Playing With Fire

By the time Amber left the office Tuesday evening, she had to head straight to Martin’s house. Time had gotten away from her and there was no way she could make it to her apartment and still make it to his house on time. As she pulled out of the Stewart-Haas parking lot, she prayed that she wouldn’t get lost.

With Daytona already done with, the season was officially in full swing. Steve’s assistant had the flu so her morning had started helping him get things ready for the competition meeting. After lunch she had to help Janie, Tony’s PR rep, get him to a string of interviews and a photo shoot. By the time she’d finally gotten to her own paper work it had been three in the afternoon.

As she drove to Mooresville, she was suddenly aware of the clouds that were building. It is going to rain tonight, She thought, praying that it would only rain and not snow. If it snowed her drive to work the next morning would be miserable.

The drive gave Amber a chance to think. She was still trying to sort out what to tell Tony and so far she wasn’t having any luck. The plus side was that both of them had so much to get done before they headed for Phoenix that there was little down time to have to worry about it.

When Amber pulled into Martin’s driveway, it was five minutes till seven. She sighed in relief before killing the car’s engine and getting out. She was thankful that not only had she not hit much traffic that would have made her late. She was also thankful that she hadn’t gotten lost trying to find his house. When she reached his door, she knocked and waited.

“Right on time,” Martin said, opening the door with a smile.

“Well I do what I can. I’m just glad I didn’t get lost on the way over here.”

“Did you think you would?”

“I thought I might. I’m not exactly the best with directions.”

As they walked into Martin’s kitchen, he noticed the Stewart-Haas polo she was wearing. “You came here straight from work didn’t you?”

“Yeah. It was busy today and there was no time to run home when I got done. I had to help get Dad to media appearances.”

Martin chuckled, “I’m sure that was fun.”

“More than a barrel full of monkeys,” After they’d sat down to eat, Amber decided to start asking Martin questions, “So how old were you when you started racing?”

“Twelve.”

“Go karts?”

Martin grinned, “You sure you don’t already know this? You can google everything.”

“I have no idea where to start with the whole getting to know each other process. I already know a lot about you. I even know that embarrassing moment you had in Florida that one year. Dad was helpful for that.” She returned his grin.

Martin groaned, diverting his eyes. “I was hoping you would have forgotten that ever happened by now.”

“I’m sure you know something embarrassing about me.”

“I wouldn’t call it embarrassing, but I have seen a picture of you as a baby where you were laying on your stomach with your butt sticking up in the air.”

The tea Amber had just taken a drink of nearly came out of her nose. “Where,” She took a deep breath, “did you see that?”

“Your Dad’s wallet. He’s shown just about everyone he likes in the garage area. He has ‘my little stinkbug’ written on the back.”

“Oh my God,” Amber groaned, “I could have went my entire life without knowing that. How am I going to look those guys in the eye and talk to them seriously ever again?”

Martin laughed. “Half of them have their own kids, Amber. Trust me no one takes you any less seriously for it. Hell, half of us have watched you grow up.”

“Its still going to take time to recover from that little piece of information,” Amber went silent for a few minutes. “This is so awkward.”

“Why?” Martin asked, suddenly getting a feeling of dread. Maybe she had decided that everything he’d already pointed out was too much.

“Because I don’t know where to start to get to know you or what questions to ask. I already know most of the things I’d ask about because I’ve been around you so long.”

“I thought you were going to say it was awkward because of something else. Lets not worry about asking the usual questions then. This isn’t exactly the usual first date.”

Amber paused again. “I never in a million years thought that I’d ever actually be on a date with you.”

Martin smiled sheepishly, “Sorry that its just in my house and not exactly the proper first date.”

“I told you this was fine. Besides this really isn’t something I want the entire sport to know about. We need to figure things out ourselves first.”

“Well at least if they found out it wouldn’t be news outside of the garage.”

Amber laughed, “Wanna bet? You think that wouldn’t make news somewhere?”

“Why do you think it would?”

“When Dad grabbed DeLana’s butt on TV last year there were stories run about how DeLana and Kevin might be getting divorced because of it, how Kevin was tired of it, and there was an affair. Could you imagine the gossip headlines about us? Martin Truex Jr. dating Tony Stewart’s daughter, Stewart vows revenge. Truex vs. Stewart, Tony threatens to take Truex out.”

Martin couldn’t help but laugh, “I hadn’t thought of that.”

“You know, for someone that dislikes media appearances so much, when NASCAR makes a gossip column or website Dad is usually involved.”

“It is pretty funny though. We’ve gotten some good jokes about it from the headlines.”

Amber laughed, “Ain’t that the truth. But, Martin,” Her voice turned serious, “if we do decide to go public that is something we’re going to have to deal with. If they made a big deal out of the thing with DeLana, which isn’t new or hidden, it will make at least one headline.”

Martin looked down at his plate, “I hadn’t thought of that before you said it. Just another thing we’ve got to be ready to deal with.”

“Maybe, maybe not. We don’t even know if things are going to work out between us and I see no point in telling anyone and making a big deal out of anything until we do.”

“Once again, you’re so positive. Are you an optimist or a pessimist because sometimes it’s hard to tell.”

“I’m a realist. Plus you’re still trying to get over things like the age difference and my Dad,” She noticed Martin was going to protest. “Don’t even try to deny it. With the exception of the picture, when Dad comes up you tense up. You might not realize it but you do. And I know you’re trying to get over the age difference and I get that. You basically watched me grow up and I’m sure that is awkward. I’m barely a year older than your little brother, once again awkward. You’re thirty two and I’m twenty one and I understand how that can be awkward for you. I get it.”

“You seem a lot more mature than twenty-one.”

Amber shrugged, “Yeah well no matter how hard Dad tried to not let me grow up too fast it was bound to happen. It was just me and him and that meant that I had to grow up faster than he wanted me to. I started cooking when I was fourteen because I was tired of leftovers for dinner seventy-five percent of the time and I started helping him with businesses at fifteen. If you ask him, he regrets letting it happen but I don’t. Being there to watch running his teams, getting the partnership for SHR and when he bought Eldora was amazing for me. But I did mature a little faster than some of my friends.”

“How is none of this awkward for you though?” Martin watched as Amber thought, taking small bites of her own food as she seemed to think things over.

“Because I had time to adjust. I had four years to get used to the fact that I liked someone that was my Dad’s friend. How long have you had to adjust to not seeing me as your friend’s daughter anymore or the fact that you're interested in someone that much younger than you?”

“Less than a year.”

“There is your answer.”

“I guess you’re right but it’s a lot easier to forget about that stuff whe-” Before Martin got the chance to finish what he was saying her cell phone started ringing.

“I’m sorry, I thought I turned the ringer off,” She reached into her purse to get it.

“I’m sure with your job there is no such thing as a break.”

“Nope. I’ve gotta answer it, its Dad.” She stood up from the table and walked into Martin’s living room, feeling embarrassed that her phone had rang. “Hello?” She answered the phone.

“I tried calling your apartment and you aren’t there. I got worried,” Tony’s voice sounded relieved. “I was wondering if you wanted to go with me to grab something for dinner.”

“I can’t, Dad. I’m actually having dinner with a friend.”

Martin stood in the entrance to the living room, watching Amber talk to Tony. He noticed that she looked a little fidgety. She kept chewing on the nails of her free hand in between answering Tony’s questions.

“I’m so sorry,” She apologized again after hanging up, “I thought I’d put it on silent.”

“It’s a ringing phone, not the end of the world. It’s no problem. You’ve got to relax.”

Amber laughed, “Like I’m capable of doing that.”

“How about we finish dinner and then head to the garage?”

“How’d you know I love cars?”

“The entire garage knows you love cars,” Martin chuckled.

***

“This car is gorgeous,” Amber said, looking under the hood of Martin’s corvette, “How long have you had it?”

Martin chuckled, “I bought shortly after I started running Cup at DEI. You know I don’t think I’ve ever had a date be so enthralled with one of my cars before. Its kinda hot.”

Amber laughed, “The last guy I went out with had a problem with it. Said my attention should be focused on him and not the car.”

“What a jerk. So your Dad hasn’t asked any more questions?”

“No. I told him I’d tell him when I figure out how to explain it. We’re good for a while.”

Martin watched as she seemed to inspect the engine with more interest than he’d expected. His attention, on the other hand, was solely on her. Tony had always said that Amber looked more like her mother than like him and in ways Martin could see that. Amber’s hair was a dark auburn and her eyes were blue, both traits she had gotten from her mother while the shape of her eyes and ears were both from Tony.

“What?” Amber asked, straightening her back out and looking at Martin. He was giving her that look she’d seen before. She was sure he was trying to figure out which physical features were her mom’s and which were Tony’s.

“Nothing.”

“You sure you’re not trying to make sure that I don’t look too much like Dad?”

“I’m not trying to make sure you don’t look too much like Tony. I just remember your dad saying that you looked more like your mom than him.”

“Some of that is what he wants to see. I look like him in ways too. I definitely got a lot of his personality.”

Martin chuckled, “I’ll give you that one. I guess it’s a good thing your Dad and I get along so well huh?”

Amber smiled, “Yeah. But I’m not going to lie. I’m keeping my fingers crossed you end up getting along better with me.”

“Don’t think you’ll have to do much finger crossing for that.”

Amber walked towards him. “Oh really?” She crossed her arms, “How sure are you about that, Truex?”

“Its just a hunch,” Martin pushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “I still can’t believe this is happening.”

Amber rolled her eyes. “Will you just let it go already? Either you want to try this or you don’t.”

“I want to,” Martin leaned in to kiss her.

“I’ve got to go, Martin. I have to be at the shop early tomorrow morning.”

“Alright. Any chance I’ll see you before Phoenix?”

“Doubt it. But I’ll definitely see you at Phoenix.”

“Okay. I’ll walk you out to your car.”

After Amber left Martin went back into his house with a million thoughts running through his mind. When he was with Amber it wasn’t hard to not think about the fact that she was Tony’s daughter or the age difference. But when they were apart it would get to him. How long would it be before either Amber couldn’t take hiding it or someone else found them out and told Tony? Martin was afraid that it couldn’t be long before Tony found out and Martin was sure the reaction wasn’t going to be a happy one.

As Amber drove her mind was also trying to sort through her own thoughts. She needed to tell her dad something and she needed to do it soon. She’d be safe from questions the next day because of Tony’s busy schedule but then they were facing a long flight to Phoenix.

By the time she was close to her apartment she’d figured out what she was going to tell her dad. She decided that talking to him on the plane Thursday would be the best time and told herself she’d bring it up then. As she pulled into the apartment complex’s parking lot she decided that her plan would work.

As soon as she killed the vehicle’s engine, she sat back in her seat and closed her eyes with a smile. She wanted to take a moment to let the evening’s events sink in. I just had a date with Martin Truex Jr. Holy crap, she thought.