Updates for today are light. My ankle is fine. I can walk on it all day or climb and it throbs a bit at night but otherwise it works. I haven't run yet but I'm hoping to get back to it midweek.
The gym called Christian last night and told him he was stripped of his privileges there. He's fine with that, he says cockily that he can climb anywhere, there are tons of outdoor venues. Jacob asked him who would trust him for a partner and Chris just shook his head, knocked down a peg and apologized again. I don't think he really meant to do it as much as he meant to try to prove he is as strong as Jake.
Jacob, who is built like a blacksmith on steroids.
Those guys, geez, they're so busy trying to outdo each other the room invariably fills up with testosterone and chokes off their common sense. Nothing has changed in the last decade. The good news is it wasn't malicious and once Jacob cooled off a little he backed off considerably.
You see, Cole let everyone get away with murder. Jacob lets them get away with nothing. They're all still feeling out their boundaries with me, with us, with everything. Really, I give them credit for sticking it out. Most friends would have just drifted away when things get too tough. Not my guys. This army is going to ride it's own dissension until everything gets ironed out. Infighting knights. Kindhearted and fearless. Fierce and slightly hellbent on making a new and better history for these ages. Fools on errands.
When we went to bed last night before it was even dark outside Jacob took me into his arms and kissed me long and hard, to put his heart back from where it rose into his throat yesterday afternoon. I returned his kiss with fervor, cementing his heart exactly where it should be, held aloft by love and not by terror. I'm safe. I'm fine, but still he never rests.
The fragility returns, like it always does, to form my unwelcome shadow. I can't hide from it, I'll never outrun what seeks to keep me brittle and precious. I think Jacob likes things better this way anyway. He wields the sword, I'll stand behind him and he goes right back to being In Charge. We always return to this.
Because it works.
Today is church and then the park. It's cooler today weatherwise too, a perfect day for a walk and an ice cream and then maybe a movie late tonight. Some quiet times for four, then two.
Have a nice weekend.
