Whole Lot More

Chapter Thirty Nine

Chapter Thirty Nine

It was almost like clockwork. She thought by now he would have gotten sick of her voicemail message.

He obviously hadn't.

Even close to a week since the incident at the track, he still kept calling several times a day. Each time he would leave her a voicemail and each time it would say something different.

He had come a long way over the last couple of days. She still remembered the first voicemail he'd left her. The second time he had called her and let it go to voicemail, he hadn't hung up.

She had sat there on the couch - just like she still was now - and stared at the phone. She'd been surprised when he left a voicemail this time.

And she couldn't deny the part of her that instinctively made her scoop up her phone and dial her voicemail number. Even after everything, she just wanted to hear his voice.

All she'd heard across the phone line was silence. Then, he breathed, and she knew he was debating what exactly he should say. But then, he hadn't said anything.

*

It took Brynne days to realize that it had been exactly that - days. She had been sitting in the apartment for days, only getting up and going outside when Lucky had to go out.

Lucky had never left her side the entire time; they said animals were very perceptive - he knew something was wrong with his owner and he stayed by her side.

She couldn't remember if she'd gotten up and showered in those couple of days, it was almost like she was waking up from a deep sleep, clearing the fog away - to realize she'd been sitting there for days.

For days she had put everything on the backburner, and it was about time she took care of what needed to be taken care of and got her priorities in line. Yes she was hurt, but she had to push beyond that, even if for just a little while.

First priority was the club.

She'd left Tara in charge with the club and told her that she'd be back days ago. The least she had to do was call and let Tara know it was going to be a little bit longer before she was back.

With Tara watching over the club for her, she knew she could sit there and hurt all she wanted to and not have to worry about things not being taken care of.

She picked up the phone and dialed the office number to the club - it was weird calling a number she'd personally answered for as long as she could remember. Tara picked up on the second ring, and Brynne smiled.

"Fusion, this is Tara, how may I help you?"

Tara was breathing heavily, almost as if she'd had to run to get to the phone on the second ring. "You can start off by taking a couple deep breaths and calming down. It's only me, Tar."

"Brynne!"

Brynne laughed, "You couldn't have missed me that much. I haven't even not been around for two weeks yet!"

"No, it's just good to hear your voice, B. So what's up?"

"I was just calling to check up on things, see how everything is going, how business is... you know all the boring stuff a owner would only want to know about!"

"Well business has been business... Saturday night was busier than most. Other than that, its been average."

"How's the new girl working out?"

"So much better than we had originally thought she would be! The girl's broke her in and she's one of them now, it's kind of refreshing to see someone new fit in so well, so quickly."

"Yeah I agree, it doesn't normally happen like that."

Now it was Tara's turn to laugh. "So Brynne, what's the real reason you called? Because I know it wasn't for small talk, so tell me... what's up?"

"Well I just wanted to check on things and make sure everything was good before I made sure that it was okay for me to be MIA for a couple more weeks-"

"Brynne don't even worry about it! I've got things more than handled around here right now, so take as long as you want."

"Are you sure, Tar?"

"I'm more than sure! Stay away and have fun! Do you need someone to take care of Lucky for you while you're away?"

"Lucky's not a problem, he's with me actually so he's all taken care of. Thank you though. And thanks for taking care of things for me Tara, I really appreciate it."

"That's what you pay me for B. I'll see you in a little while... have fun and don't do anything I wouldn't!"

Brynne disconnected and instantly felt bad. She wanted to tell Tara what was going on so badly, but she didn't want to have to answer all the questions that would come with the news, she wasn't ready to; at least not yet.

*

They found themselves at the track the following weekend just like any other weekend; except there was only one difference - Brynne wasn't there. Junior had asked Julie to come with him and she almost felt lost without her best friend there; it had been because of Brynne that Julie had ended up in this world in the first place.

"You're quiet," he commented.

"It's weird to be here without Brynne, I mean she is basically the reason we met - her and Martin meeting for the first time after God knows how long is what made us meet."

He squeezed her hand, "And I will always be grateful to her for that."

"Aw! And to think I used to think you were a complete manwhore by what those gossip sites used to say!"

"Maybe it just takes you findin' that one person to change everything in your life." The deep emotions caused a lapse in their conversation, but not for too long. "Have you heard from her?"

"She calls me everyday, but it's always on her terms - if I just randomly call or text her she won't answer until she's ready."

"You know Martin is gonna ask you about her this weekend - because if she ain't answerin' your calls, I would almost bet money she ain't answerin' his!"

"I know, and I am prepared to tell him what I know - which isn't much at all except she is in Boston, dealing the way that she deals best."

"Is she alright?"

Julie shrugged, "She tells me she is."

"Do you believe her?"

"Honestly? No. I think she is just putting up a brave front for everyone who cares - she wants us to all think she's fine. But if I was her, I wouldn't be."

"Well Martin is worrying me, too. I don't think he is going to rest until he fixes things between Brynne and himself; I honestly think he saw a future for them - he's never thought about that with anyone else he's ever been with."

"Yeah, too bad he had to leave out from the beginning that his ex-girlfriend was pregnant - and psycho."

"He's still trying to justify that he isn't even sure if the baby is his or not."

"But lying is lying. He may still be in denial, but plain and simple he withheld the face that she was pregnant from all of us."

"I know babe, I know."

"Now while we're on the topic," Julie joked, "Do you have any skeletons in your closet that I should know about?"

Junior grinned, "I ain't got nothin' to hide!"

*

They were in Chicago that weekend; Martin and Junior had had less than stellar runs the weekend before, especially for is being at Daytona, and both were looking to rebound this weekend.

With qualifying through, and two practices down, they found themselves starting in polar opposite positions - Junior had qualified fourth and Martin was starting way back in fortieth.

Julie had managed to dodge Martin all weekend long, which happened to be especially hard when he was her boyfriend's best friend. But it wasn't going to last, and Julie knew her time was up when she saw Martin striding purposefully across the driver's lot towards her. If only she would have stayed in the coach for five more minutes...

"Hi."

"Hi Martin."

"I haven't seen you all weekend."

"I haven't really been feeling good, so I've been staying pretty close to the coach all weekend so far," Julie lied. She felt a little bad about the fact that she was boldly lying to his face - but what was she going to tell him? That she was staying close to the coach to avoid him? Then he would think she knew something more than she actually did.

"Oh I thought maybe you were just avoiding me or something."

"Martin," she sighed, "You hurt my friend, yes... but I am going to continue having to see you, so I'm not going to hold a grudge."

"Okay," Martin nodded, "Thank you. I know I fucked up bad, but I'm going to try and make it up to her; I'm going to do whatever I have to, to make her forgive me."

"It's going to take awhile, Martin..."

"I know, and I'm willing to give her all the time she needs. Have you - have you talked to her recently?"

"To be honest with you Martin, Brynne's been cutting everyone out of her life at the moment and I can't say I blame her. She's hurt and this is how she's reacting to it. I talk to her maybe once a day, but it's a very brief conversation; just enough to try and convince me she's doing fine."

"You don't believe her?"

"I don't know. She doesn't sound fine, but maybe she is. It's hard for me to tell without me being right there and at the moment she doesn't want anyone around - not even me."

"Maybe I should fly there and go see her; see for myself that she's alright..."

"Like I said Martin, she doesn't want anyone around right now; not even me and I'm her best friend. And the one thing I have learned about Brynne over the years, is that when something goes wrong she needs her space to figure things out. And if she's pushed into sorting things out, she closes herself off even more. My advice right now is to keep your distance - when she's ready, she'll come around... and not a moment before."

*

Ten laps into the race and Martin was already cursing about how much his car sucked. It had been that way from the moment they unloaded it off the truck.

One moment it would be too loose, they would correct it and then it would be too tight. No matter what they did, the car was never good enough for Martin to drive, and that just didn't bode well for the race that day.

Chicago was one place they wanted to escape from and never look back.

*

Brynne sat curled up on the couch with Lucky curled around her knees - the race on the television, keeping her entertained.

She didn't know why she did this to herself; watching Martin struggle for the second weekend in a row, upset her. She knew she was probably partially to blame for his recent bad luck - he had lost his good luck charm when she'd left.

But that reason alone wasn't enough for her to forgive and forget so quickly. No matter how much she missed him, she knew she needed her space from him and his world for awhile to heal.

Long ago she had vowed to never fall so hard, so quickly; and yet she had done it and she had gotten hurt. And now, only space and time could heal the hurt that she had left.

Her eyes left the screen and she winced when the car hit the wall with a sickening screech of metal.

*

Martin gingerly lowered himself into the cushy seat on the plane, wincing when he hadn't done so carefully enough.

They'd finally let him out of the local hospital they had transported him to after they had been worried about how hard of a hit he had taken.

It had been enough to knock him out for a few moments and give him a one way ticket to the hospital instead of the infield care center, where they proceeded to make him sit for a good two hours before they finally released him.

He was just happy to be heading home - he had thought for a little while that they were going to keep him overnight - and that was definitely the last place he wanted to spend the night. He did not like hospitals one bit.

Pulling his laptop out of its case and setting it up in his lap, he was determined to ignore the pain for as long as possible. They had prescribed him painkillers, but they made him drowsy and he was hoping to be able to wait until he got home and into his own environment before he took them.

His AIM box automatically loaded itself up on the computer and his eyes widened when it completely loaded up. Were his eyes deceiving him?

Timidly, he clicked on her name debating what he should say to her. What did you say to someone you hurt but you loved? He decided to keep it simple - for now.

MTJ: I'm sorry.
FutureMrsTruexJr: This user is no longer available.

She'd signed off - that was just his luck.

***