Page 3 of Horoscope to Love
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Despite selling me the old Victorian that my grandfather restored as a wedding gift to her, my gran loves to walk in like she still owns the place.
“Sweetheart, are you here?” she calls out from the front door.
I’m not one for visitors—like ever, but for my gran, I’m willing to make an exception to the rule. She is, after all, the one that raised me since I was ten.
“I’m back here,” I yell from the atrium where I’m retiling the floor.
Upkeep on this place started to be too much for Gran over the last decade, so when I bought this place, I knew it would be a bit of a fixer-upper project. So I've been working hard all day doing everything myself to save on contractor costs.
"I thought you might still be working," she says, standing in the atrium doorway. "I was worried that you'd forget to eat, so I brought you over a plate of my famous kolaches.”
She knows me so well. Then again, my grandfather was the same way when he was working on a project. He, too, would often get too wrapped up in his work and forget to eat. My stomach growls loudly, and the pain that accompanies it tells me this isn't the first time it’s tried to warn me.
“Your mother’s recipe?" I ask and wipe the afternoon sweat from my brow with the hem of my t-shirt.
“Of course.” She holds out the plate to me.
Pushing to my feet, I brush my hands off on the thighs of my jeans and take two golden-brown rolls from the plate. I take a bite from one of the rolls, and my mouth is filled with the warm, delicious flavor of bacon and cheese.
“You spoil me, Gran,” I say around the bite.
She smiles over at me. “That’s my job.”
I follow her into the kitchen. She takes a seat at the old oak table my grandfather built while I pour us each a glass of sweet tea. I drain most of mine in one long pull.
“This place is really coming along,” Gran says, glancing around at the recently painted walls. She doesn’t sound upset at the changes I’ve been making, but there is a note of sadness in her voice.
She hardly ever talks about it, but I know she still misses my grandfather. Even though he passed away ten years ago when I was away at college, she never remarried. When I asked her if she would be open to meeting someone else, she told me, “I’ve had my great love, Sweetheart. I fill my time now helping others find their great love.”
Gran is the town’s unofficial matchmaker. She is always trying to fix up all the single people in town. And that list of people she insists on helping includes me, despite my repeated assurances to her that I’m not missing something in my life just because I’m single. But telling her this is about effective as talking to a wall and expecting it to answer me back.
“I’m nearly done for the day. If you want to stick around, I could put some steaks on the grill for us,” I offer.
Gran shakes her head as she reaches for the untouched morning paper sitting on the table. She opens it up and thumbs through the pages like she is looking for something.
“I wish I could, but I have Bridge tonight with the ladies from my Garden Club.”
I smile to myself. She doesn’t know, but my grandfather spilled the beans on Gran’s “Bridge” game long ago. It was more accurately a poker game with the ladies from her Garden Club. When I asked him why he never said anything to her, he told me that she liked to have her secrets, and it was best just to let her keep them.
“Next week then?” I ask.
“I think you’ll have plans by then.” She folds the paper in half and hands it to me.
“What?” I ask, taking it from her.
Her manicured finger points to the bottom half of the page. “Check out your horoscope.”
“Gran—” I shake my head and hand the paper back to her. “You know I don’t believe in that nonsense.”
“Well, neither did your grandfather until his horoscope guided him to me.”
“You two are the exception, not the norm,” I tell her. “No one actually finds love following that nonsense.”
"I wouldn't be so sure about that." She says, standing up and walking over to the counter where I keep the few pieces of mail that’s still being sent here instead of the fancy new retirement village she just moved to. “The universe can sometimes surprise you.”
