Chapter 11

The morning had started out bright and clear, the sun shining warmly down on the moving party as it began the arduous task of unloading two large trailers and two overloaded trucks full of furniture and boxes into the cabin and barn. But by noon, the storm clouds that hung over two areas of the work party did not bode well for a favorable outcome in the afternoon.

Clara glared daggers at Matt on and off all morning after he'd started the whole shooting match with a snippy comment about 'Well why didn't she just have Jimmy do it…' when she'd light heartedly complained about having to unpack all of the boxes being drug into the house. This had startled her and set her hackles up. Then the fight was on. She snapped at him a time or two and he'd fire another comment back about her preferring Jimmy to do this or that.

Hart, who had volunteered to use his day off to come up and help out, kept well out of range when Clara and Matt were within firing distance of each other. Jesse and Cody had exchanged a few significant glances and when Jesse had tried to pull Matt to the side to get him to relax, Matt had ignored him. Cody had found the whole thing amusing as hell and after getting Hart alone for a few moments in one of the trailers, they began taking bets on whether Clara would take a swing at Matt or not.

With the trucks almost all unloaded and the trailers half way there, Jesse decided to take matters into his own hands. He gave Cody and Hart significant looks that told them to make themselves absent for awhile and while Matt and Clara were busy taking boxes into the cabin, Jesse took the mattress still left in the back of the truck and toppled it over the boxes that were left in the back, making it so that it had to be removed before anything else could be moved. It was of the size and shape that would require two people to man handle it into the cabin. With that done, Jesse walked off to the back of the trailer where he sat on one of the chairs found inside and waited.

Clara came out of the cabin and saw the mattress had tipped over in the back of the truck, landing on the few boxes left. It was one of those old mattresses that was bulky and heavy, made from heavier materials than the newer ones were. She'd either have to wrestle it back up into place and hope it stayed or get someone to help her move it inside before she could finish unloading the rest of the boxes.

Her mind filled with dark thoughts for a moment as she went around to the tailgate and climbed up into the bed of the truck to try and lift it up. Matt was being an ass for no reason that she could see other than maybe jealousy. He kept bringing up things her and Jimmy had joked about yesterday and it boggled her mind that he was possibly jealous over the fact that Jimmy had flirted with her. It wasn't like she'd flirted back or given any indication she was 'interested' in him but she didn't know what Matt's problem was.

As she struggled with the unwieldy mattress, Matt came out of the cabin and spotted her trying to maneuver the bulky thing. He came over and grabbed the other side of it and gave it a pull. Not expecting it to suddenly move, she staggered a little. "Dammit!" she snapped at him. "You could have warned me!"

"Get down from there and help me carry this in…," he growled at her.

"Yes SIR," she snarled right back at him. Jumping down out of the back of the truck, she reached up and grabbed a hold of the one side and gave it a yank to dislodge it from the back of the truck and staggered under its weight as Matt adjusted his side and tilted it so they could get it through the cabin's front door.

Being non-too-gentle with his handling of things, Matt pulled on it as he walked backwards, causing her to stumble several times as she tried to keep up with him. Her temper continued to smolder hotter until it was fanned into flames when he entered the bedroom just off the living room and dumped it on the floor with no warning at all. Still having a hold on one side, Clara felt herself stagger and go down to her knees, barking her shins on the hardwood floors.

"DAMMIT!" she yelled as she struggled to get back up to her feet. "THAT'S IT! I've had it with you! What the HELL is your problem Matthew Hawkes?" she snarled, going after him, blocking his exit out of the bedroom door.

"What do you mean, 'what's my problem'? I'm up here working my ass off and you've done nothing but be a bitch…," he snapped back at her.

"Now wait just a minute. I have done nothing today but try to be nice. You're the one that's been snipping at me with little cracks about Jimmy this and Jimmy that, 'Let Jimmy do it' and 'Why not let Jimmy handle it' and all that crap! If I didn't know better, I'd say you were jealous," she said, pushing a hand into his chest as she worked to back him up a pace. "So the way I see it, you're the one who started this whole mess. I don't take kindly to being snipped at."

Matt ground his teeth in frustration. His feelings were a mashed up jumble inside. He had wanted to get to know Clara a little better and yet Jimmy yesterday had been flirting with her and she'd been chatting with him and joking around. She'd hardly even looked at him the day before. She'd gotten one good look at Jimmy and he'd not even had a chance.

His silence made Clara scowl, "What? Do you think just because he was flirting with me that I took him seriously? For Christ sake Matt…I'm not any more interested in Jimmy than I am the man in the moon." She continued to advance on him, "But he talked to me yesterday…you didn't! You scowled and frowned at the two of us the entire afternoon." She poked him in the chest with every word for emphasis.

Matt stared down at her as she spoke, "You could have talked to me or something. But you ignored me like I was nothing more than something insignificant to you…," he tried to counter. He cringed inside to hear himself. God, did he really just say that? He sounded like a whining little kid having a temper tantrum.

Clara's mouth dropped open, "I don't believe you! MEN!" she said, throwing her hands up. "I just had found out that all of my Uncles things were still intact and that no, I wasn't going to have to spend a winter sitting on a cold wooden floor or sleeping on a camp cot. I'd had only a few hours of sleep the night before because I'd been up trying to finish the ceiling like you'd shown me to do. Then your dad and brother came by and woke me up to drag me down to Running Fox's place…I was tired, I was overwhelmed. If it hadn't been for Jimmy's teasing and joking all afternoon, I probably would have found a place to sit down and fallen asleep." She looked Matt up and down, "Besides, why the hell would I want to come over and talk to someone who was scowling at me like I'd just committed some mortal sin."

Matt had to admit she had a point but it still rubbed him wrong. His jaw worked as he tried to think of some way to snap back or say something that would sooth his hurt feelings or make her feel as miserable as he did at that moment. But he couldn't think of anything. He looked away from her to stare out the bedroom door and that's when he felt his legs kicked out from under him and felt himself fall backwards, off balance by a well placed punch to the stomach. He landed on the mattress they'd just hauled in and he grunted as his ass connected with it.

"What the hell…was that for?" he gasped as a hand grabbed at his sore stomach.

"That's for being such a jerk…," she said, looking near tears as she turned and stomped out of the bedroom, her footsteps echoing out of the cabin.

Matt sat there for a few moments, absently rubbing his abdomen as he realized he'd been acting like such an ass. He looked up as a shadow crossed the doorway to the bedroom and saw his dad leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed over his chest and he just knew he was going to be getting a little 'lesson in life' from him…as if the punch to the gut hadn't already been lesson enough.

Cody held out his hand to Hart, "Pay up. Told you she'd take a swing at him."

Hart grimaced and fished out a ten dollar bill from his jeans pocket and slapped it in Cody's open palm. "Robin's right. You are such a brat…," he joked with a slight smile.

They'd been watching to the side of the bedroom window the entire confrontation and had seen Clara head for the barn as she'd left the cabin.

Hart pulled Cody away from the window when Jesse had leaned against the doorframe of the bedroom door to speak with Matt. This was something the 'little brother' didn't need to witness anyway and besides, there were more boxes to move. When he let go of Cody's shoulder, the kid started to move towards the barn.

"I'd leave her be for a little while Cody. Now would not be a good time to be around her. Let her cool down for a bit," offered Hart in a way as if imparting a bit of 'wisdom'.

Cody hesitated, looking torn between wanting to go to Clara's side and wanting to take Harts advice. Finally he decided that Hart might be right and the two of them began to empty the rest of the boxes from the back of the second truck.