Lost and Found

Chapter 41

"Fine." She whispered and she entered the café, with her heart in her throat. Everything inside her was screaming for her to go back outside but Carlos was barricading the door. She had nowhere to go.

"Hey." Juliette's eyes shot up from her laptop. "Can I sit down? Or are you still busy with work?" Sara was hoping Juliette would say she was busy. Sara didn't want to as her throat felt like it was squeezed shut and she felt her heart beating in her temple.

"Oh, no. I'm just checking my mailbox. It's not important though. Have a seat." Sara forced a smile, she had never been so nervous in her life. Not even for her job interview with Vogue.

"Congratulations on the championship by the way. It must be awesome to be a part of such a successful team." IT was forced, everything Sara did was forced by the fact that she knew Carlos was sitting outside and wouldn't let her get away without giving it a shot.

"Yeah, thanks. We worked hard for it." It remained silent for a few moments. "How are you?" Sara considered her words. She didn't want to bring the mood down in any way, the best choice was just to keep it light and funny.

"I-" She swallowed away the lump in her throat in an attempt to not sound as nervous as she felt. "I'm okay. Being back at the track was weird but I'm happy for Carlos that he finally managed to get a podium. And Pierre of course. So thank Lewis for me please." Juliette chuckled softly.

"It was a stupid mistake, but it does nothing to me. I mean, the podium was just one of the best podiums of the year." Sara had to bite her tongue. A good result in the bin for the team and it did her nothing. Her breathing slightly increased and it seemed like Juliette noticed her change in behaviour. "It's unfortunate Lewis didn't end up on the podium, it was disappointing to the tea. But it was worth it. And we all love that podium, it's just different from the normal. It's Verstappen, Pierre and Carlos. Who would have thought? Even as a team, we like it."

"I sure liked it, let me tell you that." Sara forced herself to calm down, though with the adrenaline coursing through her veins she was having a hard time. It was not like the past, she just liked this podium better. It wasn't because she was simply indifferent. "It is the first good thing that happened in this sport since..." She stopped, blinking the tears that suddenly started brimming away. "Since Anthoine." Sara chuckled sadly. "Did you know Anthoine tried to get us together like this in Spa? He set us up without us knowing. The bastard." Juliette reflected the emotional look on Sara's face.

"Yeah, George Russell told me that... I can't believe he did that." The tension was thickening the air so much that Sara felt like it closed off the oxygen to Sara's lungs.

"Would you like something to drink?" The waiter stopped beside their table and Sara nodded. She needed a cup of coffee. Whether it was a smart idea was something entirely different, but she needed it.

"Yes, please. Can I have a latte macchiato?" The waiter wrote down the order and then looked at Juliette but she didn't want any8thing. They were both avoiding the topic they needed to talk about. Sara looked outside. To do what she wanted to do she needed just that little encouragement from the Spaniard outside who hid in his coat and hat against the cold wind. He raised his thump at her and Sara took a deep breath. "Was it me?" Sara had told herself so many times to not be the first to start about all of it. She didn't want to start about it without knowing whether Juliette felt just as bad about it as she did. But then again, why would she have emailed and called if she wouldn't have felt as bad about it?

"What was it you did?" Juliette frowned at the three little words. The train of words that went through Sara's head in an attempt to come up with the perfect words to explain what she was getting at got disrupted when the waiter placed down her coffee.