Page 10 of Horoscope to Love
“Which one is your grandmother?” Matilda asks, looking around at all the tables set up for contestants.
“She the judge on stage,” I point her out. Her gaze follows to where I’m pointing, and I feel her tense next to me.
“Uh oh,” Matilda mumbles under her breath.
“What?”
“The woman on stage with the glasses is your grandmother?” She whispers it as if Gran somehow has ultrasonic hearing and will catch our entire conversation from the stage.
“Yeah. Why?” I ask.
“I may have already unofficially met her yesterday—when Ialmosthit her with my car,” she says that last part so fast that I’m not sure I heard her correctly.
“You almost hit my gran with your car?” I repeat.
"In my defense—" she starts to say but then shakes her head. "No. Never mind. I can’t really justify myself on that one, other than I was distracted by my idiot GPS.”
I shake my head and smile. “You are a menace. You do realize that, right?”
Matilda gives me an adorable half-shrug. “I’ve been told one or two times before.”
Suddenly she shifts to use me as a human shield. When I look back up to the stage, I see Gran has already noticed us together. She’s smiling ear to ear at me and mouthing, "she’s cute.”
I could tell Matilda that Gran doesn’t seem at all upset by their previous near run-in with each other, but the crowd gathering around us is pushing her against me. Her full breasts are pushing against my side, and I instinctually loop my arm around her shoulder. She makes no move to push me away.
I could stand like this all day, but Gran doesn’t waste any time with her judging duties. She’s not like many of the other judges who like to milk the small amount of power they have once a year at the festival.
We use the time we wait to speak with some of the more busybody folks in town, hoping to find out if they’ve heard anything about Madame Zodiac, but they all seem way too eager for us to find out and let them know.
“It’s not her,” Matilda whispers to me after Mrs. Mason walks away.
“Yeah,” I agree. “She was practically salivating at the mouth at the idea of finding out who Madame Zodiac is.”
"You two look like you are on a mission," Gran says, walking up behind us.
We both turn to face her. Matilda's hand finds mine, and I give her a reassuring squeeze to let her know that everything is going to be fine.
Gran doesn't miss our linked hands, and somehow her smile grows even wider.
"Hey, Gran," I lean in and kiss her on the cheek. "This is Matilda. Matilda. This is my Gran.”
“We meet again,” Gran smiles at her. “I’m just glad it’s under different circumstances.”
"I'm so sorry about that. I was—" Matilda starts to say, but Gran cuts her off.
“Don’t worry about it, dear. I was on the lookout for both of us.”
The embarrassed expression on Matilda’s face morphs into an expression of curiosity. She opens her mouth like she’s about to say something, but nothing comes out.
“I’m so glad you were able to take time out of your busy schedule to experience the sweetness of our little festival.”
Matilda gasps quietly to herself but only nods once in response. Gran takes Matilda's hands in hers.
“I think there are better stories to be told here than the one you came here looking for today.”
Matilda nods her head, but I’m pretty sure that I’m missing something.
