For Her, He Will

Chapter Thirty-Four - I don't want to be that stereotype.

One week till the wedding

Oakley was seated deep into the bubbles and hot water of the bathtub. Her day and been pretty horrible, had anyone thought to ask her.

It started with a flat tire, taking Tate out to see his grandfather. About a mile from the reservation, the cell service sucked ass, according to Tate, and Oakley had to threaten two creepy ass men when they stopped to "help."

After she finally got Tate to his grandfather's, almost two hours after he was supposed to be there, one of his cousins challenged Tate to an arm-wrestling match while Oakley caught up with Mr. Long. About five minutes later, Tate was screaming...his arm having been broken.

So, a trip to the hospital, because Oakley didn't want to take him to the reservation clinic, was next on their stop. Mr. Long had been disappointed with Oakley's comment about the clinic, but she couldn't stop to apologize. When she tried to call later, he wouldn't answer her. And when Tate called him and he picked right up, Oakley walked into the hallway and cried while Tate spoke with his grandfather.

Tate didn't break his arm, but there was a fracture that put him in a cast for four weeks. Which meant Tate would have a cast in all the wedding photos. And when Oakley turned around, Tate had picked orange as his cast color.

The nurse also caused a fuss because Oakley wasn't Tate's parent or legal guardian on his medical records. After begging with them, and proving Kayce was in Billings, they allowed her to take Tate back with her. But it was humiliating to Oakley, standing in the waiting room crying to the staff.

"To help when I hunt," Tate told her about his cast color as if there were any other reasons.

She was able to get him back to the house before Kayce came home. But when she asked Tate what he wanted for dinner, he couldn't make up his mind. So, Oakley offered pasta and Tate said sure. But when it was time to eat, Tate said he wanted mac n cheese, not spaghetti. Oakley grabbed both their bowls and threw them in the sink.

Kayce had been over in Billings, working on more of the Sterling case, and didn't realize what had all happened. But what rubbed Oakley the wrong way was that Kayce thought the cast was great and the color was even better when he first saw Tate.

It took Kayce one look at Oakley to realize that was not the correct thing to say. Oakley held up her hands and told both of them she was going upstairs and didn't want to see either of them for the rest of the night.

That was about two hours ago.

There was a soft knock at the bathroom door. Kayce's head peaked into the room, his eyes finding Oakley.

"I was pretty clear with my request downstairs," Oakley said, not looking at Kayce.

"Oakley..." Kayce sighed. "I'm sorry about the cast."

Oakley didn't respond.

"I'm sorry about Tate too," Kayce pulled the door open more.

"You're letting the cold air in," Oakley said.

Kayce shut the door behind him and walked over to the bathtub.

"Tate told me about the flat tire," Kayce sat down on the ledge. "I'll fix it tomorrow."

"It's already fixed," You sighed. "That's what took so long and why we were late to his grandfather's."

Kayce stared at her for a few seconds.

"Baby, what can I do?" Kayce asked.

"This day was just...not a good one," Oakley sighed, her shoulders feeling heavy still.