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“Guess they changed their mind.” My fingers became crushed in his as he pranced in place. “Luke ambushed me with them yesterday. Your mother insisted we all have dinner together today.”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “How was she? My mother? Was she nice to you?”
I opened my mouth to reply. She hadn’t exactly been mean, but that wasn’t what I called nice. When I couldn’t answer, Gabe sighed.
“I’m sorry. I’d hoped to introduce you myself.”
Shrugging, I smiled. “It was an awkward situation. Maybe tonight will be better.”
“It will be,” he said, the right side of his mouth lifting in a small smile. “I promise.”
Unfortunately, it seemed that Gabe wasn’t able to keep his promise. Four hours later, I found myself dragging my food around my plate as the four of us sat at a table marooned in the middle of the dining hall. Conversation was abuzz all around us. Thanks to the addition of Luke’s new thriving research team, the dining hall had spilled over into the ballroom and people laughed and dined all around us.
Despite the merriment and warmth, we were stuck adrift in an awkward silence that became more painful by the second. Georgia kept sending me pinched expressions of distrust while Ben fumbled over his words, choosing to stuff extra-large spoonfuls of rice pilaf in his mouth when he couldn’t finish a sentence. Desperation had driven deep lines into Gabe’s face as he forced the conversation into topic after topic. Finally, he gave up and simply sipped at his water glass.
“So, Elizabeth, tell us about your family,” Georgia finally asked. She’d abandoned her large salad and was shredding a napkin in her lap. “Where do you come from?”
“Mom.” Gabe sent her a sharp look.
“What?” She pouted her thin lips. “Doesn’t a mother deserve to know a little bit about the woman her son is dating? It’s a simple question.”
“With a complicated and painful answer,” Gabe answered between gritted teeth.
I reached over and squeezed his hand beneath the tablecloth. He squeezed back, his hands shaking slightly.
“I grew up in Hanna,” I told her with a curt nod. “My mother’s mom raised me. That was the only family I knew for most of my life. When Gabe brought me here, I found Luke and Esther and Raquel. They’re my family now.”
“And your grandmother? Where is she now?”
I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from scowling. The last time I’d seen Granny, she’d run off into
the forest after I’d saved her life. No thanks, no nothing. She and the rest of Hanna had wasted no time in clearing out of the Manor once the demon threat was gone. We hadn’t heard anything from them sense.
“I believe she’s still living in Hanna.”
Granny would probably die there. She didn’t seem to have a desire to go anywhere else.
“Wasn’t she the one who tried to kill you?” Georgia asked, her blue eyes wide.
Beside me, Gabe shifted angrily in his seat.
“Yes,” I rushed to answer before he could interject. “She and the town elders wanted to punish me for breaking the town law.”
“For saving me,” Gabe added, his voice low and harsh.
She turned to him. “And this is the same woman who tried to kill you?”
Sucking in his cheeks, he nodded.
“Doesn’t seem like a very good stable family, if they go around trying to kill everything that blinks.” She dropped the shredded paper napkin onto her salad bowl. “I’m just glad you made it out alive, son.”
Gabe shot her a dark look. “Luke is her family and he’s as solid as they come. You know that as well as I do. You were ecstatic when he took me under his wing.”
“Yes, you were supposed to take his seat on the board when he retired.” Georgia eyed me over her glass of chardonnay. “I guess that’s out of the question, now.”
I lunged for my glass of water and gulped it down. She sure knew how to hit all the pressure points. Everything I’d ever felt guilty about with Gabe, she’d brought back to the surface. And here I was, pulling out of battle to throw myself into training with Luke for that very board position. I was abandoning Gabe and taking the position that long ago had been promised to him. I was a terrible girlfriend.
Gabe growled softly beside me, but his mother didn’t bat an eye.
