From The Ground Up

Eighteen

Ryan called a little bit later, happy to hear that Kam answered her phone.

"Hey, we landed,"

"I'm glad," she said as she sat on the couch and put the throw blanket over her legs.

"You okay?"

"Well. We gotta talk. With Tim. I found out," she sighed. "It was Macey,"

"I wanted to be there when you found out," he sighed, switching the call over to FaceTime. As soon as she accepted it and her face popped up on the screen, he couldn't help but ask, "Are you okay?"

"I don't know,"

"Did you eat?" He asked, hoping that Tim got her to eat something.

"A bagel," she nodded.

"Good," he nodded, "What do you want to do?"

"I don't know Ryan. I really don't,"

"You're being too nice again Kam. She could've killed you," Ryan said, not willing to sugarcoat what Macey could've done. "You can't let her get away with this because she is just going to push and see how far she can get without getting caught. If she knows she got caught, she's done. Please do not let her get away with this,"

"Okay," she nodded, "We'll talk about it more when you get home but for now, please focus on the race,"

"I will. But you have to promise me that you will eat,"

"I promise," she nodded.

"I love you, Kam,"

"You do?" She asked, a little caught off guard by his words.

"I do. I love you,"

"I love you too," she beamed, feeling happier than she had in the last few days.

"I'll talk to you later,"

"I'll be here," she smiled again, hanging up the phone after they finished talking.

She spent a lot of the day laying around on the couch or in her bed, taking naps and thinking about what Ryan had said. She watched qualifying with Tim, watching as Ryan got a second-place start.

She was proud of him, waiting for him to call after he was finished with his media obligations. She was sound asleep when her phone started vibrating in her hand, waking her out of her sleep.

"Hello?" She answered, not looking at who was calling but she had a feeling it was Ryan.

"Hey you," he chuckled, "Sleeping again?"

"Mhmm,"

"You know why right?"

"I'm not eating?" She asked, knowing that's what he was going to tell her.

"Probably," he sighed, "Kam what did you eat today?"

"A bagel," she mumbled, hoping he wasn't about to scold her for it.

"Kam you need more than that. I'm sure we have something you can eat,"

"I'm not really hungry Ry," she sighed, burying her head into her pillow as she talked to him.

"Please just eat something for me? We have stuff downstairs. I did a whole grocery order before I left. There's some Mac and cheese down there,"

"Okay," she nodded, getting up slowly to go downstairs and grab something to eat. He wouldn't stop until she did and she knew that. "I'll make one of the easy Mac things,"

"Thank you,"

"I'm making it right now," she said as she pulled the tab off the top and put water in. Once it was in the microwave, she switched the phone call to a FaceTime, happy to actually see his face. "I'm making it,"

"And I'm gonna sit here and eat my sunflower butter and jelly with you. So I make sure you eat," he said as he finished making his small dinner and sat at the dinette.

Kamdyn waited for her dinner to finish in the microwave before mixing in the cheese sauce and sitting at the dining room table. She saw the fake peanut butter container on the table with Ryan and couldn't help but smile. He could easily have normal peanut butter with her staying home but he continued to have something he knew she could have.

They both talked as they ate, smiling as they talked and had dinner together.

"Thank you for eating something," Ryan smiled, moving his plate to the side.

"It tasted good actually," she chuckled.

"But it was sealed. We need to start working on that when I get home,"

"Yeah," she nodded, agreeing fully with her boyfriend.

"I'll talk to you a little later," he smiled.

"Okay," she nodded, carrying her phone as she put her fork in the dishwasher and sat on the couch.

"I love you,"

"I love you too," she beamed before hanging up the phone.

"Was that Ryan?" Tim asked, coming into the house from doing some grocery shopping.

"Yeah. We had a little dinner together," she nodded, getting up to grab a few of the bags from his hands.

"So you did eat?" He asked, making sure she actually did.

"Yeah. Mac and cheese," she nodded, "Ryan will confirm it,"

"I trust ya,"

"What did you get? Everything sealed?" She chuckled.

"If that's all you'll eat," he shrugged.

"You didn't have to do that," she smiled.

"I know. But that's all Ryan said you would eat and I'll be damned if you eat nothing while I'm here,"

"You should be at the track with Austin," she told him, putting things away in the cabinet while Tim was putting things in the fridge.

"Austin can handle himself. Besides, I'm at more races than I'm not," Tim said as he shut the refrigerator door, and turned to Kamdyn.

"I guess," she shrugged.

"It's a good thing, Kam. You'll get back to you, and then you'll get back to normal life. It's just gonna take time,"

"I know. I just can't believe she actually did it. I knew she was a little crazy but I didn't think she was that psycho,"

"People can shock you, Kam. But the good thing is, she's gone now. And we're gonna take care of this when Ryan gets home, you guys are going to get the police involved. You have him behind you. Me, all of Team Penske, she's not going to win this fight,"

"No way,"