Life at Best

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Brynne sat in Junior's motor coach with Julie making a plan of attack for what needed to be done the following week. They had a list of places they wanted to call and set up appointments while they were home from the track; the most important being finding the boutique where they would find Julie a dress, and once that was complete they had to find Brynne's bridesmaid dress.  On top of all that there was still the invitations, the cake, the catering and the flowers to worry about.

Luckily the guys attire wouldn't be as hard, all they had to do was con the two of them into going to the tuxedo rental store to get fitted and the rest of the work would be done for them; that was not nearly as complicated as having to try on dress after dress to find the perfect one.

Julie hung up her phone and grinned at Brynne, "We have an appointment at Hayden Olivia Bridal on Tuesday morning!"

Brynne couldn't help the smile that graced her face at Julie's reaction, her friend's excitement and joy emanated through to Brynne. "I'm so happy that you're happy."

Her best friend's eyes met Brynne's, a little of the joy dimming - she wished she could share this happiness with her best friend.  "I remember you being this happy once upon a time Brynne; I'd give anything for you to get back there..."

"So would I, but unfortunately it's not that easy to break down all these walls once they're up... I feel like we have to start from square one and there's nothing I can do about it. My heart can forgive, but it can't just as easily forget."

"Well I'll just hope that being stuck around each other so much for the wedding will give you ample opportunities to feel him out and see what's really going on and where he stands."

She thought back to their lunch the other day and internally sighed, "Oh I'm sure it will."

Julie stared at her questioningly, but didn't get a chance to pursue more information than what Brynne had already told her as the coach door popped open and Junior walked up on the bus, "You ladies done for the day?"

Brynne looked at Julie who shrugged, "We could be babe, why what's up?"

"Cook out at the Harvick's, everyone's going to be there... wanna go?"

The girls shrugged and closed up their wedding plans, figuring they could come back to it later in the weekend, "Let us change quickly and we'll be right back out," Julie told him, kissing him quickly before heading to the back to change her clothes.

"Who all is going to be there?" Brynne asked him.

He shrugged, "The usual suspects." But by the way he didn't completely meet her eyes; she knew Martin was going to be there without him saying so.

"You can say his name, Junior. I'm not going to shatter into a million pieces if you do. Martin and I have seen each other a couple times since I've gotten here – the first time might not have been on purpose but then we went out to lunch this week. I'm okay with seeing him, and if it gets too overwhelming I'll just head back here, but really I'm okay especially when we're in public and in large crowds."

"Alright then, Martin will be there... and all the usual suspects," he chuckled.

"Are we ready?" Julie asked, walking from the back of the bus in a completely different outfit.

"Ready when you are, babe."

*

Brynne saw him as soon as they walked up to the Harvick's coach, and he caught her eyes as soon as she was within his eyesight. There was going to be no hiding out and hanging out to get her bearings before she talked to him.

She grabbed a drink and walked over, sitting down next to him as she pulled her glasses down off the top of her head to shield her eyes. That was going to have to be her cover from his imploring eyes, it was the only cover she could find at the moment.

"Hey."

"Hi," she said quietly.

"Haven't talked to you since lunch the other day."

Brynne glanced at him quickly, trying to see the look on his face after that statement – was he pissed or annoyed or something else? But his face gave away nothing. "I've been busy helping Julie with wedding stuff, besides I didn't see you trying to get ahold of me at all."

He chuckled, shaking his head slightly, "To be honest Brynne, after how we left lunch off I was waiting to hear from you first. I know what I feel; you are the one who has to realize I'm for real and not messing around with you and that I'm here just wanting to be with you. I didn't want you to feel like I was pushing you somewhere you didn't want to go or that I was suffocating you, so I just kind of... kept my distance for a few days."

She sat back against the back of the chair and sighed a little, "Well I appreciate it... everything is still kind of jumbled in my head and I don't really know which way is up and which way is down. I've just been kind of taking it day by day and going with the flow of everything to see where it takes me."

"I'd still like to talk about what happened and tell you my side of things when you feel up to it. I know that you know the basics, but at some point I want to give you the details, lay my hand out there so you know I'm for real and not keeping things from you."

Brynne held her breath for a minute before letting it out with a whoosh, "Let's have dinner this week and we can talk. I think – maybe I'm ready to talk about it."

"You sure?"

She nodded as Julie walked over towards them and sat down in the chair directly next to Brynne. "I wasn't interrupting, was I?" Julie asked with a grin.

Brynne rolled her eyes and laughed, "Not at all Jules, not at all."

Julie laughed knowing she had in fact been interrupting, but maybe her best friend had needed the save.

*

Martin was walking back to his coach after a fun night of hanging out with Brynne, Julie, Junior and the rest of the gang when something – or rather someone – caught his eye across the coach lot. He felt the blood rising to his face as he stormed across the lot and grabbed her by her elbow.

"Kaleen, what the hell are you doing here?"

She turned around and grinned at him, looking pretty damn proud of herself, "What do you mean Martin? Why can't I be here?"

"Because I want you nowhere near me and where the hell is Kinsey?"

Kaleen rolled her eyes and huffed as she yanked her arm out of his hand, "For your information she is with my mother for the weekend and I am here seeing a friend who invited me to come here for the weekend."

"Oh yeah?" he laughed, "Who would be stupid enough to invite your skanky ass anywhere? Everyone around here knows who you are and knows they shouldn't go anywhere near you! So why don't you try that again! And, don't you think I should be informed if my daughter is going to be anywhere for a whole weekend?"

"Well Martin, don't you think you lost that right when you walked out on us?"

He rolled his eyes, "I walked out on you Kaleen, long, long ago. But I have never walked out on my daughter and I never will, and I think I should be involved in these decisions, maybe I would have wanted to take her for the weekend, since you obviously were so quick to just hand her off to someone else so you could go whoring around."

"I'll remember that the next time."

"There won't be a next time," he spat at her, "She should be your number one priority and if you can't commit to that then maybe she shouldn't be with you all the time! Maybe I should go and file for custody! Hell at least then I'd be able to see her more than when I go to your house to see her, because I certainly can't stand your ass!"

"That's your loss then Martin, and I'm on to find someone who can stand me.  Seems like people like to toss that around when it's convenient for them, but when they're between my legs it certainly seems like they can stand my ass."

"You mean trick someone into it? This isn't a coincidence Kaleen, there's so many people in the world and you really have to start shacking up with another driver so now once again you're thrust into my life where I don't want you?"

"Everything isn't always about you Martin!"

"You'll have to do a lot to convince me of that when it comes to you Kaleen, you have been pretty much stalking and trying to blackmail me for months, why would I think it's just a coincidence that you find a new boyfriend in the same profession as I am."

Let alone that it was the first weekend that Brynne was back at the track. No, this certainly wasn't a coincidence but the work of the psychopath that she was, whether she wanted to admit it or not.

The door behind her opened and he stuck his head out, calling her name. She smirked at him as she called over her shoulder to him that she was coming. Oh yeah, she'd managed to drag someone else in with her, and he felt really sorry for the guy.

"Stay away from me!" he yelled at her retreating back.

*

Brynne climbed up into Junior's coach and flopped herself on the couch with a sigh. Of course, she had started to believe that he was telling her the truth about being done with Kaleen and wanting nothing to do with her.

Too bad the scene she had just walked by didn't back up his answers. Kaleen and Martin had been in a full out heated conversation as she walked by them, complete with Martin gripping her arm to keep her where she was.

She knew she should have given him a chance to explain himself, but he hadn't seen her and she couldn't help the empty feeling in her stomach.

Had she let him sweet talk her to only have him be lying to her behind her back about his involvement in Kaleen's life? She understood that they had a kid together, what reason did Kaleen have to be at the track again?

She sunk into the couch and closed her eyes, trying to turn off her brain so she could get some sleep without letting her mind run wild with the possibilities.

The chances of that were really slim though.

***

Well... we've taken a tiny step in the wrong direction and Kaleen has made her "reappearance" in Martin's life... will she ever go away?