Page 9 of Horoscope to Love
5
MATILDA
Ellis didn’t have a lot of ideas on who Madame Zodiac could be, but I was grateful for any help he was willing to give me to help me find her. Last night we discussed all the possible people he could think of that we could talk to at the festival today.
“How’d you sleep?” Ellis asks as I walk into the kitchen. He’s standing at the stove cooking some scrambled eggs.
"Really well, if you don't count the seventeen million times you woke me up in the night to check on me.”
“That’s an exaggeration," he chuckles. "It was only sixteen million, and you know that was because Doc gave me strict instructions.”
I sit down at the table and see this morning's paper sitting untouched. Call it journalistic inquisitiveness or just plain curiosity but the temptation to check my horoscope this morning is just too tempting to pass up.
“Do you mind if I check out what Madame Z came up with today?” I ask, pointing to the paper.
Ellis glances over his shoulder at me. "Knock yourself out. Wait! On second thought—”
“Stop,” I deadpan. “I can’t stop laughing.”
He quirks one eyebrow up at me and chuckles to himself. “And here I thought you might think it was too soon crack jokes.”
The smile on his face widens when he sees that I can’t hold back my own smile, despite my best effort. I continue to watch him after he turns back to the stove. There is no question that Ellis is handsome, but I can’t figure out why he’s still single. Sure he was a bit surly when I showed up, but I’d also broken into his house—kind of. He had reason enough to be mad.
My gaze travels down his back to the snug fit of his jeans on his ass. I’m about to let my mind wander, imagining I'm bouncing a quarter off it when I hear him clear his throat.
“I can feel you watching me.”
Jumping, I try to pretend that he didn’t totally catch me. I grab the paper and open it up to the Madame Zodiac's column, and read my horoscope. Most of it says doesn’t really apply to me, but the last few lines strike a chord.
Busy, busy, busy like a bee. Take a moment to stop and smell the roses. You may find even find something sweeter than honey.
“What kind of festival did you say you were taking me to today?” I ask, looking up at Ellis.
He dishes up all the eggs from the pan onto two plates and walks them over to the table before answering, “It’s the twenty-third annual Honey Festival.”
Honey?!
“Why?” he asks.
"No reason." I close the paper, trying to school my features, and set it aside.
I can’t explain this one. It’s as if Madame Z knows I’m here and is taking it upon herself to mess with me. I don’t know if the knock to my head is making me more paranoid, but I can’t help feeling a flicker of hope that I might be part of the sixteenth couple she helps find love.
ELLIS
Matilda has been unusually quiet. Last night when we discussed our plans to go to the Honey Festival, she was full of questions, firing them off at me one after another. But today, she’s barely spoken a word to me since we left the house.
The mayor is announcing some of the winners on stage to the crowd, so I have to lean close, so she can hear me when I ask her, “Are you okay?”
Matilda recoils slightly at my closeness. I won’t lie. The action causes a sharp pain in my chest that I can’t quite explain, and I don’t want to think too hard about it.
“I’m fine,” she says quickly.
"Okay, well, if you want to speak with my grandmother, she’s our best place to start. But we have to go now. She’ll be in the tent three for the judging of the beeswax candles.”
The fairground is filling quickly with townspeople and visitors from all over for the festival. I almost lose Matilda twice in the crowd before I decide just to take her hand and lead the way. There is no mistaking the way her hand fits in mine, but I can’t focus on that right now.
Despite our attempts to get to Gran before the competition starts, she is already on stage when we step into the shady tent. A whole new round of events around about to begin, so there’s no telling how long the wait might take.
