Read Sense of Rumor (Mount Faith Series: Book 6) for Free Online

once she spoke. Obviously, Alric found it rather jarring.
    "So why don't you get a job?" Alric asked her, picking up his fork in a far more leisurely manner than she had.
    "I have a job," Arnella said mid-chew. "I am a starving artist. I need supplies so I need to beg. When I sell some of my paintings, I'll be fine again. Don't worry about me, granddad," she said, mocking Alric. "I'll be just fine. I always land on my feet."
    Joy laughed out loud, "Grandpa." She wiped her eyes and nodded, pleased. "I think this is one of the most entertaining lunches I have had in recent memory."
    Alric just frowned and looked at Arnella. "You are an enigma."
    Arnella shoveled more food into her mouth and shrugged, "And you are too much into dogma."
    "Do you know what enigma means?" Alric had not even touched his food.
    Arnella speared a cooked carrot with her fork and chewed it slowly. "Enigma: a person or thing that is mysterious or hard to understand."
    "So you do know." Alric looked at her, a light of understanding in his eyes. "You are not slow-witted are you? You know, I thought you were when you were little. I thought you were a feral child; you would look at people and growl and curse those filthy bad words. I thought the tons of weed that I heard you smoked was responsible for that. I heard that you used to go to the bush and chain light cigarette after cigarette that was filled with marijuana that you had personally planted."
    Arnella put down her fork and giggled. "How old was I when I did this?"
    "Ten," Alric said. "That's what everybody in the neighborhood said about you."
    "And I told him not to listen to gossip," Joy interjected.
    Arnella picked up her fork again. "I am not slow witted when I eat." She cleared her plate. "Are you going to eat, or are you going to try to solve the mystery of Arnella?"
    "Eat," Alric said, scooping up a forkful, "I have a feeling the mystery of Arnella would take years to solve if the mystery can even be solved."
    Arnella snickered. "I have heard that rumor before: that I smoked tons of weed. It's fascinating though. My neighbor to the left, Tommy Turner, must have come up with that one. I caught him smoking weed, so of course I told him I was going to tell his mother. He told on me first and what a whopper it was."
    Alric raised his eyebrows. "Really?"
    "Really," Arnella giggled. "Cross my heart. I have never tried to smoke, or drink. I am a clean living girl. Vanley would kill me if he found out I was anything other than upstanding."
    Joy chimed into the conversation. "You know, Alric, I have never believed a word I've heard about Arnella."
    "Not even the story about how she ran away from home when she was fourteen," Alric said, "and lived with a Catholic priest as his girlfriend?"
    Arnella laughed. "You sound so offended."
    Alric shook his head. "Not offended, disgusted! Disgusted at the priest for having a girlfriend and at you for being his girlfriend. You were underage!"
    Joy interrupted her son, "Arnella, I heard that your cousin Marcus got married. That's nice."
    "I heard so too," Arnella nodded. "It was a quick thing. Only close relatives were asked to attend. Deidra did not want to have a circus for a wedding, with a million and one of her father's political buddies, so she kept it to just immediate family and their closest friends, especially because Marcus is a celebrity. Kylie said it was really romantic. She keeps me in touch with all the family news."
    "I saw Adrian the other day; his wife had a son," Joy said, steering the conversation from Arnella's supposed wicked ways, but Alric was itching to take it back up.
    Arnella nodded. "Yes, Cathy had a boy. He is super cute. Looks just like Avia, their daughter. I really like Cathy."
    "You would," Alric snorted. "Wasn't she an exotic dancer or something? Sounds like something you'd do."
    "I can't dance around a pole to save my life. I think it has something to do with my lack of coordination. I've tried it though." She winked at him