Life at Best

Chapter Fifteen

This is seriously one of my favorite chapters of the story so far!!

Chapter Fifteen

It had been a few weeks since the engagement party at the track and they were nearing their last visit to Talladega until next season, and the last six races of the season. Things seemed to be going smoothly for Martin and Brynne, she was spending more time at his house than she had been at Julie and Junior's and so far there had been no arguments or fights and things seemed back to normal.

Brynne lounged on Martin's couch scrolling through her Facebook feed while she waited for him to get done showering; he had picked her up from Julie and Junior's after he left the shop for the day so the two of them could go grab something to eat and find something to do out on the town for the night.

The doorbell ringing brought her out of her social media haze and made her eyebrows raise, as she started making her way to the door yelling over her shoulder to Martin through the bathroom door. "Hey babe, are you expecting someone?"

To say the person on the other side of the door was impatient was an understatement; they rang the bell four more times and then resorted to banging their fist on the wooden door, causing Brynne to stop in her tracks. Who would bang angrily on the door? Certainly, no one who was delivering a package or a friendly visit. It was either urgent or they were pissed.

She got her answer very quickly when a very shrill female voice followed the panicked poundings on the door. "Martin Lee Truex Jr. you better come to this goddamn door! I know you're home, I see your fucking truck in the driveway!"

Kaleen.

This would be fun.

Brynne grabbed the knob and pulled the door open, dodging Kaleen's fist as she was coming in hot for another pounding of the door and not expecting it to open, and a smirk developed on Brynne's face. This was going to be good. By the look on Kaleen's face it was obvious the last person she expected to see answering Martin's door was Brynne, and not only did it throw her off, but it pissed her off, too.

"Hello Kaleen."

"What, ah – what... what the fuck are you doing here?!"

Brynne batted her eyelashes at the flustered girl, really enjoying this. As horrible as it sounded, this girl had caused her so much heartache and pain, it made Brynne feel strong and fierce to know she was now having an effect on her too. "What am I doing here? As in here at my boyfriend's house? Why wouldn't I be here, isn't that what a girlfriend does?"

"Boyfriend?" she shrieked, "Wha – what? Martin?!" Kaleen had given up talking to Brynne and just looked over her shoulder trying to find Martin within the depths of the house, "MARTIN ARE YOU IN THERE? Let me in, I need to talk to Martin!"

"I'm sorry honey, but he's in the shower right now and I'm not just going to let anyone in his house until he tells me it's alright, so you can either leave and come back another time or you can wait out here until he's done."

Call her childish, but it felt good to just put off Kaleen. She would be the bigger person another day, today she would take it as she was dealt it.

"You can't tell me to go away, I'm important to Martin! Our daughter is important, something you know nothing about so get out of my way so I can come in and talk to my child's father about something pertaining to my child, which is none of your goddamn business."

Brynne laid on the sweetness tied together with a fake smile, "Correction honey, Kinsey is important, you are not, you are just the whore who tricked Martin into getting her pregnant. Make sure you know your place in this situation. He wants nothing to do with you and only deals with you because he must in order to see his daughter. If it weren't for that you would be nothing. Goodbye." And the door closed in Kaleen's speechless face, leaving her standing on the doorstep staring.

Brynne took a deep breath and ran her hand over her face, instantly feeling guilt in the pit of her stomach... she shouldn't have stooped down to Kaleen's level, but she had to defend Martin and she had to put Kaleen in place and let her know exactly where she stood and that this relationship of Brynne and Martin's wasn't like it used to be – they communicated and she knew everything and that would continue, so Kaleen had better get used to her face because she would be seeing a lot of it from now on.

Martin found her standing in front of the door looking rattled and put his arm around her shoulder, "Hey, what's wrong?"

"I am so incredibly sorry if I made things worse for you, but I just needed to put her in her place and tell her exactly what I thought of her, and maybe I was a bit harsh, but she didn't hold back months ago when she blew up my life so I just kind of went completely off... and called her a whore... oh, and maybe closed the door in her face."

"Closed the door in who's face? Who did you call a whore babe?"

"Kaleen... she's kind of standing on the other side of the door right now," Brynne admitted sheepishly.

He hid his smile behind his hand and pulled Brynne into a hug, kissing her cheek as he pulled away. "I love you, and I love you so incredibly much more for putting her in her place and telling her off because it lets me know where your head is in all this mess, so don't worry if you pissed her off. I'm not concerned, and I really don't pay much attention to her anyway, she's generally pissed off at me over something or another most of the time anyway, so it won't make any difference. So harsh or not, don't worry... we'll deal with her together, as the team that we are, okay?"

He grabbed Brynne's hand and kissed their entangled hands, smiling when he saw a little smile break out on her lips and she laid her head on his shoulder. They would deal with it together as a team, it was all she had ever wanted and hoped for.

"Let's get this over with, shall we?"

Martin grabbed the door handle and pulled the door open, startling Kaleen who looked like she still couldn't believe that Brynne had closed the door in her face. But that didn't last for long when her eyes landed on Martin and her nostrils flared, the initial anger she felt when she was originally banging his door down returning.

"Oh, you! Do I ever have a bone to fucking pick with you Martin Truex Jr.!"

He sighed and ran his other hand over his face, obviously over her dramatics. It was something new every day with her, although this time it had to be something pretty good because normally she would try to use it as a ploy to get him to come to her house – and his way to see Kinsey – but today she had showed up at his house and it had been a long time since that had happened.

"What now Kaleen?"

"'What now Kaleen?' Really? You're really going to ask me that bullshit? How about this you asshole, this is what now!" She tossed some papers at him and continued ranting, "I can't believe you would even fucking do that, like really you are the biggest asshole in the history of the world. Do you hate me? Did I do something to make you hate me? I don't understand why Martin!"

Martin had the papers in his hand and glanced at them, recognizing the papers he had filed a couple weeks prior requesting visitation rights, and it all clicked and made sense. She must have been delivered the paperwork which meant it had officially been filed and they must have a date for mediation scheduled. But it also meant that he had a psycho baby mama standing on his doorstep ready to rip his head off for filing for visitation.

"I told you I was going to file for visitation rights Kaleen, so I don't understand why you're so surprised to get the papers saying I did."

Kaleen was a master manipulator. She knew that if she played the full circle of emotions then most likely she would get her way; it was how it had happened every other time. But not this time. He was done with her and her dramatics and especially now that he had Brynne back in his life he wasn't going to deal with it anymore. As Kinsey's father he had rights and it was about time he exercised those rights.

The tears started streaming down her cheeks – all fake he supposed – and her hands flung this way and that as she dramatically tried to get Martin to change his mind. "But why do you want to take my daughter away from me? Am I not a good mother? Do I not deserve to be a mother? I don't understand why you're doing this to me!"

Martin sighed, over this already. Brynne just stood there next to him, squeezing his hand letting him know she was there supporting him, but she had no energy left to deal with Kaleen today. She was all Kaleen'd out for lack of a better description. This girl could kill the energy of the most hyper and energetic person you could meet with her bipolar up and down moods.

"I'm not taking Kinsey away from you, Kaleen. I'm just trying to get – in writing – some visitation rights for myself. Times I can have Kinsey – at my home, around my friends and family and Brynne without you around supervising. I am fully capable as a father of having my child a couple days a week and I would like to be able to introduce her to the people that are important to me."

Her tears instantly dried when she heard Martin's explanation and the claws came out to fight. "I let you see her anytime you want to see her, Martin! I've never denied you a chance or an opportunity to see her, so don't act like I keep her away from you!"

"I don't know how many times we have to have this fight, Kaleen. Yes, you let me see her anytime I want to – on your terms. Meaning I have to come to your house or take the two of you to an appointment or to the grocery store in order to see her. I haven't gotten a chance to bond with Kinsey alone, and that's very important for a child – the chance to bond with both parents separately. She gets the chance to bond with you alone all the time, all I'm asking for is to be given the same opportunity. Or to be able to have her and have my parents come down one weekend and have them be able to meet her – hell, they have a new granddaughter who is almost four months old and they've never been able to meet her yet! Your own mother has been able to have her for weekends when you go do God knows what with God knows who and her own father can't even take her for one night – which is well within his rights. That's so messed up!"

"Are you calling me fucked up Martin?!" Kaleen screeched.

He swore, as much as he joked with there being something wrong with her, sometimes he really did wonder. "Kaleen you're putting words in my fucking mouth now and I'm getting irritated and I would really like to not let this ruin my night, so at this point I think it's best if we save this conversation for our mediation date when the professionals are there to help guide us through the process."

"Oh Martin is trying to be the bigger person now, now that he has his whore back he can act like the big man and make himself look all big and bad. Well big man, don't plan on coming to see my daughter before our mediation date then seeing as how I'm so messed up and you want nothing to do with me."

Martin really was trying to be the bigger person and to end this before it became a bigger issue, but why did she have to wait until now to finally realize he wanted nothing to do with her? Then a week from now she would act like he loved her. He just didn't get it; he just didn't get her. And as much as he thought she needed professional help and for Kinsey's sake he wanted to get her professional help, he just didn't think he could be that person anymore. He had Brynne to worry about now, and Kaleen needed to be the furthest person from his mind unless it had something to do with Kinsey.

"Have a good night Kaleen." And he shut the door in her face the same way Brynne did, and wrapped his arms around Brynne, just holding her close for a moment. Hurricane Kaleen had blown through and they both seemed to still be standing on both legs at the end.

"You good baby?"

"Yeah," Brynne sighed, "Just tired now, that whole episode just emotionally exhausted me. Just trying to keep up with her constant manic high then low and then crying episode, then all of sudden she immediately dried the tears to start a fight. Like how does it not emotionally exhaust her? Because I'm spent just witnessing it."

"Lots of years of practice, according to anyone I've ever talked to she's been this way since she was a toddler and her parents never nipped it when she was younger or got her help or couseling so this is what they get when she grows up."

"A grown up temper tantrum. Damn. Do we really have to go out now? I'm cool with ordering pizza and watching Netflix at this point. We can save the fancy date night of going out and mini golf for next week when I have more energy."

"Pizza and Netflix sounds perfect to me, so long as it involves you."

*

Julie and Brynne were walking through the coach lot at Talladega making their way towards the garage area and down towards pit road for the beginning of the first practice. They had gotten caught up in Brynne's reenacting of the whole Kaleen debacle from the other night and didn't realize practice was starting and they were supposed to meet Junior and Martin down there before they hopped in their cars. They had texted both men and told them all was well and they were in fact just being females and gabbing and gotten caught up and that's why they were running late and they were both good to get in the car and on the track and they would see them when they got out, but still they hustled along so they didn't miss too much.

It was Talladega after all, there was a chance of a practice Big One happening.

They continued to talk animatedly back and forth to each other as they walked, catching each other up on the gossip of the last two days since Brynne had stayed at Julie and Junior's so their attention was on each other and not on the person walking quickly from the right with their head down, just trying to get back to the coach in the lot they were anxiously looking for.

Brynne put her hands out to steady the person when she slammed into them, her eyes trailing from their feet up to their face and a fake smile coming into place when her eyes connected with Kaleen. The fake smile slipped a little and a light shone in her eyes when Brynne looked down and noticed the little bundle in Kaleen's arms that she had been practically marching back to wherever she had been going.

Kinsey.

"Kinsey," Brynne breathed, grabbing Julie's arm and pulling her alongside, her voice changing slightly, "Kaleen."

Brynne's hand reached out and touched Kinsey's hand, a look of surprise lighting up her face when the infant wrapped her hand around Brynne's finger and shook it with a babbly, drool-filled smile.

Brynne was absolutely gone. Lost to this little girl's eyes. She had his eyes. She couldn't drop her gaze from the baby's and she wasn't going to pull her finger back either until this little girl who had instantly captured her heart decided she wanted to let it go.

"Hello Kaleen," Julie spoke up. Best friend to the rescue.

"I don't know who the hell you are, but I don't want you two touching my baby, so excuse me..."

"Nuh uh," Julie held her hand up in front of Kaleen's face, stopping her in her tracks, "Kinsey obviously likes Brynne, you aren't going to ruin this like you ruin everything else. AND, if you let Martin have Kinsey on his own like should be happening, he could have introduced Brynne to Kinsey on his own. But since you won't let that happen, it's happening now on our terms, and... you get to watch."

Brynne took her other hand and ran it over the soft curls growing in on Kinsey's head, loving the feel of the soft baby hair under her hand. "Hello sweet girl, my name is Brynne. I'm your daddy's girlfriend." Kaleen made a little noise as if arguing with this, but Julie just glared at her and she shut her mouth and looked away from the sight of her daughter meeting Brynne for the first time, "It's so nice to meet you finally Kinsey Lynn."

The little girl cooed up at Brynne with a gummy smile and at that point Brynne knew she would move heaven and earth to make sure Martin could see Kinsey. She understood why he had been doing whatever he needed to in order to see his daughter, she was absolutely adorable.

The sweet moment was broken when Kaleen pulled Kinsey's hand off of Brynne and backed away from the pair, "If you two are done pawing at my daughter, I have to go." And she turned and stormed off, but Julie didn't miss the tears in her eyes. Brynne and Kinsey together got to her.

"Julie she was the most adorable thing ever," Brynne gushed, "Her eyes – it was like looking into Martin's eyes and those curls – ugh, I just can't. I didn't want to tell Kaleen how beautiful she was because ugh – Kaleen is just... but damn, that little girl just took my heart in that three-minute interaction."

As they walked up to pit road Brynne felt like she was floating on a cloud – it was the weirdest feeling ever and she really didn't know how to explain it. They sat down against pit wall, the sounds of the race cars lulling between them and causing them both to feel content. They were both where they were supposed to be, and Brynne couldn't help but feel as if her life was coming together.

When the boys got done with practice and the four of them were headed back towards the coach lot to jump in one of the rental cars and grab something to eat, Brynne grabbed Martin's hand eagerly, wanting his attention on her.

"What's up babe?"

"I met Kinsey today!"

"You what?"

Julie cut in to their conversation and nodded in confirmation to Martin, "Kaleen must have her here this weekend and we literally ran in to her on our way down before practice. Kinsey really took a liking to Brynne – held on to her finger and was cooing and talking and smiling at her – it was actually an adorable moment to witness."

"I wish I would have been there to witness this moment," Martin smiled. He wondered who Kaleen was here with for the weekend and if there was any way he would be able to convince her to let him take Kinsey for a couple hours. But then he remembered their argument over visitation rights the other day and sighed, probably not... but maybe he would get a chance to see his daughter at some point throughout the weekend.

"She has your eyes, they're so easy to get lost in. She's so beautiful, but I didn't want to tell Kaleen that... she already has too big of a head."

Martin laughed, "That she does, and any kind of compliment makes it get bigger. I can only imagine how your run-in made Kaleen feel... I'm surprised she stuck around long enough for you guys to even get to see Kinsey."

"Oh, don't worry," Julie said, "We made sure she stuck around. And between you and me, when she was walking away after watching her daughter – her words, not mine – bond with Brynne, I saw tears in her eyes. But that was just me."

"Maybe she's finally realizing there's bound to be other people in Kinsey's life and the longer she resists the worse it's going to be for her. I'm not going to sit by and let her run how I'm in my daughter's life forever, I was bound to get annoyed with it. Brynne just made me realize – sooner rather than later – that as Kinsey's father I had rights and I deserved those rights and it was about time for me to stand up for myself because all Kaleen was doing was walking all over me."

*

During the second practice that day Brynne had snuck off under the guise that she had had to make a phone call home to her parents; part of that statement was true – she was making a phone call but it wasn't to her parents.

"Hello, this is Rebecca with Savvy + Co Real Estate, how may I help you today?"

"Hi yes, my name is Brynne Matthews and I was in the market to find an apartment or condo in the Charlotte area... is that something you could help me with?"

"Ms. Matthews we could certainly help you with that! Do you have any ideas about what you're looking for? Size? Number of bedrooms? Amenities? Price? Location? What we can do is meet sometime next week and get an idea of what you're looking for and then as places become available we can contact you to go take a look at them, does that work for you?"

"Yes that does. I'm available Monday morning for a consult if you are open."

"How about 9am?"

Brynne smiled happily. It was time for her to do this. Time for her to get her own space and start making a life for herself again. She hoped she was making the right decision.

"9am sounds great!"

"Alright Ms. Matthews we will see you Monday morning at 9am then! Have a wonderful weekend!"

A new chance at the life she had started but had gotten disrupted by news of Kinsey's upcoming arrival. She had given Martin a second chance and now it was time to make her stay in North Carolina official.

***

By the way, all the businesses and stores I mention in the story are actual businesses in the Charlotte area!  I don't live there, but have been there quite a few times and research the heck out of the area before I write the scenes!

Also, I have a stepdaughter, so some of the situations/scenes involving Martin/Kaleen/Brynne/Kinsey are real life scenarios... I have a lot of experience lol