Whole Lot More

Chapter Twenty Four

Chapter Twenty Four

"Martin, are you sure about this?" Brynne asked for the fifth time that morning. It was only a little after eight.

"Of course I'm sure about this, besides my family is going to love you," he reassured, "Not to mention you got to show me around your town, now it's my turn to show you both of mine."

He didn't know how he managed to talk her into leaving the bar for nearly three weeks so she could come to Jersey with him before going back to North Carolina for two race weekends, but he had a feeling Julie had a lot to do with it, and he intended on repaying her for talking Brynne into joining them on the adventure.

"There we go," he said, as he slammed the trunk shut, his bags and hers for the next couple weeks packed into the back of her trunk. They'd figured it'd probably be smarter to take her car, rather than Martin renting one and having to worry about getting Brynne back to Boston. "Ready to hit the road, baby?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," she sighed, clutching her purse to her side tightly, "You are going to drive, right?"

"I thought you'd never ask. All aboard, because this train is leaving and it won't be back to Boston for a few weeks."

She shook her head, "God, you're such a dork sometimes."

She'd never seen him act and be this way before – not even at the track – and she knew it must be because he was finally getting to see his family again.

Difference this time though, was that she was going to see them, too.

*~*

They were passing the "welcome to Mayetta" sign in the center of downtown, a few minutes short of five hours later. To Brynne, it was amazing that a normally nearly six hour drive (she'd checked up on it online to see just how long of a ride she was in for) had been made so quickly.

Then again, she was riding with a professional racecar driver.

"So..."

"This is Mayetta," Martin told her, taking his hands off the wheel to gesture to the small town, "This is where I called home before North Carolina."

"It's quaint."

"It's small, I know... especially for a big city girl like you."

"Hey... how do you know I've always been a big city girl for all my life?"

"Haven't you? I just assumed you'd always lived in Boston with the way you know your way around the city..."

Silence spanned the air of the car before Brynne quickly turned her head and squealed, "The beaaaaach!"

He knew it was an obvious subject-changer, and since he really didn't feel like pushing her into a fight, he let it go... for now...

"Yeah, the beach here is amazing... I'm sure Peyton and Deana will drag us down here. I swear, Peyton should have been born in California, because she's definitely a little surfer girl at heart. I'm already making bets with Deana that that is where she'll end up going to college."

"That's cute."

Martin nodded. "Yeah... it'll be good to see her again; it's been to long and I just miss her when I'm out on the road and can't see her. "

"Have you ever given actual thought to bringing her and Deana down to the track sometime-"

"But, the media-"

"Listen... you don't necessarily have to tell who they really are... just bring them as friends... tell them you're Peyton's god father... that Deanna was married to your best friend who died, so now you're her adopted father... it may be lying, but it's something and it'd get Peyton around you more often."

"I don't know.. I'm not sure I could risk the truth coming out, ya know? Like that might work for a while, but what about the guys? What the hell do I tell them? They're not going to accept the fact that my goddaughter that they've never heard of before just starts showing up?"

"I'm sure we could come up with something Martin... I just feel bad for everyone... you, Deana, Peyton... it's not fair that the media are such hounds they're keeping you from witnessing your daughter growing, they're keeping Peyton from having a constant father figure and they're forcing Deana to raise your daughter by herself. That's not fair."

"It's not, but there's not much I can do about it, Brynne. It's the job I choose to do, and part of that job includes dealing with the media."

"Will you at least thing about it Martin?" she asked, "Because God knows there's already enough kids living in the world today with out fathers."

He turned and smiled at her, "Will it make you feel better if I talk to Deana about it this week?" She nodded. "Okay then, I'll tell Deanna we need to have a serious conversation... you can take Peyton for ice cream one night or something, and we can talk then."

"I just don't things it's fair to any of you..."

"I know, but let's not think about that now, because we're here..."

"Here?" Her eyes slipped across the hotel as they pulled into the parking lot, "But I thought we were going to see Peyton and Deanna... what are we doing at a hotel?"

"This, my dear, is the hotel we're staying at, and we're here to check in, unpack and get a nap... trust me, you'll be wanting one for when you get to meet and deal with hurricane Peyton, she's a little monster just like her daddy was."

"You sound proud..."

"Oh I am," he beamed, "But most times I feel bad for Deanna; she's the one who gets to deal with her being hyperactive most time."

"Well, maybe we can be nice and one of the nights we're here take Peyton for the night... give her a night to herself, ya know? I'm sure she hasn't had one of those in a while."

"I swear, she's going to love you to death! You two will seriously become good friends... I can see it already."

"I take it that's a good thing?"

"It's a great thing! Now, come on... the sooner we check in, the sooner we get to take a nap... that drive wore me out."

"I could have drove," Brynne stated, "You would have just had to tell me where to go. But I wouldn't have minded it."

Martin shrugged, "I didn't mind." He came around to her side of the car as soon as he'd shot the door on his side, opening it and helping her out. The young bellboy rushed outside to collect their bags and usher them inside.

As soon as they entered the elaborately decorated lobby with the high ceiling and huge chandelier, the man behind the desk came out carrying a key in his hand. "Mr. Truex, we got you the room you requested."

"Thanks so much."

"No, thank you sir for your business and it's good to see you back in New Jersey. Good luck the rest of the season."

Martin nodded and headed towards the elevators; his arm was casually around Brynne's waist and it just felt right.. to the both of them. Martin handed the bellboy a twenty as they entered the elevator and told him they could handle the bags from there, and after a couple of insistent moments, the elevator doors slid closed behind them.

Alone.

His hand curled around her waist and brought her to him, resting his cheek on the top of her head. "I promise in all this craziness of meeting my family I'll set time aside for us. Quiet time. Preferably spent in the room."

Brynne pulled back with a grin, and smacked Martin. "Martin Truex, Jr. you are terrible!"

"You know you were thinking the same thing!"

"I might have been, but I wouldn't have said it out loud..."

Martin playfully rolled his eyes, "it's not like we're in public. We're in an elevator, completely and utterly alone..."

"...except for the security camera I'm sure they have set up in here somewhere."

"So?" He shrugged, "We give them a little show."

"I will not-" The elevator dinged, arriving on their floor, and Brynne turned around, walking out of the elevator, her breath catching when she didn't step out into the hallway, instead in to the open living room of a suit. "Holy shit, Martin..."

"Like it, baby?"

"Do I like it? Are you an idiot?! Of course I do! But seriously, any old room would have been fine for the rest of the week."

"Suites are better and more... private."

"Ah, so you had this planned from the beginning, huh?"

He smirked, "Any room would have done just fine, but I figured we'd enjoy it more if we had a little bit more space to ourselves. So, I rented the suite..."

"Well, thank you," She grinned, kissing him lightly, "God that bed looks so good right no... for some reason I didn't get a lot of sleep last night."

"Yeah, but you had fun, didn't you?"

"That's besides the point! I'm worn out..."

"Well, go jump in that bed... and I'll be in a minute... I'm going to find some place to stash out bags and then check my voicemail. Make sure Deana didn't call... or someone else important."

She obliged without another word, and climbed into the king sized bed with the down feather blanket. He watched as her body immediately relaxed before he let himself wonder in to one of the other rooms, and pull his cell phone out.

He rolled his eyes when he seen that he had five new voicemails, and knew that at least half were from Kaleen. He'd gotten her off his back for a couple days, but now that she was back from the spa with her sister, there was no keeping her from calling.

The first one had been from the night before, telling him her sister and herself had gotten bad to North Carolina safely. He remembered when she'd called him and Brynne had been busy, so he completely ignored the call.

Not that even if they hadn't been doing what they were doing, would he have answered her call. She'd become nothing but a thorn in his side with her incessant badgering and phone calls, and he was beginning to get sick of it real fast.

All five voicemails were from her, and by the second to last one, she had begun to get so pissed off that she was cussing him out and calling him every name in the book because he hadn't answered any of the calls. It was enough to make him roll his eyes.

He deleted that one and listened as the last one started, the only sound registering for the first thirty seconds was her enraged breathing. And he knew, she'd gone from pissed to downright boiling. Her breathing was so raged and raspy it made her sound psychotic.

"Martin Truex Jr., I swear to fucking God that if you don't answer your mother fucking phone I'm going to do something to this fucking fetus of yours growing inside me. Where the fuck are you?!"

The automated voice was telling him that the message was deleted almost before she'd hung up and he shut the phone off before setting it down.

He knew she wouldn't go through with her threats; she was just looking for something to hold over his head so she would get her way.

Only this time it wasn't going work. He'd make sure of it.


*~*

The car door slammed shut as Martin and Brynne stepped out of her car. She took a second to stop in front of the car and just take in her surroundings.

The house was cute. Nothing to big or flashy, and just perfect for a little family like Peyton and Deana. Martin had confessed on the way over that he'd helped them but it after his first Busch championship to get them out of the apartment they had been living in before that.

He'd wanted Peyton to grow up in a house with a yard she could go out and play in. Not to mention, they needed the room in the back for the surprise he had for Peyton this visit to be able to run and play.

He knew she was going to love it.

Brynne's stomach twisted and turned; all the nap had succeeded in doing was making her more nervous than before. What if Deana had been wrong in saying she was sure they would get along? Whit if Peyton hated her for being with her father.

"Martin are you sure about this?"

"Don't tell me you're getting nervous."

"I'm about to meet your daughter and ex-girlfriend!! That's even worse than the parents! If the kid doesn't like the new girlfriend, then it's over..."

"Peyton's going to love you."

"How can you be so sure?" I mean- "

He leaned over and kissed her lightly, before grabbing her hand. "Trust me baby, she's going to love you. Now, let's go..."

Martin had to practically drag her up the sidewalk surrounded by flowers, and up the front steps. She could feel her palms getting sweaty and her hands shaking as he knocked on the door.

But as soon as it opened, her heart melted at the little girl standing just inside the house and the way her facial expressions changed when she saw Martin.

"Daddy!"

Brynne took a step back as they little girl flew out the door and into Martin's arms, and could feel the tears well in her eyes at the sight of the homecoming.

It was obvious to see how much they'd both missed each other in the moths they'd been apart. Pictures and phone calls just didn't do the love between father and daughter any justice.

And Brynne couldn't help but feel honored to see a side of Martin that she knew no one else outside of his family had ever seen. He was giving her a piece of him that was just for her.

This image would haunt her dreams for years to come; this could be her future. It finally dawned on her that Martin Truex Jr., could hold her future in his hands.

And she realized, she'd let herself fall... again.

*~*