Sunset over the Clouds

Chapter 2: Alexandro

The woman in front of me looked familiar, and somewhere deep down, I had an idea about who she was. But it couldn't be. It's been what? Ten to twelve years? The woman standing on the porch had curly, waist long dark hair, her skin a light mocha color, and her eyes....her eyes were dark. And annoyed. It looked like she was very close to hurling something at my head, and if she really were to do that, it probably would be her suitcase, since it was closest to her. 

"This is my property. You're the one who's trespassing here, pal. And I got the papers to prove it." she said as she walked down the steps, and came to stand in front of me. 

"Okay, easy there." I said as I put my hands in front of me. Now that she was standing closer, I studied her features and could now easily notice the girl I knew a long time ago.

"Grace?" 

Her eyes widened, and she took a step back. Her eyes swept over me, and she put her hands on her hips again before looking skywards. 

"f*****g great. First, it was the b***h on the bus, then the annoying taxi driver, and now you. Of all the people it had to be you." 

A humorless laugh escaped her, and she scratched her nose before turning back to the house. It seemed like she was looking for something on the porch, and judging by her growls and angry curses, the search was not going well.

"What are you looking for?"

"None of your goddamned business, Caldera."

"Using the surname huh. Classic. Now, listen, I don't know why you're here all of a sudden, but your grandma left the key to the house with my family."

She stopped with her search, and narrowed her eyes at me. 

"Why?"

"Why what?" 

She rolled her eyes, and came to stand in front of me again, with her hand stretched out. When I didn't say anything and only arched my eyebrow, she sighed.

"The key, asshole."

I took the key of the house from my back pocket, and handed it to her. Without even a thank you, she turned around and within a minute or so, she was in the house and closing the door with a slam. 

Well that went better than I had expected. With one more glance at the house, I stepped into my truck. As I drove away from the Sterling farm, towards my family's farm, I tried to conjure up reasons for Grace being back in Sunville. I mean, her grandmother had left the keys with my family, so obviously I should have expected her return, but seeing her again after such a long time was, well, something I was not ready for. I had only just finished repairing the barrier that lay between our farm and the Sterling farm when I noticed the taxi. Curiosity had gotten the better of me so I decided to check out who was visiting the farm, and bam, there she is. Grace f*****g Sterling.  

With a sigh, I wipe the sweat of my face. I didn't know why I was sweating, since it wasn't that hot. After arriving at my family's farm, I went straight to my cabin and showered before going up to the main house for dinner. My sister greeted me with a hip bump, and my mother with one of her famous hugs. 

"So what you all cooking today?" I asked as I leaned on kitchen sink.

"Your nose not working or something?" my sister Emerald asks me with a smirk as she stirs what was in the pot. 

"It's working fine, you monkey."

"Hey, no calling your sister a monkey." my mother Maria said while pointing a knife at us both.

"Yeah yeah. So, I have some news." I said as I took a piece of cucumber my mother was cutting.

"What news?" Emerald asked quickly, pot on the stove forgotten.

I chuckled. "Grace Sterling is back."

My mother and Emerald both stopped with what they were doing and looked at me. Shocked.

"Say what?" Emerald said, and I cleared my throat. "So yeah, I gave her the key to the house."

"Oh Alexandro, she finally came back home." my mother whispered, with her hand on her cheek. "Oh we must go welcome her. It's been so long since I've seen that girl."

"Uhh she's not a girl anymore, trust me. And I don't think that's a good idea, mama. She wasn't very......friendly earlier, and I don't think she would like having people over now."

"How did she look?" Emerald asked from right next to me, and I startled a bit. I hadn't even heard her move to my side. 

"Well, I don't know-------is the food ready? I'm starving." I said as I moved to the cupboard and started taking out the necessary plates to set the table. I was not in the mood now to talk about Grace, but I probably should have thought about that before opening my big mouth. 

"DON'T THINK I'M DONE WITH YOU." Emerald yelled from the kitchen and I scoffed. Whatever. As I set the table I heard the front door open and the voices of my brothers and cousins. 

"Alexandro, my man." my cousin Rafael said as he grabbed me for a half hug. My other cousin Leo followed and then my two brothers, Diego and Emiliano. They started talking about something that happened at my cousin's car shop and as always, Rafael made us all laugh with his gleeful story telling. My sister then came out of the kitchen carrying the pot of stew she had been stirring. The moment she put it on the table, she smirked. Uh oh.

"Alexandro's girlfriend is back." she shrieked before running back to the kitchen. 

Damn it.

My brothers and cousins were all looking at me with shocked expressions, and I cleared my throat. Again. 

"Did she just say your girlfriend is back?" Diego asked slowly.

"What girlfriend?" Rafael asked with a frown. 

"Seriously?" Emiliano said as he scratched his bearded chin. 

"When?" Leo asked with wide eyes.

With a sigh I leaned back in my chair and told them about what had happened while mama and Emerald joined us at the table with the rest of the food. After my very short story I sighed and started putting food on my plate. 

"So yeah, that's all. Now let's eat, shall we." 

As we ate it was clear that there were questions they wanted to ask, but I guess the food was too good since everyone just kept eating. My mother then started talking about the farm, and the eggs that needed to be sold, and some other farm stuff that I barely heard. My thoughts were filled with the woman that I had barely recognized. I wondered if she had anything to eat for dinner, or if she needed some help with....something. 

After dinner I helped my mother wash the dishes while my brothers cleaned the table. My sister joined me at the sink with a grin. 

"So, how did she look?" 

"Emerald, seriously."

"What? I'm curious. Can't I be curious?"

I sighed, and dried my hands with the towel draped over my shoulder. "She looked........different. Physically she's changed a lot of course." 

"And?" 

"And nothing. That's it. Now go away. You're annoying." 

She chuckled and pinched my arm. "Love you too, big bro." 

Before I could hit her with the towel she ran out of the kitchen. I really didn't know when she would grow up. She was such a woman child. Always. After finishing up in the kitchen I joined my brothers and cousins on the back porch. When I sat down, Diego handed me a beer, and judging by his face, he was going to ask me something related to Grace.

"So..." he said with a smirk.

"So what?" I asked as I chugged down half of the bottle.

"What are you going to do?" 

"Absolutely nothing. It's been like ten years, Diego. There's nothing to do."

"Yeah right." he answered, almost as if he didn't believe me.

"So yeah, I'm not gonna do anything. She's back, so I guess we don't have to worry about taking care of the farm anymore."

"But really tho, who are you guys talking about?" Rafael asked with a curious frown.

"Dude seriously? Don't you remember the girl from next door. Alexandro once burned half her hair, remember?" Leonardo asked his brother, who still seemed confused.

"That was an accident." I said, feeling the need to defend myself. Because it had been an accident. Kind of.

"Man, I don't remember. Must've been high or something." Rafael answered with a laugh, that didn't last very long. 

Rafael had been high often during his teens. But talking about that time was not something he liked much, so they often avoided topics that had anything to do with it. I didn't know all the details, but I knew enough. Rafael had gone quiet, but then he smiled. The smile that said something stupid was going to come out of his mouth.

"So cuz, your girl, she hot?  You know, since she was on fire cuz you burned her hair." 

He started laughing at his own joke, but stopped when he realized that no one else was laughing at his joke.

"That was the dumbest joke I've heard all day." Emiliano said with a laugh. I started chuckling, mainly because of Rafael's face. 

"No it wasn't. That was an epic joke." he said with a scoff. 

"Whatever you say cuz." I said with a chuckle as I finished my beer. I had a feeling a lot was going to change. And yeah, Grace would definitely have something to do with that change. But it won't have anything to do with me, because I was planning to stay as far away from her as I could. Yeah, that was my plan. 

Stay away from her.