Cowboys Cry Too - A Tyler Owens Story

Prologue

California

"Hello my beautiful singles, and welcome back to another episode of Single Light! It's a beautiful Tuesday here in Cali, and with another Tuesday, comes another talk about all things heartbreak and love."

Jackie's life two years prior was her version of heaven turning into hell. Love, passion, and then a loss of dignity. She thought she found the man she was going to marry. Turns out she found the man causing so much pain she runs and starts a new life.

She's not saying she doesn't like this new life, it's just not her sometimes. She still has those Midwestern roots, but it seems like she has to hide them in a box, fearful if she lets it out it will bring the hurt back to the surface of her heart.

This new life is luxury in its own ways. A new house, beautiful weather, beaches, easy flowing days. It's... Different. But it's okay.

"Now, before I get into my advice for today and go on my tangent, I've recently gotten a heavy flow of new listeners, and so I would like to reintroduce myself. This is a kind community afterall, it's only right my listeners know who I am." She speaks into her microphone, a warm smile on her face.

This may be no meteorology, but it's the next best thing in her opinion.

"I'm JP, short for Jackie Peterson. I'm a Midwestern, born and raised in the heart of Kansas. And please, don't say we're not in Kansas anymore, there is much more to the central state of America than a movie about OZ and tornadoes. Anyways, got a little off track. I'm twenty-six years old and have been living in Cali for two whole years now, which is..." She pauses, her mind flashing to memories of her previous life. "Incredibly strange but also exciting! I'm a lover of dogs, chai tea, weather, rodeos, beaches, line-dancing, dresses, and you've guessed it, podcasts!"

She looks around at her set-up. It's... home in a way. It has parts of her past life, and trophies of the new life she created. Her office, this space, is truly the only time she feels whole, complete, fully accepted. And it's when she's alone. A sad tale for a sad woman.

"Now, why did I start this podcast? Well, heartbreak is something most of us unfortunately experience. I am among those people. I fell in love and truly believed I found The One, as they say. But... Well, I got hurt. Blindsided really. And I realized through that hurt how lonely I was." The weeks after her breakup were the toughest, being completely alone in a new city, staying at a hotel because she has no home. She lost her home the moment Tyler broke her heart. "I created this podcast because heartbreak can make you feel at your lowest, like a constant sink hole that keeps getting closer and closer to the Earth's core. It's a very dark place to be... Trust me, I know."

The couch staring back at her is a grim reminder of how hurt she was, the blanket draped over it that she screamed into multiple times a night in despair.

"This is my way to cope. This podcast, because I can say what I feel and in turn, hopefully help someone out who is feeling the same way as me... Falling in love is... It's beautiful. But it's... It's also tragic. I fell in love at twenty-two to the most charming man and... He fell for me. We were like two stars finally colliding into the same constellation. He is a meteorology nerd, much like myself if you guys didn't already know, and it was fate. Long story short, I know what it's like.. to feel hurt and broken. To fall so fully for someone and get backstabbed by your own emotions." She is starting to tear up, her hands messing with the microphone to keep her emotions in check.

She sees the notifications start to spam her laptop and phone. Tyler and Jackie. Podcast and Chaser. Cowboy and Former Cowgirl. Fuck, she doesn't even want to look and so she doesn't.