Cowboys Cry Too - A Tyler Owens Story

Chapter 8

Oklahoma
Present Day

Tyler has a hold on her heart. She knows this. It doesn't make it hurt any less though, seeing him talk with Kate. She is a great meterologist. Better than her even. But... well maybe it's the jealousy setting in. She shouldn't even be fucking jealous, a tornado hit a town, and she's over here worried that her man's gonna find another woman.

The town was hit pretty hard. Debris everywhere. Multiple injured. It was a... grim sight to say the least. Tyler and his crew set up camp to give food and water to those in need but... well it doesn't take away the fact a town got demolished. She can't get the images out of her head, and it seems Tyler can tell.

They're back at a motel for the rest of the evening, Tyler booking a room for them both. Great, she's sharing a room with the man she loves but also wants to hate. She still has so much to tell him, so much she wants to say. SO much anger and sadness and grief to spill out. Yet she stays quiet. This isn't about her. Has it ever been?

"Hey. What's got your head in the clouds?" She feels the bed dip beside her, his hand touching her knee, the thumb tracing stars on her skin. She loves stars.

"I miss my dad." She confesses, letting out a large sigh.

She doesn't really talk about it much. But her dad's death is what got her into meterology. He was in Moore, Oklahoma. Had a work convention. The EF5 tornado of Moore, Oklahoma in 2013 took his life. He was helping lead people to the basement when the roof collapsed. Dying on impact would have been lucky, but he died from suffocation. The concrete blocking off his airways. She wonders often if he thought of her and mom during his last few breathes. Was he disappointed, scared? A tornado took him away. Than another tornado took his memorial. Sick irony at it's finest.

"I shouldn't have brought ya' to that town. I wasn't thinking." Tyler tries to apologize but she shakes it off.

"Not you're fault I can't move on. I hold a lot of grief from a lot of things." She stares at him, his eyes immediately locking onto hers. "I don't think he would be proud of who I've become."

She has so much to tell him. So much to confess. So many emotions to explore and elaborate on. But she's scared. So terribly scared. She just got him back, in some ways, and she doesn't want to lose him. Not again. Not ever.

"Hey. Don't say that, JP. You don't know. And... well I think he has every damn reason to be proud. You're a storm chasing woman with a masters degree in meterology and a podcast full of hundreds of thousands of listeners. Ya' are the damn package, Blondie." His words are light, his hand moving for from knee to her hip, his thumb once against rubbing tenderly against her skin.

She wants to find some reason, something, anything to make her stay angry at him. She wants to find some reason to hold a grudge, but she can't. It's Tyler Owens. Her Tyler Owens. He'll always know what to say and what to do to make her feel special. She feels like a star in his presence, and him the moon.

She looks down, her eyes watching his hand stroke her skin. His hands have scars, more than when she last got to hold them. His tan skin makes them more prominent. She wonders if they hurt. If someone cleaned up the wounds or if he did it himself. Did he clean them up in their once shared bathroom? Does he still live where they once lived? Or did he throw that all away? Did he ever have the steak she made for their anniversary? Did he open his present? Oh god, she hopes he didn't. When his thumb moves the fabric of her shirt, her tattoo is momentarily visible and she panics, flinching away from his touch, pulling the shirt down.

"What? Ya' okay? What is it? Are ya' hurt?" He's walking towards her, trying to grab her gently so he can understand what happened, yet she walks away.

As if his touch burns her.