, long time and I only recently found someone I could talk to—someone to trust.” She thought of the way Grath had held her and let her cry—the way he had validated her and helped her ease the old ache. “I hope you have someone like that,” she told Shonda. “If not, you can take my number and call me anytime you want.”
“That would be nice.” Shonda gave her a slightly watery smile. “I was afraid to tell anyone, too. My Daddy is a minister, you know? It would break his heart.”
“I totally understand.” Impulsively, Mattie gave her a hug and for a moment, the two women clung together.
At last they pulled apart, both crying a little.
“Do you know if…if he did it to anyone else?” Mattie asked. “We ought to report him!”
Shonda shook her head.
“I think the statute of limitations expired a long time ago. And I’ve never met anyone else who said he…he did it to them. I wish I would have talked to you about it in high school,” she added wistfully. “Maybe we could have gotten some justice for what that bastard did!”
“He came up to me last night in the park,” Mattie said. “Acting like nothing had ever happened. Like we were long-lost friends or something.”
Shonda’s eyes widened.
“No, he didn’t! That asshole!”
“My, uh, fiancé shoved him over—I think he would have killed him if I hadn’t stopped him,” Mattie confided. “Now I wish I hadn’t.”
“You should have let him kill that son of a bitch!” Shonda’s dark eyes sparked with anger. “Sometimes I think I’ll never get over what he did to me all those years ago!”
“You need to go to therapy—I do too, probably,” Mattie told her. “I’ve been trying to push it away for years, but talking to someone about it actually helps a lot.”
Shonda shook her head.
“I get by all right,” she said. “Mostly I can forget it ever happened. It’s just…all that craziness with Amanda Hutchinson brought it all back again, you know?”