Willows and Oaks

4.1

The blonde girl woke up to the sun shining through her windows, landing on her hungover eyes. The girl groaned and turned back under her blankets hoping the darkness would relieve the pounding pressure in her head, almost entirely falling asleep when her phone began buzzing on the nightstand next to her. She shoved the blankets off her in a grumpy manner and snatched the phone off the charger to see to her surprise her grandfather's texted her to meet him down at the corrals, Addy had no idea where her grandfather learned how to do this but one does not ignore John Dutton.

Sucking in a sharp breath as she placed her bare feet on their cold wooden floor, the blonde hopped out of bed and raced for the bathroom to shower. Knowing that time is valuable on the ranch and not wanting to keep the head of the family waiting on her, she did the essentials before changing into a pair of jeans, a black wool sweater, and a pair of cowgirl boots, she walked out of her bedroom and down the stairs to head for the from the door when she caught the eye of Gator laying out some toast on the dining room table. The blonde quickly grabbed a slice and threw out a few words of appreciation to Gator feeling bad that he slaves away making meals when most of her family doesn't make it home most days.

Pulling one of her grandfather's coats off the hook, she made her way out the door and down the driveway to meet him.

" Hey, Grandpa!" Addy called out as she finished her toast and walked up to him, the patriarch was leaning against the corral watching his ranch hands get to work breeding the bulls and cows. She knew he scheduled for a few vets and trailers to be here while this was going so the area was swarming with hired help.

" Addy girl!" John Dutton yelled out before looking over at her, noticing the small bruises and cuts on her face," What the hell happened to you?"

Addy choked down the final piece of toast before looking at the ranch hands she partied up with the prior night and then looking back at her grandfather with a small smile," Just had a wild night I guess."

He smiled back at her realizing she was okay," Just like your mother I swear, always landing in some trouble, takes me back."

He continued to chuckle but Addy's eyes narrowed at the way his face seemed to be a bit tense and how he leaned against the corral gate, almost as if he needed the stability. Walking closer to him and leaning against the gate, Addy looked up at him to ask a question in a whisper knowing wouldn't want attention drawn to them," Are you ok Grandpa?"

John's eyes widened a bit and he sucked in a breath before answering," Just a bit tired today Addy Girl,"  he looked back at his crew signaling there were not going to be any more questions on this subject. Addy nodded but kept an eye on him just in case when her name was called from a distance.

Seeing her uncle Kaycee and father working along the ranch hands, waving the girl down she walked over to see how they were doing.

" Kaycee I didn't know you were working on the ranch these days," the blonde said with a smile bringing her uncle into a hug.

" It's a recent development kid," he then turned over and started giving orders to Jimmy which caused the girl to be confused. She looked over to see her father watching Kaycee with a tight frown on his face, the girl was used to her father being the leader of the group and knew something was different now that Kaycee seemed to be in charge.

Rip noticed his daughter looking at him demanding answers to the dynamic change and shook his head not wanting to bring his daughter into the current family drama, he didn't want to sway her opinion of Kaycee or John with this change.

Addy nodded and looked back to the busy corral seeing Jimmy trying to assist with the bulls," Hey Jimmy!"

Jimmy came to a halt and raised both hands waving back to her wildly," Hey Ads!"