King of my Heart

EIGHTEEN

Ty looked over at his wife sitting with his teammate's wife on the other side of the team plane. It had been a few days since their fight. Honestly, Ty wouldn't have called it a fight. He broke her trust by doing something incredibly foolish and he was still kicking himself for it. He also had to release a statement about the photos saying that there was no extramarital activities going on with his ex-girlfriend. Ty hated that he had to do it, but he knew it was necessary.
"You two not talking or..." Christopher asked his friend.
"We're talking, it's just...I don't know. It's like she doesn't exactly trust anything that I say."
"She's guarded. You got caught in a scandal with your ex."
"I know." Ty dropped his head into his hands. "I really fucked up."
"You didn't fuck up near as bad as you think. She's still here. Who found her?"
"DeLuca. Said he had a conversation with her and gets why she's upset. I get it too."
"How is this going to get fixed?"
"I honestly don't know." He looked over at her again. They made eye contact and she gave him a quick wave before turning her attention back to Morgan. He looked out the window, seeing the plane to start to descend. They were almost to Daytona. Ty was happy that he was already locked into the Playoffs with his two wins. He was hoping he could close out the regular season with a win and the regular season championship. Ty had been in a tight battle with Erik Jones, Christopher, and Chase Elliott. Ty was thankful when they finally landed at the airport. He grabbed his luggage before helping Jocelyn. She thanked him before they got off the plane. "Hey." Jocelyn turned to look at him.
"Hey."
"Are we okay?"
"What do you mean?"
"Joce..."
"Ty."
"You know what I mean. We never had that second conversation and..."
"I don't want to bring it up and get upset all over again." Jocelyn said before heading to the rental. Ty sighed but followed. They packed the back with luggage before Ty climbed into the front seat with Christopher as Jocelyn got in the backseat with Morgan. The ride to the track was silent on Ty's end as he listened to Morgan and Jocelyn in the back seat making plans to do some shopping with Taylor, Kaia, Isla, and Elle. Ty was happy that Kaia and the girls were started to spend time with the others. She was still one of his best friends.
"You listening to me?" Ty looked over at Christopher.
"Sorry, what did you say?"
"I said Denny wants us to come over for a little cookout tonight. Can you make it?"
"We can make it." Jocelyn answered for him. "I can make that pasta salad he keeps asking for."
"I'll let him know." Christopher said, turning towards the tunnel to the infield. They all showed their credentials to the security guards. Christopher drove through the lot before parking in front of the coach. And of course, Ty and Jocelyn were next them. "We'll see you guys later." Christopher said after they got all of their luggage out. Jocelyn went straight to the bedroom as soon as they stepped inside. Ty followed a few minutes later. He found her changing her clothes.
"I'm going to go for a jog. Is that okay?"
"That's more than okay."
"Great." Ty watched Jocelyn laced up her running shoes. She strapped her phone to her arm then put her ear buds in. "I'll be back before Denny's cookout." Jocelyn gave him a kiss before leaving him alone in the bedroom.
***
Ty felt like he was being tortured all weekend. With Jocelyn's weird behavior and having to see Evie hang all over Sam when he wasn't in either car, Ty wanted someone to take him out of his misery. People were still talking about the photos and his statement didn't stop reporters from asking about it when he was in the media center earlier in the weekend. How he managed to qualify on the front row with all the distractions, Ty had no idea. Ty walked into the coach after an appearance at the Toyota stage with Jones, finding Jocelyn in the kitchenette cooking a light dinner for the two of them.
"Hey."
"Hey." Jocelyn pressed a kiss to his lips. They still didn't feel right. "Sit down and eat."
"I'm not really hungry."
"You can't race on an empty stomach."
"Forcing food down probably isn't a good idea either."
"Fine." Jocelyn grabbed a container out of the cupboard.
"Joce..."
"Don't." Jocelyn put her hands on the counter as her head fell forward.
"What is going on with us?" Jocelyn shrugged her shoulders, unable to look at him. "Is this it?"
"What do you mean?" She finally turned.
"I don't know how to fix this."
"It's not broken, Ty."
"Of course it is. This," Ty gestered between them, "isn't what it used to be. When we go to bed at night, we go to bed. That's it."
"It isn't always about sex, Ty."
"That's not what I'm talking about."
"What do you want me to say, Ty? I'm not the one who went out with their ex."
"What do you call what you did in Toronto?"
"The lunch I had with Jake? And his pregnant wife? Someone I've known for almost 2 years? We went to Sapphire because he knew I didn't feel comfortable being alone with him? I didn't have to tell him about you because he already knew." Jocelyn sighed. "I'm going to go change."
"Don't walk away in the middle of a conversation."
"What else is there to be said, Ty? You didn't tell me you were going to see Elsie. You didn't wear your wedding ring to go see Elsie. You didn't say anything about you being married when you went to go see Elsie. You led her to believe that maybe, just maybe you two could get back together." Ty stood there speechless. "There's nothing else left to say. I'm going to change." Jocelyn turned and head back to the bedroom. Ty stood there for a couple minutes before following. He found her sitting on the edge of the bed. Even sad and upset, Jocelyn still looked absolutely gorgeous in her sleeveless floral dress that stopped at her shins.
"I don't know how many times I can say sorry." Jocelyn didn't even look at him. "I fucked up, I know that. I'm just trying to figure out how to put it back to the way it was."
"It can't." Jocelyn stood up. "You need to change and get to the driver's meeting." She placed a kiss on his cheek, letting Ty wrap his arm around her waist. Jocelyn rested her chin on his shoulder. He took in her absolutely intoxicating scent of lavender and jasmine. This was the most intimate they had been in days.
"I'm sorry."
"I know."
"I love you. So much."
"I love you too. I'll see you at the car, okay?" Ty nodded. He let her go, letting her leaving him alone. When he changed and headed outside, Christopher was standing waiting for him.
"Ready?"
"Yeah."
"Did you two..."
"I don't want to talk about it, okay?" Christopher said nothing as they headed to the driver's meeting.