Chasing the quota
pairings: tyler owens × single mom!reader
tags: friends to lovers, estranged best friends, tyler and reader are kind of dumb but we love them <3
warnings: heavy angst, emotional pining, unsaid feelings, a four-year-old cockblock, misunderstanding, hurt/comfort, miscommunication
wc: 7888
Summary: Five years ago, you walked away from Oklahoma and the man you have known for a very long time and loved to raise your son without any help as you decided to keep it when your ex left and refused child support. Now you're back as a financially independent and a completely unprepared mother to face the new "Tornado Wrangler." And when a massive misunderstanding about his new partner drives a wedge between you, Tyler tracks you down to your new home to demand answers and the truth.
Masterlist 🐒 • Request a fic ✍️
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"Mommy, where are we going?" A childlike voice was heard from the other room, a soft rattle coming out from it. "Hold on sweetie, we're just setting things up. You know, your new room is going to be so beautiful," you called back, keeping your voice warm and steady as you bent over and smoothed out the wrinkles on a sleek, minimalist duvet cover.
Then youtook a step back, surveying the bedroom. The house was perfect. It was a stunning, mid-century modern gem nestled just far enough from the chaotic heart of Oklahoma's storm alley, but close enough to feel like home. Large glass windows let the golden afternoon light flood across the polished concrete floors.
Your parents had offered to pay for everything, but you had insisted on securing the lease yourself, using your own savings. You needed to prove that you were this independent, vessel of the family who could build a beautiful, independent life for your four-year-old son, Leo, without looking back for help or hesitation.
Then a soft thump of boots and a clack echoed as Leo wandered into your room, dragging his favorite toy truck across the floor. He looked up at you with wide, curious eyes. "Are we staying here forever?"
"We are." you smiled, kneeling down to press a kiss to his forehead.
Back then, when your ex vanished the moment the pregnancy test turned positive, he had refused a single dime of child support. You were young, terrified and couldn't do anything. So when Leo was born, you couldn't drag a baby into the path of a violent tornado, so you packed your bags and went to your parents. You hadn't expected Tyler to walk you to your car back then, you remembered how his jaw clenched, how his blue eyes swam with a desperate, unspoken emotion as he practically begged you to stay. You also didn't expect for Dani to pack you a box of morning-sickness snacks and extra pain killers with a promise to check in every single week. It was a promise she actually kept.
But you had been gone a long time. They had grown. And Tyler was famous now.
"Come on, Leo," you said, pushing the heavy nostalgia down. "Let's go load up the car. We need to go pick up the last of your toys from the storage unit, and then Mommy is going to surprise some old friends."
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An hour later, your sleek black, modern SUV pulled up to the familiar gravel lot of the crew's main garage workshop. The sight of the massive, dented rigs parked outside made your stomach do a nervous flip.
Before your engine could even fully idle down, the garage's side door flew open. You laughed, getting down from the car while Leo stayed inside.
"No freaking way!" a voice screeched.
Dani dropped the heavy metal wrench she was holding with a loud clack against the gravel. She didn't care about the grease on her overalls. She had already bolted across the lot. You barely had time to close your car door before she threw her arms around your neck, squeezing the breath out of you.
"You're back! You're actually back!" Dani yelled into your shoulder, her voice cracking. "Why didn't you text me you were arriving today?! I would have cleared the whole schedule!"
"I wanted it to be a surprise," you laughed, hugging her back just as tightly as she did. Then the familiar smell of motor oil and rain on her clothes instantly made you feel grounded.
Within seconds, the rest of the chaos erupted. Boone poked his head out of a truck bed, his eyes going wide behind his camera lens.
"Guys! Look who it is!" he shouted. Dex and Lily materialized from the back, abandoning a drone calibration to swarm the car.
Leo peeked out from the backseat, clutching his toy truck to his chest. He was startled but seemed fascinated by the loud, colorful crowd in front of him.
"Oh, look at him! He's gotten so big!" Dani beamed, instantly softening her voice as she leaned into the back, giving Leo a goofy wave. "Hi, buddy. Remember me on FaceTime?"
You leaned against the side of your car, watching your old family embrace your son. A deep, warm sense of relief washed over you. They hadn't forgotten you.
"Hey, where's the boss man?" Boone asked, looking back toward the garage. "He's gonna lose his mind."
"Right here," a deep, drawl of a man's southern voice echoed from the shadow of the garage door.
The laughter around the car died down to a soft murmur. You turned your head at the voice as your breath was caught in your throat.
Tyler Owens, who had walked out into the sunlight, looking exactly the same, yet felt completely different. But he wore a crisp white t-shirt, dark jeans and his signature cowboy hat pulled low. He looked rugged, impossibly handsome and toweringly confident until his eyes locked onto yours.
Then Tyler stopped dead in his tracks. The swagger completely vanished, replaced by a raw, paralyzing shock. His chest rose and fell in a sharp breath. Because for years, he had lived with the ghost of your absence, holding onto the memory of the girl he had been desperately, secretly in love with. And now, here you were. Standing in the gravel lot, looking radiant and undeniably beautiful.
"Hey, Ty," you said softly. God, he loves it when you call him that. But of course you don't know it. You only know when your voice had started feeling very small.
He swallowed hard, taking a slow step forward. His eyes darted from you to the backseat, where Leo was watching him. A complex storm of emotions crossed Tyler's face. A face mixed with a longing, immense joy, and a sharp, sudden pang of jealousy toward the man who gets to hold you, but had been foolish enough to throw it all away.
"You're back," Tyler breathed, his voice rougher than usual. He reached out, his hand hovering near your shoulder for a split second as if checking to see if you were real, before he pulled you into a firm, brief embrace. He smelled like leather, ozone, and old spice. It made your chest ache. "Why didn't you tell us?" Why didn't you tell him?
"I wanted to surprise everyone," you repeated, but the warmth from earlier felt a little more guarded now. Tyler's reaction felt heavy. Distant, even. You wondered if he resented you for leaving him to handle the crew alone.
But bfore Tyler could say anything else, a sharp female voice called out from inside the garage.
"Tyler? Did you find the extra brackets for the doppler? Javi said that the storm front is moving faster than we thought."
A gorgeous woman with an effortless, practical beauty walked out, holding a tablet covered in weather radar streams. She stopped when she saw the crowd, her eyes shifting curiously between you and Tyler. It was Kate. Kate Carter. The woman that Dani was talking about back when you were in a FaceTime with her.
Then you noticed at the way she naturally called for Tyler, the way she stepped into the space right beside him and the way Tyler's eyes instinctively flicked to her to answer. It was how you and Tyler were.
And that made a sly, icy drop of dread pool around in your stomach.
Of course, you thought bitterly, your proud, independent defense mechanisms instantly slamming into place. Five years is a long time. You didn't think he'd just be waiting around for you, did you?
"Oh, Kate, this is—" Dani started to introduce you, but you smoothly cut her off, forcing a polite, breezy smile onto your face that didn't reach your eyes.
"I'm an old friend of the team," you said, saying your name, stepping back and putting a polite distance between yourself and Tyler. "Just stopping by to say hello while I get settled into my new place. It's nice to meet you."
Tyler's eyes snapped to you, his brow furrowing as he felt the sudden shift in your demeanor. Kate then smiled, greeting you back as you smiled back.
Her gaze drifted down to Leo, who was still peering curiously from the backseat. "Oh? What's this? A little partner-in-training, that is. He's absolutely adorable." Then she looks back at you, repeating your name.
"That's a nice name. I’m Kate, Kate Carter. I’ve heard so much about you from Dani. She talks about you constantly. Especially—" a cough was heard from Tyler, "Think that's enough for now."
"Yeah. Dani talks about me? All good things, I hope," you replied, your voice perfectly polite, though your heart was still hammering against your ribs.
You glanced at Tyler. He was watching you intently, his jaw tight and those piercing blue eyes searching your face, trying to decode the sudden distance you had put between them. He looked like he wanted to say a thousand things, but with the entire crew standing in a circle around your SUV, the weight of everything unsaid hung suffocatingly heavy in the humid Oklahoma air.
"The best things," Kate assured you, tapping her stylus against her weather tablet. "Tyler, Javi just texted. The supercell near El Reno is cycling faster than expected. We need to hook up the Doppler rig now if we’re going to catch the initiation."
"Right. Yeah," Tyler said, though his eyes didn't leave yours for a beat too long. He finally tore his gaze away, clearing his throat. "Boone, Dex, get the hitch lined up. Dani, I need you on the telemetry check."
"On it, boss," Dani said, though she shot you a lingering, worried look. As the resident keeper of everyone's secrets, Dani could practically see the thick cloud of misunderstanding settling over the lot. She knew you were putting up walls, and she knew Tyler was currently spiraling internally.
"You're chasing today?" you asked, keeping your tone light like a detached acquaintance rather than the woman who used to ride shotgun in Tyler's truck, screaming at the top of your lungs as you ran down tornadoes together.
"Yeah," Tyler said, stepping closer to your car door, his voice dropping an octave so only you could hear him over the sudden burst of activity from the crew. "A big one. Look... are you going to be around later? Where are you staying? I want to come by. Help you unpack. See the kid."
There was a raw, aching vulnerability in his eyes. He had missed your entire pregnancy. He had missed the first four years of your son's life. He had wanted so badly to be the one holding your hand through it all, but pride, fear and a deadbeat ex had built a wall between you five years ago.
Now, he wanted in.
But your defense mechanisms were already operating on overdrive. You saw Kate standing by the garage door, waiting for him, looking like the perfect, professional, brilliant partner he deserved now. You weren't a storm chaser anymore; you were a mother with a modern house, a quiet life, and a heart that couldn't handle being broken a second time by the same town.
"Don't worry about it, Tyler," you said, offering him a brilliant, entirely hollow smile as you stepped back into the driver's seat. "I actually bought a house just outside the city limits. It’s all taken care of. Professional movers handled the heavy lifting, so I'm completely set up."
Tyler’s brow furrowed, a flash of hurt crossing his features. He knew you didn't need his help. You didn't need his money. But it was the way that you didn't seem to need him at all, and that was the problem. He needs you to need him back.
"Right," Tyler then muttered as his hands rested inside the pockets of his jeans as he stiffened up, his own pride flaring to protect his aching heart. "Good. Glad you're... doing well."
"Thanks. Say goodbye to the others for me. And good luck with the cell today. Be safe," you said breezily. You then opened the car door and buckled your seatbelt as soon as you got up the driver's seat, looking back at your son. "Say goodbye to Mr. Tyler, Leo."
"Bye-bye, cowboy hat man," Leo chirped, waving his little toy.
A bittersweet, painful smile broke across Tyler’s face. "Bye, buddy. I'll see you around."
As you pulled out of the gravel lot, watching Tyler and Kate walk side-by-side into the garage through your rearview mirror, a lone tear slipped down your cheek. You wiped it away fiercely. You weren't a loser, and you weren't going to pine over a life you chose to leave behind. You had a beautiful home, a beautiful son, and a fresh start.
But as the dark, bruised-green storm clouds began to gather on the horizon, you couldn't shake the terrifying feeling that a completely different kind of tempest was about to wreck your carefully built life.
Your son suddenly asks, "mommy? Why do you look sad, did that man do something wrong?"
You froze for a second, your hands gripping the steering wheel a little tighter as you pulled the SUV out onto the smooth, asphalt highway. In the rearview mirror, you saw Leo’s big, innocent eyes looking up at you, his little brow furrowed with genuine concern.
Kids always saw right through the armor.
"Oh, sweetie, no," you said softly, forcing your voice into its usual comforting, rhythmic cadence. You reached back with one hand, gently squeezing his knee. "Mr. Tyler didn't do anything wrong. He’s a very good man. Mommy was just... remembering some old times, that's all. Sometimes seeing old friends makes you happy and a little sad all at the same time."
"Like when I miss my old sandbox?" Leo asked, tilting his head.
"Exactly like that," you smiled, relieved by his four-year-old logic. "Just like that."
You focused your eyes on the road ahead, navigating toward your new neighborhood. The drive was quiet, save for the soft hum of the air conditioning and the occasional rumble of distant thunder rolling across the Oklahoma plains.
When you finally pulled into the driveway of your new home, the sight of it immediately brought back a sense of grounding comfort. It was a beautiful, two-story modern house with sharp architectural lines, expansive floor-to-ceiling windows, and a perfectly manicured lawn. It looked safe. It looked stable. It looked nothing like the chaotic, dust-covered world you had just left behind at the garage.
"Wow," Leo gasped, pressing his face against the side window. "Is this our giant castle?"
"It sure is, buddy. Let's go check out your new room," you said, unbuckling your seatbelt and feeling a surge of fierce, maternal pride. You had done this. You didn't need a deadbeat ex, and you didn't need to rely on your parents' fortune to bail you out. You were making a life on your own terms.
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For the next few hours, you threw yourself into a frenzy of unpacking and organizing. You helped Leo set up his mountain of toy cars, legos and also arranged his books, watching him happily zoom his toy truck across the polished concrete floors.
By the time early evening arrived, the house felt lived-in, smelling of fresh linen and the pizza you had ordered for dinner.
But as the sun began to dip below the horizon, the sky outside the massive living room windows took on an eerie, bruised-purple hue.
A severe thunderstorm warning popped up on your phone. You walked over to the glass, looking out at the distant flashes of lightning illuminating the clouds. Down in the city, the sirens weren't wailing yet, but the wind was picking up, making the trees in your yard sway aggressively.
Instinctively, your mind raced back to the crew. Are they still out there? Did they catch the supercell? Is Tyler safe?
Before you could spiral any further, the bright headlights of a vehicle cut through the gathering gloom, sweeping across your front window. A massive, heavy-duty truck pulled into your pristine driveway.
Your heart stopped. You would recognize the roaring purr of that custom Dodge Ram engine anywhere.
It was Tyler.
A heavy knock sounded at your front door just as the first fat drops of rain began to slam against the glass. You took a deep breath, smoothing down your shirt, and opened the door.
Tyler stood on your porch. He had clearly just come straight from the chase as his cowboy hat was slightly damp, his white shirt had a smear of dark mud across the shoulder, and he looked entirely out of place against the chic, minimalist backdrop of your entryway. He looked breathless, his blue eyes burning with an intense, unreadable emotion as he looked at you.
"Tyler?" you breathed, gripping the edge of the door. "What are you doing here? The storm—"
"I needed to see you," he interrupted, his voice deep, rough, and completely stripped of his usual playful swagger. He took a half-step forward, the smell of rain and ozone rolling off him. "Dani gave me your address. And I couldn't just sit in that garage tonight pretending like everything is fine. We need to.. talk."
You wanted to laugh, "Ty. Talk about what?" You say, not getting what's it about but you also kind of knew what it was going to be about.
Tyler took off his cowboy hat, revealing slightly damp, ruffled blonde hair, and held it tightly by the brim. He looked past you for a fraction of a second, taking in the sleek lines of your entryway, the expensive-looking lighting, and the absolute peace of your home. It was a far cry from the cramped, messy truck cabs and loud diners you two used to share.
"About everything," he said, his voice dropping into that quiet, gravelly register he only used when he was genuinely frustrated. He stepped across the threshold, not waiting for an invitation this time, though he carefully wiped his muddy boots on your doormat. "About why you left. About why you didn't tell me you were coming back. And about why you looked at me today like I was some stranger who replaced you."
Your jaw tightened. Damn you, Dani, you thought bitterly. Your friend just couldn't keep her mouth shut. She had clearly picked up on your freezing reaction to Kate and fed it right to Tyler the second they got back from the chase.
To anyone else—to Dani, to Boone, to the entire state of Oklahoma—it was painfully obvious why you were upset. You were fiercely, undeniably jealous. But to you? You thought you were just being practical. You thought you were protecting your dignity. You didn't think you had a right to be jealous, because you convinced yourself that Tyler had only ever seen you as a friend and a partner.
"I didn't think I looked like anything," you lied smoothly, crossing your arms over your chest to create a physical barrier between you. You leaned against the wall, trying to project an aura of casual indifference. "I was tired, Ty. It was a long drive. And I have a four-year-old to take care of."
"Don't do that," Tyler said. He stepped closer, close enough that you could feel the heat radiating off him from the adrenaline of the storm. He set his hat down on your minimalist console table, entirely ruining its neat aesthetic. "Don't play the 'everything's fine' game with me. Not after five years."
He looked at you, his blue eyes searching yours with an intensity that made your knees a little weak. He was spiraling, though he’d never admit why. Tyler thought he was just being a protective, loyal best friend who felt abandoned. He didn't realize that the suffocating weight in his chest wasn't righteous anger—it was pure, unadulterated jealousy over the fact that another man had gotten to build a life with you, and absolute panic that he was losing his spot by your side.
"Dani told me what you said. An 'old friend of the team'?" Tyler shook his head, a flash of genuine hurt cutting through his rugged exterior. "Is that what I am to you now? An old friend? After everything we went through? After I spent months helping you prepare for a baby, just because I couldn't bear the thought of you doing it alone?"
"You didn't have to do that, Tyler!" you snapped, your proud defense mechanisms finally cracking. The raw emotion in his voice was pushing all your buttons. "I never asked you to! I left because I had to fix my life. My ex left me broke and humiliated, and I had to go back to my parents to get my feet under me. I didn't want to drag you down into my mess!"
"You think you could ever drag me down?" Tyler yelled back, stepping even closer, his chest heaving. "I wanted to be there! I wanted to go with you! But you shut me out. You packed up your car and you drove away, you barely even looked back."
"Because you had a life here!" you cried, tears finally stinging the corners of your eyes. You gestured vaguely toward the door, toward the brewing storms outside. "Look at you now, Tyler! You're famous. You're the Tornado Wrangler. You have a massive crew, you have YouTube channels, and you have... you have Kate."
The name slipped out before you could stop it, heavy with all the unsaid heartache you’d been carrying since this afternoon.
Tyler froze. His brow furrowed, completely caught off guard by the venom in your voice when you said her name. He was so incredibly dense about his own heart that he didn't even recognize the green-eyed monster staring him in the face. He just felt an overwhelming, desperate need to clear his name, completely missing why you cared so much in the first place.
"Kate?" he repeated, his tone genuinely baffled. "What does Kate have to do with anything? She's a meteorologist. She’s helping us test a system to stabilize tornadoes. We’re working. If you think I just forgot about you—"
"Uncle? Mommy? Mommy, why are you fighting with him? But you were—"
A small, innocent voice cut right through the heavy tension in the room.
Your eyes widened in absolute panic. Leo was standing at the edge of the kitchen, holding a half-built Lego set, looking between the two of you with wide, curious eyes. He had been about to finish that sentence—about to say "...but you were always talking about him to Grandma," or "...but you were saying how you have a picture of him in your scrapbook."
"Leo!" you cut him off quickly, your voice high and strained as your heart leaped into your throat. You could feel the heat rushing to your face.
Tyler’s head snapped toward your son, his jaw dropping slightly as he tried to process what the little boy had been about to reveal. He looked from Leo back to you, his blue eyes blowing wide with a sudden, intense curiosity. "What was he going to say?"
"Nothing," you said breathlessly, your proud defense mechanisms slamming right back into place. You couldn't let him know. You couldn't let him see how much space he had occupied in your mind for the last five years while he was out becoming a superstar. "Tyler, you have to leave."
"Hey, hold on—"
"Tyler," you repeated, your voice firmer this time, though it trembled slightly. "Please. Just leave."
You didn't give him a chance to argue. You turned your back on him, instantly shifting your focus to your son to hide your flushed face. You knelt down on the polished concrete floor, forcing a warm, bright smile onto your face. "And let's get back to fixing your toys, okay? Didn't you want Mommy to help you build the big Lego castle?"
Leo’s face instantly lit up. He nodded with a joyful smile, completely forgetting the heavy adult conversation he had just interrupted. "Yes! The castle with the giant tower!"
"Then let's go do that," you murmured, gently taking his small hand.
Tyler stood frozen by the console table, his damp cowboy hat still in his hand. He looked entirely out of place in your sleek, modern home, but the frustration rolling off him was palpable. He wanted to demand answers, he wanted to know what Leo meant, and he wanted to shake you until you admitted why you were acting so fiercely protective and angry. But seeing you there on the floor, focusing entirely on being a mother, he knew he couldn't push any further tonight.
With a tight, frustrated breath, Tyler gripped his hat, turned on his heel and walked out into the pouring Oklahoma rain as the heavy click of the front door signals his departure.
You let out a breath you felt like you’d been holding for five years, resting your forehead against Leo's small shoulder for just a second before heading toward the bedroom. You had managed to protect your secret, but as the thunder rattled the glass windows of your beautiful new house, you knew this storm was far from over.
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The heavy metal door of the garage slammed shut, the loud BANG echoing over the steady hum of the rain and the classic country track playing softly from Boone’s speakers.
The entire crew stopped what they were doing.
Tyler stood in the doorway, soaked from the brief walk between his truck and the building. He didn’t even bother to shake the water from his cowboy hat. His jaw was clenched so tight a muscle was twitching in his cheek, and his blue eyes were dark, burning with a mix of fierce frustration and absolute confusion. He looked like a man who had just run headfirst into an EF5 tornado and had no idea how he’d survived.
Dani, who was sitting on the hood of a refurbished Scout with a grease rag in her lap, didn't even look surprised. She just raised an eyebrow.
"So—what did you two talk about?" she asked, her tone entirely too casual for the storm Tyler was bringing inside.
Tyler stormed over to the workbench, tossing his damp hat down onto a pile of blueprints with a heavy thud. He didn't answer her question. Instead, he leaned his palms flat against the wooden surface, glaring directly at Dani.
"What did you tell her, Dani?" Tyler demanded, his voice dropping into a low, dangerous rumble.
"I gave her a hug, told her she looked great, and gave her the address to her new place," Dani said, completely unfazed by his glare. "Which, by the way, I only gave to you because I thought you’d act like a normal human being. Clearly, I over-estimated you."
"She thinks I had forgotten about her," Tyler snapped, placing his hands on his waist.
Then he turned around, pacing the length of the concrete floor like a caged animal. "She stands in the middle of this giant, fancy, modern living room—looking like she doesn’t need a single damn thing from anybody and she looks at me like I'm a traitor. She also brought up Kate!"
Across the garage, Boone stopped editing his footage, his eyes widening. Lily slowly lowered her drone controller. Even Kate, who was sitting in the corner going over radar data with Javi, raised her head, looking entirely bewildered.
"She brought me up?" Kate asked, pointing her finger at herself, at her own chest. "Why?"
"Because she thinks you two are..." Dani trailed off, gesturing vaguely between Kate and Tyler. "I don't know! Partners!" Tyler frowns, "In every sense of the word. She told me she was 'happy for us' and implied that she didn't seem to fit into my business anymore."
"Business?" Boone let out a sharp, breathless laugh, quickly covering his mouth when Tyler shot him a death glare. "Sorry, boss. It's just... you're a genius with weather, but you are legally blind when it comes to women."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Tyler growled, crossing his arms tightly over his chest. "We were partners for years. We went through hell together when her damned ex bailed. I slept on a crappy lawn chair in her apartment for a week just to make sure she was eating right before she moved away! I am her best friend for a year. Why is she shutting me out all of a sudden?
Dani groaned, tossing her grease rag onto the hood of the truck and sliding off. She walked over to Tyler, looking up at him with pure exasperation.
"Tyler. Listen to me very carefully," Dani said, tapping a finger against his chest. "Anyone with working eyes can see what's happening. She saw you. She saw the guy she hasn't seen in five years, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Kate. So she must have been fiercely, undeniably jealous. She probably thinks she lost her place in your life."
Tyler blinked, his brow furrowing in genuine, absolute bafflement. "Jealous? Of Kate? Why would she be jealous of Kate? I told her that Kate is just my partner for the project and that she's helping us."
"Because she has feelings for you, you absolute idiot!" Dani snapped as she threw her hands up.
"No, she doesn't," Everyone groaned as Tyler fired back instantly, his defense mechanisms kicking in. He then shook his head, running a hand through his damp blonde hair. "She’s never said anything like that or felt anything like that for me. She thinks of me as a brother. A friend. And If she had feelings for me, why would she pack up and leave five years ago and tell me she's 'all taken care of'?"
"Because she's proud of what she built for herself and for her son!" Dani yelled back. "And because she thinks you only see her as a friend too!"
Tyler then went quiet, his mind suddenly racing back to the living room. He remembered the flush on your face, the defensive way you had crossed your arms, and the sharp, venomous bite in your voice when you said Kate's name. It hadn't felt like a friend being protective. It had felt... personal. Deeply personal.
And then, his thoughts hit a brick wall.
Leo's little voice echoed in Tyler's ears. The way your eyes had gone wide with sheer slight panic. The way you had practically screamed your son's name to cut him off before he could finish that sentence.
Tyler’s posture shifted. The anger faded, replaced by a sudden, intense focus. He looked at Dani as his voice dropped into a quiet whisper.
"The kid," Tyler muttered.
"What about Leo?" Dani asked, her brow furrowing.
"We were arguing, and Leo walked in," Tyler said, his eyes scanning the floor as he pieced it together. "He looked at me, then he looked at her, and he asked, 'Mommy, why are you fighting with him? But you were—' and then she cut him off. She looked like she’d just seen a ghost, Dani. She kicked me out of the house right then and there."
The garage went completely silent. Boone, Lily, and Dani all exchanged a massive, knowing look.
"What was he going to say?" Tyler asked, looking around at his crew, his voice carrying a rare, vulnerable ache. "What has she been telling that kid about me?"
"What if you were the dad?"
The voice cut through the heavy silence of the garage like a lightning strike.
Everyone snapped their heads around. Javi was leaning against the breakroom counter, casually nursing a cup of lukewarm coffee, looking entirely too proud of his own sudden theory.
Before the words could even fully settle in the air, Kate lunged forward and brought the flat of her hand down squarely against the back of his head with a loud smack.
"Read the room, idiot!" she muttered fiercely under her breath, glaring at him with a look that could kill.
Javi winced, rubbing the back of his neck as his mouth instantly formed a perfect, silent 'O' of realization. He looked at Tyler’s face, swallowed hard, and slowly retreated a step behind Kate, suddenly wishing he could blend into the drywall.
But the damage was done. The words were out there, hanging in the humid air of the garage, heavier than a low-pressure system before an outbreak.
Tyler didn't move. He didn't blink. He just stood there, his hands still resting flat on the workbench, his knuckles turning entirely white.
The dad.
The timeline instantly fractured and reassembled itself in Tyler’s mind. Five years ago. He remembered the exact night she had come over to his place, sobbing, her world shattered because her ex had packed his bags and denied everything. He remembered holding her on his couch for hours while she cried into his shirt. He remembered the sheer panic in her eyes, the pride that kept her from asking her wealthy family for help right away, and the way she had stubbornly insisted she had to handle it alone.
Tyler had stayed by her side through those first terrifying months. He had bought the groceries, checked her tire pressure, and secretly stayed up late researching prenatal vitamins. He had done it because he was deeply, hopelessly in love with herand because he thought he was just being the ultimat Ke best friend.
But he had never touched her back then. He had been too afraid of ruining what they had, too respectful of her situation, too much of a coward to tell her how he really felt.
"No," Tyler breathed, his voice barely audible over the sound of the rain drumming against the metal roof. He let out a sharp, hollow laugh, though there was absolutely no humor in his eyes. "No, Javi. That’s impossible. We never... she was with him before everything went south. It doesn't work like that." We never slept, was he wanted to directly say in front of everyone. But he felt like a coward. Then— "He doesn't mean biologically, you giant cowboy linebacker," Dani said, her voice dropping into something incredibly soft, almost pitiful. She took a step closer to him, crossing her arms.
"Look, think about it. What if he wasn't going to say 'the man who is my dad'? What if he was going to say 'the man you said you wished was my dad'?"
Tyler’s chest rose and fell in a harsh, ragged breath.
Mommy, why are you fighting with him? But you were—
The way you had practically thrown your body between Tyler and your son's words.
"Oh. She has a picture of you, Tyler," Lily reckons, talking from the corner as she looks up from her drone calibration. "Remember that old polaroid Boone took of the two of you after the Enid storm? The one where you're both covered in mud, laughing? Where you were wearing that stupid foam finger?"
Tyler’s head snapped toward Lily. "What about it?"
"When she left, she asked me if she could keep it," Lily murmured. "I saw her tuck it right into her wallet. Come on you guys. A four-year-old kid doesn't just randomly say something like that out of thin air, Tyler. He probably knows who you are already because of how she’s been probably talking about you. Now you're telling us she doesn't feel anything for you?"
Tyler felt the room tilt. The blind spot he’d had in his own heart for half a decade was suddenly blown wide open, leaving him completely exposed.
He hadn't just lost his partner five years ago. He had walked away from the only woman who held his heart, leaving her to raise a child alone while she secretly carried a torch for a man she thought had replaced her. And tonight, he had stormed into her beautiful, quiet sanctuary, yelled at her, and made her feel like a stranger in his life.
"I'm an idiot," Tyler whispered, the realization hitting him like a physical blow to the stomach.
"We've been trying to tell you that for three years, boss," Boone said, his usual hyperactive energy completely gone, replaced by a supportive, serious nod.
Tyler didn't waste another second. He grabbed his damp cowboy hat off the table, shoving it onto his head as he turned back toward the garage door.
"Where are you going?" Dani called out. "It's pouring out there and she just kicked you out!"
"I don't care," Tyler barked, his hand already throwing the heavy metal door open. The cold Oklahoma rain sprayed across his face, but he didn't even flinch. His truck keys were already in his hand. "She can kick me out a hundred more times. I'm going back."
⊹₊˚‧︵‿₊୨ᰔ୧₊‿︵‧˚₊⊹
"Alright, we're done here," you muttered to yourself, wiping a stray bit of dust off the sleek, minimalist coffee table and tossing the microfiber cloth onto the kitchen marblecounter.
The house was finally immaculate. Every box was emptied as the modern furniture was perfectly arranged, and how the quiet luxury of the space should have brought you peace. Instead, the silence felt incredibly heavy, vibrating with the leftover echo of the shouting match you’d just had with Tyler a while ago.
"Leo—" you called out, wiping your palms on your jeans as you walked into the living room.
The words died in your throat.
Leo wasn't playing with his Legos anymore. He was standing on the plush area rug, his small hands pressed flat against the floor-to-ceiling glass window, staring out into the dark, storm-swept yard.
Outside, the Oklahoma sky had completely opened up. The rain was coming down in sheets, blurring the streetlights and whipping the trees into a frenzy. But right in the middle of your pristine gravel driveway, illuminated by the amber glow of your porch light, stood a shadow.
A massive, unmistakable shadow.
Your heart skipped a violent beat. You stepped closer, your eyes widening as you took in the sight of those broad, masculine shoulders, the rugged posture and the cowboy hat pulled low against the downpour. He was standing right outside his running Dodge Ram truck, entirely motionless, getting absolutely soaked to the bone but still looked handsome.
Wait. I know who that man is...
"Tyler?" the name breathed out of you, a mix of sheer disbelief and sudden panic. "Mommy it's uncle Tyler?"
Before you could even think, your feet were moving. You sprinted across the polished concrete floor, threw open the heavy front door, and stepped out onto the sheltered porch. The freezing spray of the rain hit your face instantly.
"What the hell?!" you yelled over the roar of the wind, your voice laced with exasperation and a terrifying surge of worry. "Tyler! Are you insane? Get inside!"
Tyler didn't move for a second. He just stood there in the pouring rain, his white t-shirt plastered to his chest, water streaming down his jawline. But when he looked up and met your eyes, the usual playful, cocky "Tornado Wrangler" swagger was completely gone. His blue eyes were burning with a fierce, raw intensity that made your breath catch in your throat.
He didn't say a word. He just started walking toward your porch, his heavy boots crunching against the wet gravel, eating up the distance between you like a man on a mission.
"Tyler. Look at the weather. So please, get inside now," you pleaded, your voice cracking slightly as the wind whipped around the porch, spraying cold rain across your arms. Then you turned to look at your son, "Leo, please go to your room. Mommy has to talk to uncle Tyler." Leo nods, a face of a child who doesn't know anything about what's happening right now has taken his toy truck, imitating the engine sounds of a truck, running to his room.
Meanwhile, Tyler didn't budge. He just stopped right in front of you, the rain pouring off the brim of his cowboy hat like a curtain between you.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked, his voice a low, gravelly rasp that easily cut through the roar of the storm.
"Tell you what? Tyler, you're soaking wet, freezing. Just—"
Tyler interrupted, saying your name with a weight and a tenderness that completely knocked the breath out of your lungs. He stepped up onto the porch, towering over you, his chest heaving under his soaked shirt. "You know, saying your name used to be my favorite part of the day." He confessed, continuing as you just looked at him with an almost teary eyes. "And then you left. I had to learn how to stop saying it. I had to pretend like I was fine after you left."
You turn around, stepping back into the warmth of the entryway of the house as your heart hammered against your ribs. "Ty, please, we– we already fought about this—" you stammered as you felt how his eyes were locked entirely on you.
Then he says your name, "we didn't fight about the right things," he said, following you inside as you started to walk towards the kitchen, leaving a trail of water on your pristine floors. Because all of a sudden, your throat felt dry. "Dani told me, okay? And Lily. They told me about the picture. And Leo... I already knew what he was going to say before you cut him off."
Your face went entirely pale. The walls that you had built over the last five years suddenly felt like glass, cracking under the sheer force of his gaze. You turned around as you swallowed hard, backing up until your hips hit the kitchen counter.
"He wasn't going to say anything important," you lied, though your voice trembled so badly it betrayed you instantly. "He's four, Tyler. He mixes up his words."
"He was going to say I'm the man you always talk about," Tyler whispered, closing the distance between you until you could feel the icy dampness radiating off his clothes and the fierce, burning heat of his breath. "Ain't he?"
Then he reached out his large trembling hands hovering just inches from your face, holding himself from wanting to touch you but terrified that you'd pull away from the touch. "If you thought I replaced you, if you thought I didn't care... why did you keep my picture?"
"Because I couldn't forget you!" you finally snapped, the confession tearing out of your throat, raw and agonizing. Tears spilled over your eyelashes, hot against your cheeks. "Is that what you wanted to hear? I lived in my parents' house for five years, completely stable enough to give my son a life and completely taken care of while I would always feel miserable every time I look at things that reminds me of you, and how I wished that you were there for me while I gave birth to my son! But you were the infamous tornado wrangler, and I was just a single mom. I didn't think I had a right to your life anymore!"
Tyler stared at you, his blue eyes blowing wide as the truth finally crashed over him. The dense, blind boy from the garage was officially gone. It was now a man looking at the only woman he had ever loved and just realizing thatshe had been hurting for the same exact reason he had.
"S'that it?," Tyler breathed, a ragged, emotional laugh escaping his lips. He didn't hesitate this time. He stepped firmly into your space, his large, warm hands coming up to cupping your face, his thumbs gently wiping away your tears. "You think I care about a title? You think I care about some stupid YouTube channel? I built all of that because I was trying to run away from how empty the world felt without you in it."
He leaned down, his forehead resting gently against yours, his breath mingling with yours in the quiet spaces of your modern kitchen.
"I don't just want to be an old friend of the team," Tyler whispered fiercely against your skin. "I want to be here. With you. With Leo. I'm not leaving this house until you understand that you could never, ever be nothing to me."
You both froze, your lips inches apart until the sudden burst of high-stakes romantic tension snapping like a broken power line in a storm.
"No kissy!"
The small, stern voice echoed from the hallway, completely shattering the heavy, emotional atmosphere.
Tyler’s eyes flew open, a sudden, breathless laugh bubbling up from his chest as he slowly lifted his head. You blinked, your face instantly flushing a brilliant crimson as you looked over Tyler’s broad shoulder.
Leo was standing at the edge of the kitchen, his tiny hands planted firmly on his hips. He was wearing his favorite cartoon pajamas, his little brow furrowed in deep, four-year-old disapproval. He looked at Tyler, then at you, nodding righteously.
"Grandma says kissing is for when people are married, or if it's on the cheek," Leo lectured solemnly, holding up a single finger to emphasize his point. "And cowboy truck man is still too wet. He's gonna get the floor sticky."
A choked sound escaped your throat as you hid your burning face in your hands. Leave it to your son to completely ruin the most profoundly romantic moment of your entire life with your mother's strict etiquette rules.
Tyler, however, didn't seem bothered at all. In fact, the sheer adoration in his eyes as he looked at Leo made your heart do a violent flip. He slowly let his hands drop from your face, though his thumb brushed your jawline one last time before he turned around, kneeling down on the polished concrete floor so he was at eye level with your son.
Even soaked to the bone and dripping onto your pristine floor, Tyler looked completely at home.
"You're right, buddy," Tyler said, his deep voice carrying a warm, incredibly gentle rumble as he smiled up at Leo. "My bad. Strict no-kissy rules. And I am definitely making a mess of your mommy's floors."
Leo looked at the small puddle forming around Tyler’s boots, then looked up at Tyler's face. The little boy's stern expression began to melt, replaced by that familiar, curious wonder. He took a few hesitant steps forward, dragging his half-built Lego castle with him.
"Are you gonna stay and help with the tower now?" Leo asked softly, peeking out from behind his toys. "Mommy said we were gonna build the big one but it was too hard."
Tyler’s blue eyes flicked up to you for a split second—searching, asking for permission, checking to see if the walls you had built were truly down. You looked at him, the rain still drumming against the glass, and for the first time in five years, the heavy weight in your chest felt light. You gave him a small, genuine smile, nodding your head.
"Yeah, buddy," Tyler murmured, his voice thick with a sudden rush of emotion as he looked back at your son. He carefully pulled off his damp cowboy hat and set it on the floor beside him, completely uncaring about his soaked clothes. "I'm gonna stay, yeah? Think I'm pretty good at building towers unlike your mommy." he winks at Leo, hearing his usual cocky tone made you roll your eyes.