Page 132 of Ice Princess

“Is there a reason I shouldn’t?” I ask, watching every twitch of her face. “A good reason?”

“If you’re asking my opinion, you know what I’ll say. I don’t think she’s the right girl for you. She and I don’t get along.”

“Why not?”

“Because she stood in front ofeveryoneat the charity luncheon and said terrible things about the Lady Luck Society. Why, she basically accused us of beinguseless!After all I’ve given to this community…” Mom shakes her head, aggravated. “And she’s not humble at all. She goes out of her way to havethe last word.Veryargumentative girl. I can’t imagine spending Thanksgiving and birthdays with someone who’s so unpleasant.”

Rebel and mom share the same spit-fire, outspoken personalities. If mom finds Rebel ‘unpleasant’, it might be because she reminds her of herself.

“Is that theonlyreason, mom?”

Mom furiously stirs the gravy. “What other reason could there be?”

“Did we…” I lick my lips, “did our family ever do something to Rebel or her mom that we shouldn’t have?”

Mom looks baffled. “Gunner, what kind of question is that?”

“Did we hurt them in any way?”

“Is that what Rebel said?”

“I’m just asking a question.”

“Well, it’s a dumb question. When Ms. Hart was our cleaner, I treated her with respect. So did your dad.”

Mom’s voice is high pitched with annoyance, but that’s on brand for her. She’s maintaining eye contact the entire way through her speech too, all signs that she’s not lying.

I breathe easier. “What about Mrs. Hart’s relationship with the rest of our family?”

“What do you mean?”

“Did she ever date Uncle Stewart?”

Mom snorts. “Now that would be something? As far as I can tell, they never had that sort of relationship.”

“What about one of my other uncles?”

“Where is all this coming from?” Mom winds her wooden spoon around in the air.

“I heard rumors.”

Mom scoffs. “Rumors are nothing but idle talk. Why, Mrs. Hart was cleaning this house since your grandaddy was alive! At one point, folks thought she was his secret daughter.”

Now that I think about it, my grandfather had always treated the Harts like family. I remember him handing out pocket money to both me and Rebel equally when we were kids.

“My disapproval has nothing to do with her mother being a cleaner. I don’t hate families like the Harts. They’re good, hardworking folks.” She humphs. “If that girl wasn’t so outspoken and determined to have you, I wouldn’t have a fuss with her.”

I cringe.It was going so well, mom.

“I’m the one who’s determined to have Rebel. Not the other way around,” I correct her.

“Yes, well…” Mom’s brain audibly whirrs as she cooks up a way to pin this on Rebel, “you wouldn’t have thought you had a chance if she didn’t give you that impression. So it’s still her fault.”

The conversation is turning into a mess, so I focus on setting the table instead of arguing.

After dinner, I wash the dishes and head up to my apartment so I can grab my laptop and start some work for Uncle Robert. He emailed me with business questions while I was on the road and I promised him I’d take a look at it the moment I got back.

The task is more complicated than I expected and, by the time I come up for air, it’s nightfall.

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