Mystic Falls

Ava 2

"Hey wake up." I heard Caleb say as he shook me.  I opened my eyes and looked at him. 

"Oh, I am sorry for falling asleep," I said as I stretched and then wiped the sleep from my eyes.

"It is okay. We are about to be at the ranch soon and I figured you would want to see it. Look." He said as he pointed ahead. 

There was a fence and you could see cattle. I had no clue what type of cattle they were but they were cute. I guess. You could see horses and people working as we passed by.  

"So those over there." He pointed and I looked. "Are Santa Gertrudis. We breed them and they are used for beef." 

"Oh," I whispered. I was a little shocked they bred them and then ate them but I guess the meat we eat has to come from somewhere and doesn't magically appear on the grocery shelves. I had never thought about where meat came from before.

"Pretty cool huh?" 

"Ya. Just a little shocking. I never thought of where meat comes from." 

"It can be if you have never worked on a ranch or grew up near a farm." 

"Ya." 

"We have about another eight-minute drive until we get to the homestead." 

"Oh, how big is the ranch?" 

"The ranch is about six hundred acres. It is just a medium-size ranch here in Texas." 

"Oh wow. I have never seen so much land before." 

"So where the heck did you grow up?" 

I chuckled a little bit. "Well I moved around a lot and we never had big backyards. The yards were very small." I didn't say too much because I didn't want him to know much about my background. I wanted to start fresh and not allow my past to define my future. 

"Oh. I couldn't imagine living somewhere where there wasn't land. Living on top of each other. Yuck." He said with a disgusted look on his face. 

I just looked ahead and a large house came into view. It was a huge white house with black shutters and a black roof. The front porch was the largest porch I had ever seen and the garden was stunning. I could not wait to see it up close. 

Caleb turned left onto a narrow road that lead to the house and I just smiled. "I'll introduce you to everyone if your grandpa isn't here and then find out where he is." 

"Sounds good. Thank you, Caleb." 

"No problem. If you need anything don't hesitate to ask." 

I knew I would not ask anyone for anything since I didn't want to burden them. "I'll keep that in mind." 

The closer we got to the house the more and more I fell in love with it. If the inside was half as nice as the outside I would love to have a house like this. 

Caleb pulled up to the house and parked. He looked at me. "My mama is a kind woman but she has a mean side to her. Just listen to her and respect the house rules and you will be golden." I just looked at him like he grew two heads and as he opened his door he said "also stay away from Levi he likes to sleep with pretty things." And my jaw dropped. 

I sat there in shock and could not believe what he just said. Did grandpa not tell them I had zero interest in men. I mean I'm not into girls but I am not interested in dating. 

Just then my door opened and there stood Caleb with my bag in his hand. "Come on slowpoke mama is dying to meet you." 

I got out of the truck and followed Caleb to the black door. He opened the door and signaled for me to go in first and I walked in. The house was stunning and smelled like warm cookies. I couldn't help but wonder if this was a dream. 

"Is that you Caleb?" I heard women shout. 

"Ya, ma I'm back," Caleb said. 

Just then a woman appeared in the hallway and was heading our way. She was tall, slender, and had light brown hair. She was wearing a beautiful pale pink sundress with roses on it. She was absolutely beautiful. 

"Oh my goodness I am so happy you are here." She said as she came right up to me and hugged me. 

"It is nice to meet you too Mrs. Wolf, " I said as I tried to hide my emotions. Her hug made me feel wanted and I could not recall the last time I had a hug that felt this loving let alone the last time someone hugged me. 

"Oh don't go calling me Mrs. Wolf sweetheart that name is for my mother-in-law. You can call me mama or Sheryl. " She said as she stepped away from you. 

"It is nice to meet you, Sheryl."

"Now Caleb you are needed in the eastern pasture, Ava and I are going to have some girl talk." She said as she grabbed my hand and we began walking down the hall. 

"Alright, mama." 

Sheryl and I walked down the hallway and into the kitchen. "Now how good are your chopping skills?" She asked me when she released my hand.

"I don't know how to cook, chop or what most of the stuff is in the kitchen." 

She clicked her tongue. "What a shame. Who did most of the cooking for you?" 

"My stepmom did some cooking but my dad did most of it. He was very protective over the kitchen." 

"He should be ashamed of himself. Everyone should learn how to cook, it is after all a life a necessity. " 

I was unsure of what to say. The one time I did ask to help I was yelled at because I was not using the right knife to cut up potatoes and was sent to my room. After that day I never asked to help again. Not even my sister asked to help in the kitchen. My dad was very protective of the kitchen and he would get mad if you misused things or were in his way. I hated holidays because that meant both my stepmom and him would become very mean due to the stress of hosting the family gatherings. 

I would spend a week doing the chores I needed to get done but even though I had already cleaned my stepmom would act like the whole house was dirty. We would wake up early and start cleaning while my father began working on dinner. My sister would always get out of doing chores and would go off and watch tv or play video games while I cleaned and got yelled at for not doing things right. It sucked not being good enough but that was okay, I just worked harder. 

"You okay?" Sheryl said as she grabbed my shoulder and I jumped.

"Oh sorry, I just spaced out." I didn't mean to space out and I hope she did not hit me for not listening to her but all she did was smile and hand me a knife and cutting board. I let go of the breath I was holding. 

"You're fine hun. Now I want you to take these over to the table. I'll give you some vegetables to cut up." 

"Okay." And I went over to the table and watched as she washed some potatoes, carrots, and celery. She brought them over to me and showed me how to cut each one. I began to cut the celery and She stood there for a moment and watched. 

"Good job. Try and make them more even in size and a little bit smaller." 

I looked up at her and she had a very big smile on her face. "Thank you. Do you know when I will be able to see my grandfather? " I asked as  I began to cut them smaller and attempted to make them more even. 

'He will be joining us for dinner tonight. We got a new shipment of cattle and he was needed with moving them to their new home and logging them in the system." She said. 

"Oh,"  I said trying to sound too disappointed.

I spent the next half hour cutting the vegetables while Sheryl did, well I have no clue what she was doing over there but she was singing. She had a very beautiful voice. As I was cutting up the last carrot the back door swung open and a man walked in. He had blood dripping from his arm. 

"Oh my lord Tyler what happened," Sheryl said with a worried tone. She quickly wiped her hands off and attended to her son. 

"It was that da" and I watch Sheryl smack him upside the head and I chuckled causing him to look at me. He had the most stunning blue eyes I had ever seen. "And who the hell is this?" 

"Mind your manners boy. This is Jimmy's granddaughter." 

"Look here both of you. I am not in the market for a wife so don't get you, heart, set on me." Sheryl gasped and stopped cleaning his arm while I laughed. I was laughing so hard there were tears in my eyes. Both Tyler and Sheryl were looking at me like I was crazy. "Is she okay mama?" 

Before Sheryl could say anything I said: "I am not sure what my grandpa told you guys but let me make myself clear. I am not looking for love, marriage, or a hook-up. I am here to start my life over and if I happen to find love or friends then so be it but I will not be looking." 

Tyler gave me a dirty look and before he could say anything Sheryl said: "now that you know I am not trying to marry you off I need to call you dad, you need stitches and someone will need to drive you." 

"Just what I need. " Tyler said as he grabbed the towel his mother had been using on his arm and walked out of the kitchen. 

*Thanks for reading and I hope everyone is having an awesome weekend. I will update this story when I can since I am focusing on finishing up Cole's Redemption. As far as Chelsea's story goes it will be titled The ice dragon and I will have the cover uploaded this week.