Diamond S Ranch

46-The Rodeo

Jake awoke the next morning to the sun shining brightly through the closed blinds. He lay there a moment listening to Elle's slow breathing as she lay there with one arm slung over his chest, her leg over his leg, her body half rolled up under his. He chucked, he has a king size bed and she insist on being right up against him. Slowly he untangled himself from her and climbed out of the bed. He pulled the covers back up over her and headed for the shower.   Once dressed, he limped downed to breakfast with Rosie in tow. Upon entering the kitchen area he was taken aback for a moment when he saw Cappy sitting there at the table casually drinking a cup of coffee with Zach. 

"Whoa! What are you doing here?" He asked as he stepped in, Zach stood up. They embraced. It was a good solid hug.

"I do live here you know." He quipped. 

Jake grunted as he made his way over to pour himself a cup of coffee. "You know what I mean." He said as he joined them at the table sliding into his usual spot.

"Well, I was going to try and come home this week anyway, just got here a little earlier." Zach explained.

"A lot earlier." Jake noted. "You had to have been driving all night." 

"Yep." Zach agreed as he took a sip of  his coffee. 

"I wish you would have let me know." Jake said looking slightly annoyed with him.

"Why, so you could have worried all night about me driving through the night? Naw, you needed to rest." Zach stated. 

"And you didn't." Jake muttered into his own cup of coffee. He wasn't going to continue to argue with Zach, it wouldn't matter if he did. It was done. He was just thankful Zach made it home safely.

"How's that ankle feeling there today Jake?" Cappy asked.

"It's not to bad." Jake casually replied.

"What happened to your ankle?" Zach asked. 

"Just landed on it kind of hard yesterday. It's fine really, just that old football injury acting up." Jake explained trying to brush off.

"Well, you let me check it out before you get started this morning, you hear?" Cappy said keeping his eyes on Jake. "It may need to be wrapped again." Cappy's hazel eyes locked onto Jake's as he waited for an acknowledgement.

"Yes, sir." Jake replied knowing he wasn't going to get out of it if Cappy had is way.

Soon the quiet conversations of their morning was disrupted by the loud boisterous antics of their brothers as they made their way to down for breakfast.  Kaison and Jordan where quickly followed by the grumpiest of the group, Gage and Garrett.  They were reluctantly and vocally letting everyone know, they were not wanting to be down there at that moment.  Though they too were excited to see Zach, they were less excited to be awake and would have much preferred to be back in bed. 

"I thought you ordered everyone to sleep in today Jake." Garrett grumbled as he sat down staring rather unenthusiastically at his eggs, grits and bacon. 

"He did." Kaison chimed in answering for Jake. "But I don't think he meant till noon."

"I don't recall him giving any specific time." Gage replied, adding a yawn at the end of that sentence as he sat down, reaching up under his t-shirt and scratching his stomach. 

"Is there a problem here?" Jake asked as he looked down the table at his two youngest brothers. It was so obvious that they literally had just rolled out of bed with their bedhead hair wildly askew on their heads, their still sleepy eyes, slanting only half opened. They were even still in there sleep clothes.