Part 7 (1/2)
Uncle Colt clenches his jaw. It's obvious he's frustrated about whatever they are discussing. He takes a few seconds and then stomps out of the house leaving me with my oldest cousin Noah and great aunt.
”Sorry about my dad,” Noah offers. ”He's having a bad day.”
”My son doesn't like people messing with his business or his family. If he feels threatened in any way you'll never hear the end of it.” She leads me toward the front circular staircase. ”You know what room you'll be using. Go on upstairs with your things. Noah will help you carry them, won't you, son?”
”Yeah, Gram. I've got her covered.”
She snags me up and plants an adoring kiss on my cheek. ”It's going to be nice to have company for a change.”
Noah and I get all of my belongings carried up to the room that's waiting for me. It's the one I always stayed in as a child. Each bedroom has it's own bathroom, so I won't need to worry about invading anyone else's privacy. My aunt's room is at the opposite end of the home, while her housekeeper, and best friend Lucy, has a room on the lower level, all to herself.
After my cousin leaves, I make a quick call to my mother to let her know I've made it safely, then I start unpacking my things and putting them in their new places around the furnished room. The bed is a thick solid wood, both the head and footboard have posts. I've always wondered if anyone had used them s.e.xually, but never had the courage to ask. Even though they're family, I draw the line when it comes to talking about fornication with most of them, especially my elderly aunt.
When I think I have everything in a suitable place, I grab a quick shower and change my clothes. My cousin Addison has recently moved back to the ranch with her boyfriend, Cole. He's a tattoo artist, who happens to have promised to work on me as soon as I've arrived. I'm eager to have piece put on the left side of my rip cage.
The ranch is over a thousand acres now, it's split between farm fields and thick forest. There are a ton of houses located on the property. About a quarter mile from the main house is where Uncle Colt and Aunt Van live. They have an extremely large log home he custom built right out of college. His oldest son Noah, built his house in the farthest owned part of the land. It's similar to his father's but much more lavish. With the help of his famous country singer wife, they've made it a place that you'd see in magazines. Aunt Van's parents retired and had a modular home put in somewhere in the woods. I've only been there a couple of times, and if it wasn't for a long gravel path I wouldn't be able to find it.
In the center of the large ranch are several one story houses. Some are for the workers, who choose to live on the premises, while others have been handed down from family for each of us to live in. Right now Addison and Cole are living in my grandmother's house, which is her Aunt Karen. After she married the retired sheriff John, they moved into his place a few miles away. We've all shared memories at this place, so as I stroll up upon it I'm taken back by the comfort it gives me to know I'm still surrounded by people who love me. I suppose I'm lucky. I don't have to run away to a new place and start from scratch. There is always a home away from home when it comes to my family, and for that I'm grateful.
I don't bother knocking, though I'm regretful when I walk through the rear kitchen and get an eyeful as I make it to the living room. Addison is on her knees in between Cole's legs. He's got his eyes closed and his head back. While turning my head to prevent the image from being permanently etched in my brain, I contemplate leaving and knocking. They've obviously not noticed company has arrived, and I'm pretty surprised she'd do such a thing with her back door unlocked for anyone to walk in.
Since I like causing a ruckus I decide to shock her. I clear my voice and wait for them to react.
Addison backs away and literally sits on Cole's lap. He clenches up from her weight being thrown on his worked up predicament. She's wiping her lips while her horrified eyes focus on me. ”What the h.e.l.l, Cal?”
I sit on the couch across from them as if nothing is wrong. ”What? You told me to come over when I got here. I've already unpacked, no thanks to you helping.”
”Cole got off work early. We, uh, never mind. Whatever. Don't act like you've never done it.”
”I haven't,” I tease. ”I'm a good girl. My daddy wouldn't approve of such acts.”
She tosses a pillow at me. ”You're full of it. I know for a fact you've done much worse.”
”Can we take a second from bickering to allow me to get my d.a.m.n pants up?” Cole finally speaks.
I stand and amble into the kitchen, where Addy follows. She sits on the first chair she comes to. ”So, are you ready to start your life over?”
I shrug. ”Your mom said she might have a salon I can work at. She said someone just quit at the place she gets her hair done. I'm supposed to go there tomorrow and meet with the owner.”
”That's cool. I remember her mentioning it. Did Cam and Wes get back from the honeymoon?” She asks.
My head moves from side to side, though I still answer. ”Nope. They're not expected back for a couple more days. Mom told them to take their time. She likes having baby Maddy at the house.”
”I bet. Wow. I can't believe they're finally grandparents, and Cammie was the first to give them one. I figured it would be you, Ca.s.sie or even Josh.”
I roll my eyes. ”Josh might already have kids. He's such a manwh.o.r.e.”
She snickers. ”Well, when you look like he does I suppose you can be whatever you want.”
I reach over and shove her. ”Ew, that's incest.”
”I'm only stating the obvious. He's a handsome fellow and unfortunately he knows it.”
”Yeah, that's so true.”
She pauses when Cole walks into the room. He's snickering, pretending to ignore me while grabbing a bottle of water out of the refrigerator.
I give my attention to Addy to make it less awkward. ”So, when are we going out?”
She sighs. ”We can go out tonight, but not too late. Cole has a sleeve he's working on and the session starts tomorrow morning bright and early.”
”That's fine. I'm tired from driving anyway. It's boring when you're alone.”
”Tell me about it. I hate doing it. I'd rather ride with Mom and Dad and have to listen to their music the whole way.”
We both giggle. It's untrue. Addy would do anything to avoid that. She's pretty much the wild child out of her siblings. Noah has his s.h.i.+t together, helping his father run the business, while Christian has graduated from college and built a house with her fiancee, Ethan. The property to their home b.u.t.ts up against the Mitch.e.l.l ranch. In fact, Ethan's family partnered with ours when the couple committed. Addison has always been pretty outgoing, but not in a sense where she was a great student or aspiring business woman. She works for a non-profit organization helping people with addiction. There was a time when she needed the treatment herself. That's where she met Cole. Everyone thought it was a terrible match, but they've proven their love for one another. When Cole isn't tattooing, he's helping out around the ranch. In fact, I think my uncle is finally able to appreciate the guy for loving his difficult daughter.
”Cole, don't you have any hot friends you can hook me up with?”
He leans over Addy's chair as he answers. ”That depends what you're into.”
”I'm open-minded,” I lie. My standards are far too high to a.s.sume they'll be met by someone matching us up.
”I'll introduce you to some of my friends, but I'm not making any promises. If you're looking for something serious then I'm not the guy to talk to. My friends don't want to be tied down, and the ones that do are already involved.”
”Story of my life!”
”I hear through the grapevine that you hooked up with some guy when you went to visit Lys. Is it true?”
”What? Cam told you, didn't she?”
She shrugs. ”Well, we were kind of talking about you moving on from Wes and the topic came up. She seemed happy for you.”
”Of course she was. I wasn't trying to cause problems for her.”
”What was he like? Did you get his number? Was he hot? I bet he has dark hair. You love a guy with a thick c.o.c.k,” She corrects herself immediately while cackling. ”I mean locks.”
”You are absolutely terrible,” I laugh with her. ”But he did have both attributes, and no, I didn't get his number. We're not friends. I actually can't stand him. We screwed out of boredom. It happened and then I left. I'll probably never see him again, so all is good with the world.”
”That settles it then. We need to find you a man, p.r.o.nto.” I like the way she thinks, but know it won't be as simple as I'd like.
”I need to focus on me first. As much as I'd like to meet Mr. Right, I'm afraid he'll turn out to be Mr. Right Now, and that's a waste of my time.” I quickly change the subject. ”What's going on with your dad and Noah? They were having a heated discussion when I arrived.”
”Who knows? I stay out of the drama with those two. They argue about everything, because they're exactly the same people. It gets old fast. Mom just ignores it. I guess she's used to living with dad.”
”She adores your dad. They have a perfect marriage.”