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Chapter 6
"Harm?" Mattie said in a tiny voice.
"Someone needs to tell me what's going on here...Matte are you ok?"
"Yes..." she said, now crying quietly. "Harm I'm so sorry."
"Oh no...you ditched again didn't you?" he said in a stern voice.
"Yeah..." she cried.
"Go ahead Mattie." Mac said. "You have to tell him...we need to do something about this." she whispered as she pointed to the partly immersed car.
"Mattie you promised!" Harm said. That made Mattie cry even harder. Max tightened his arm around her and kissed the top of her head. That helped a little. Her at least not Harm. He sensed that there was more to this.
"Shhh." Max whispered. "It'll be ok." Ok , Harm thought, was that a male voice...a soothing male voice REALLY close to the phone?
"Who's that?" Harm asked. "Who's with you?"
"Max..."
"Why?...and where are you?"
"Now Mattie." Mac said. Jen came closer.
"Come on Mattie just tell him. You're going to have to do it sooner or later." Mattie's eyes filled with big fat tears.
"Mattie?" Geez what the hell was going on there? "Mattie who was that?"
"Jen...Harm?"
"Please just tell me Mattie I'm going crazy here...it can't be that bad..."
"Will you hold that thought?" Mattie said with a shaky voice.
"Tell me...where are you and who are you with besides Max?"
"I'm at the lake with the guys...I...I borrowed the car...Harm I'm so sorry." she said as a tear escaped and ran down her very pink cheeks.
"You did what? Oh little girl you are in sooo much trouble." Mattie started to cry all over again.
"There's something else..."
"You're not hurt? You didn't have n accident?"
"It kind of drove itself into the lake." she said. Harm felt like screaming...his car...his beautiful car...but funnily enough it didn't take long for the thoughts of what could have happened to Mattie over took his distress.
"Mattie?" Harm said.
"Harm...do you hate me?"
"No...never...but you may hate me when I'm done. Give the phone to Mac...we have to make arrangements to get it hauled out." Mattie nodded sadly but of course he couldn't see her. She passed the phone back to Mac and turned into Max arms for comfort.
JAGJAGJAGJAGJAG
Max and Jen at Harm's request called first the insurance company and then all the kids parents one by one. They couldn't all fit in the one car to go back and he thought it might be good for the parents to visit the scene of the crime. He almost cried when Mac sent him photos from her phone. He was pretty sure his car had already gone to a better place but they'd have to have it assessed and see. He was shocked at Mattie's behaviour...he would have to deal with that when he got home tomorrow.
JAGJAGJAGJAGJAG
The last of the kids had been collected by their folks and Mac, Jen and Mattie had watched with horror as Harm's car was dragged form the lake.
"Nothing more we can do here." Mac said "Let's go home."
JAGJAGJAGJAGJAG
The drive back was a quiet one. Both Mac and Jen tried to make conversation but Mattie just sat there with tears threatening to spill over as she stared unseeing out of the window.
"You hungry?" Jen asked. Mattie shook her head.
"No."
"Thirsty?" Mac asked.
"No." Mattie wasn't impressed with either of these women at the moment...especially Mac. They could have tried to find a way to fix the car without Harm finding out. They hadn't even given her a chance.
Jen looked at Mac. She didn't know why but she felt really guilty. They hadn't done anything wrong here...This came down to Mattie and her own bad choices.
"How about a burger?" she asked. Mattie generally was a chatterbox when they were home together, Jen didn't like this stony silence, you could cut the air with a knife.
"No..." Mattie said. "Thanks." she added as an afterthought.
Mac pulled the car over. "Mattie why are you pouting?" she asked. "We didn't do this, you did."
"I thought we were friends."
"What makes you think that we aren't now?"
"You said if I needed you...I could call..."
"Not that it has anything to do with it, but you didn't call me, you called Jen. But I AM being there for you Mattie. Being there doesn't mean covering for you. Harm was gonna notice that his car was missing. He was also going to notice that you'd been suspended from school. There WAS no getting out of this."
"I guess."
"Mac's right Mattie, this had all gone way too far before you even called. There was no turning back."
Mattie started to cry again.
"It's just that it's all gone so wrong." she cried.
"That...is an understatement." Mac said with a grin. "Look Harm is back tomorrow...that's Not tonight. Starving yourself tonight won't lesson whatever's going to happen tomorrow."
"That's right." Jen said. "I suggest that go get ice cream...lots of it...and chocolate and we go home and put on our PJ's and call pizzas."
"Really?" Mattie asked. "You're not mad anymore?"
"I think Harm might be ticked enough for all of us." Mac said. I hope he's not ticked AT all of us, she thought.
JAGJAGJAGJAGJAG
Nine o'clock found all the girls in their pj's in front of the TV watching 'What a Girl Wants'. They'd finished off the pizza and were just letting it settle before their dessert.
"D'ya think that's how it is for most people?" Mattie asked.
"What? Like the movie?" Jen asked.
"Which part?" Mac asked.
"Dunno...the way the Dad loves her almost straight away even though they've never met and he knows nothing about her?" Mattie asked. "The Daddy daughter dances and I dunno...all of it."
"Wasn't like that for me." Jen said.
"Or me." Mac said.
"But you..."Jen said. She gave Mattie a gentle push. "Lucked out this time. Harm loves you...even though you haven't known each other long and you're still learning about each other."
"Even though I killed his car."
"Even though you killed his car." Mattie smiled.
"What do you think he's gonna say?" She asked hopefully.
"A LOT..." Mac said with a grin she didn't manage to hide. Mattie's face flushed.
"What do you think he'll do to me?" she asked. Jen raised her eyebrows and winced. "I kind of figured."
"Uhhuh." Mac said.
TBC