From The Ground Up

Nineteen

Kamdyn woke up on Sunday morning, ready for the race to be over and for Ryan to be home. She wanted to figure out what to do about Macey and that was something she needed him for.

She watched TV up until it was time for the race to start. Coming off Charlotte, which felt like a month ago but in reality was only a week, he was ready for Gateway. He got a starting position of 2nd and they were both hoping for a win or a top 10 at least.

She knew he would call eventually, so she watched TV in her room until the call came through. She knew he had some media to do before the race so she knew she had a little time before he would call. She took a shower and went downstairs, made a hot pocket (which was sealed), and went to her bedroom again after eating it. She knew Ryan would ask so she thought it would be better to tell him she did eat than her say she didn't and he try to convince her.

She read a little bit of the book she started, before looking into the schedule for Ryan and waiting for the call.

As if he knew, her phone rang with Ryan's ringtone so she picked it up immediately.

"Hey,"

"Hey. Did you eat?" He asked, making her chuckle. She knew he would.

"I did. I had a hot pocket," she smiled a little, "The pizza one,"

"Good, I'm proud of you,"

"Thanks, Ry," she grinned, "How'd your morning go?"

"Good. Signed some autographs in the Penske trailer, did an interview, and now just time to relax before the drivers meeting,"

"Sounds like your PR girls got you pretty busy," she smiled, knowing it was her now and not Macey.

"Yeah but the new one is not insane and she's pretty freaking amazing," he smiled, "Not to mention she's pretty adorable when she's sleeping but grumpy when she wakes up,"

"You know better than that," she beamed, "But I'm glad you did to tell me you were leaving,"

"Well. Next week, I'm expecting you to be with me,"

"And then we have a small vacation," she said as she looked at the schedule on her phone. "Do you want to go anywhere?"

"We could. Anywhere special?"

"The beach is only a few hours from here," she shrugged, "That could be fun for a few days,"

"Then let's do it. Just us or do you want to see if Chase and Bubba want to tag along?"

"That's up to you," she smiled, letting him decide but secretly she hoped it would be just them.

"Maybe we go for a few days before they arrive and we have the best of both worlds?" He suggested, wanting alone time with her but also time with his friends and their significant others.

"That sounds perfect to me," she said as she sat up on her bed and grabbed her laptop.

"You're looking it up now aren't you?" He chuckled, knowing her well enough to know.

"I am," she smiled, opening the laptop and looking up beaches on the coast of North Carolina. The coast was roughly 4 to 5 hours from Charlotte so she just clicked the first one she saw. "Surf City is only about a 4-hour drive,"

"Whatever you want to do," he nodded, "sounds like it would be a nice week away,"

"You gonna learn to surf?" She asked, chuckling a little.

"Chase already tried to snowboard this year. I don't think we need to add any other injuries to the list," Ryan joked.

"That's very true. Maybe just stick to sipping pina coladas and mai tais on the beach," she chuckled, "We could get a condo,"

"Have a few rooms and one living space for the 6 of us?" He asked, watching the time for when he had to get ready to go for the drivers' meeting.

"Yeah. There are a few that we can rent on air BNB or we can just look for a hotel suite. But Airbnb would probably be cheaper," she said as she started looking online for a few different places.

"You do whatever you want. I have to get going for this meeting but I'll hopefully see you tonight," he said as he got up.

"You're coming home tonight?" She asked, looking at the website online.

"I am. I'll see you later," he said as he got his fire suit out to get changed. "I love you,"

"I love you too. Do good and be safe," she smiled as she continued to look at her computer.

"I will. See you tonight," he nodded, both of them hanging up their phone. She continued to look for condos to rent and started a message between Amanda, and Chase's girlfriend, Camryn.

They both agreed as they said they were due for a beach vacation. Chase had other obligations until Tuesday and Bubba couldn't make it with Amanda until Wednesday evening. Kamdyn went ahead and rented the condo out to leave immediately after the race on Sunday and fly straight to the closest airport to Surf City. Sturgill would be in boarding for the week so he unfortunately wouldn't be coming with them.

Once she had that all settled, she went downstairs to sit with Tim and watch the race that Ryan was starting second in.