Whole Lot More

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

Brynne sat in the parking lot to the airport nervously chewing on her fingernails, her cell phone held up to her ear. Her flight left in less than an hour, but she didn’t really care.

“Are you sure you can handle this, Tara?”

“Jesus Christ Brynne, for the hundredth time, yes! I understand that you have a lot invested in this place, but I can handle it. I could have handled it last weekend, but you got an extra week of “training” in, and now I’ve never been more ready.”

“If you’re sure...”

“I am,” Tara said, “If anything happens or I have any questions, I’ll call you. Besides, it’s only for a couple days, not like it’s for a month or whatever.”

Brynne sighed, “I know it’s just –”

“I understand Brynne, I really do. But for a weekend, don’t worry about anything but having fun, okay? I’m allowing you one phone call per day, if you call more than that, I’ll hang up on you, plain and simple.”

“Fine,” Brynne laughed.

“I’m serious! Now go... I’ll be fine; everything will be fine.”

*

Flying had never been exactly one of Brynne’s favorite things to do, but she could handle it. The people around her had headphones on and were sleeping, so there was no one to talk to. Just time to think.

And the more she thought, the more excited she got.

If everything went according to plan that weekend, not only would she be getting to see a race at Talladega in person, but she’d also be meeting the man she’d been talking to for months.

He had no clue what was going on; no clue that she was going to be down in Dega and that the two of them would meet this weekend. She didn’t know how, when or where, but that weekend it was going to happen, even if she had to call him once she was there and tell him where she was.

She wasn’t going to miss this opportunity.

*

Hours later, Brynne found herself trekking off the plane and into the confines of Biloxi Gulfport International Airport, her eyes scanning the crowds and immediately finding Julie. The two friends embraced when Brynne met her and trouped out of the airport to Julie’s car.

“Glad to see you actually made it,” Julie joked.

“You didn’t think I’d come?”

“I had my suspicions. Thought it would take a lot more than Dega and meeting Martin to finally get you out of Boston.”

“I’m not that bad!” Brynne exclaimed.

“Brynne... Martin Truex, Jr. invited you to come to Phoenix with him and you didn’t go... I’d say you are that bad.”

“But –”

“No buts, we’re not going to discuss this at all this weekend. No thinking about what could have been, only what will be and how much trouble we’re going to get ourselves into this weekend."

The two shared a laugh over that, knowing that it was quite possible for them to get into a lot of trouble together.

“So when are we leaving for the track?”

“Early tomorrow morning...”

“Tomorrow? But tomorrow’s only Thursday... I thought we were leaving early Friday morning.”

“We were until I got an idea; and a plan...”

“Am I going to be let in on this plan?” Brynne asked.

Julie grinned, “Tomorrow morning you will be.”

*

Morning came early for the two girls, and neither got much sleep, both for different reasons. Julie, because she was finalizing plans for the trip and Brynne because she was too excited for the weekend and desperately wanted to know what she was in for with this plan.

But by five that morning, everything was packed in the back of the car and the girls were ready for the five hour drive ahead of them.

Neither of them knowing just what that weekend was going to entail.

*

The beat of the music pounded inside the car, keeping the two girl’s sleepy eyes open and alert. The scenery passed them by, but neither saw as the darkness still clung to the air outside.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been up this early in my life,” Brynne commented.

“Me either,” Julie agreed, “But the early bird gets the worm, right?”

Brynne rolled her eyes and laughed, “That was a pretty bad comparison, Julie.”

“I know, I know... but it got the point across, didn’t it?”

“I guess it did...”

The music thumped through the car, once again taking up the comfortable silence. “So... do I get to be let in on the plan yet?”

“It’s really not anything hard or elaborate, in fact it’s a really simple plan...”

“That’s easy for you to say, you already know what the plan is!”

“Well, if you must know... Martin has a signing at a Bass Pro Shops store this afternoon, a couple miles from the track.”

“Yeah, so?” Brynne asked, wondering if she was dense or if Julie was just being that vague with the details.

“I bought two tickets last week, meaning we’re going to be there and you’re going to talk to him...”

“And say what? ‘Hey Martin, my name’s Brynne, and you’ve never seen me before, but I’m the girl you’ve been talking to for months’?”

“Sure, why not?”

“Because he won’t believe me!” Brynne exclaimed, rolling her eyes, “You wanna bet how many girls have tried to pull that off probably since he said my name on tv? Probably tons!”

“Then say something that only you would know! He has to know it’s really you, then...”

“That’s easier said than done, Julie... can you imagine how nervous I’m going to be? I probably won’t be able to move my tongue to talk. Talking to him on the phone and online is one thing – I don’t have to see his face – but talking to him in person; it makes me nervous to be honest with you.”

“Well bone up, Brynne. You knew you were going to have to talk to him face-to-face eventually. Besides, what was your plan for this weekend? You were planning on meeting him, weren’t you?”

“Well yeah, duh... I was just planning on getting to the track and calling him and telling him I was there and hopefully meeting somewhere where there wasn’t hundreds of people around to see me get all flustered and embarrassed.”

“Honey, no matter where you go there’s going to be that many people around. It’s Talladega! There’s people everywhere there, and trust me, there’s like nowhere where you’d get away with going where hardly no one would be.”

“So then this is going to be my one opportunity to meet him, huh?”

“Precisely.”

Brynne breathed deeply, in and out, trying to keep herself calm. It wasn’t that she was really afraid of making a fool of herself in front of Martin – she’d done that numerous times on the phone already – it was that she was really afraid of what he’d say or think about her. After all, he’d never seen her, nor a picture of her before.

And that’s what really worried her.

***