Sunday morning we decide to fly to Monaco after de race. I'm really glad, because the next race is in two weeks in Spain en a week later in Monaco so we've got quite a lot of time to unwind and recharge.
Daniels parents called and they are coming over next week and will also join us in Barcelona, I'm excited to meet them, but it's also a bit scary. I really want them to like me, we talk on the phone quite often, but in real life it's still different.
The race has been quite exciting. Unfortunately no points for the team with Lando getting hit by Pierre, so he couldn't finish and Daniel ending outside of the top 10.
So not the best weekend, but Miami definitely made an impression so far.
That evening we get in the plane for our 10 hour flight back to Nice and then we can sleep in our own bed again.
Even though I've only slept in it a few nights, it does feel like our home and our bed.
LA was also home, but that felt more like Daniels home, Monaco is officially my home now as well.
I'm glad we have a smooth flight, I'm not as nervous as I was at first, so I guess I'm getting used to it.
We arrive in Nice at 12 in the afternoon, I was able to sleep during the flight, so I feel rested for now. The time is quite weird because I miss like 6 hours. But that's just the time difference between Miami and Monaco.
When we are standing in front of the door of the apartment Daniel unlocks the door and then without a warning he picks me up bridal style.
"What are you doing?" I ask quickly clinging to his neck.
"I'm carrying you over the threshold." He answers as it it's nothing special at all.
"But we are not married, you should do that when you're married. For as far as I know." He is not putting me down though.
"Don't care, we are officially living together so I thought this would also be a fitting moment to do this." He pushes the door open with his back and carefully carries me inside.
He puts me back on my feet in the living room and pulls me close with his arms around my waist.
"Welcome home baby."
Well that definitely turned me into a puddle. The butterflies in my stomach are bouncing all over the place. Every time I think I can't love him more he proves me wrong.
He softly presses his lips on mine and we lose ourselves in a loving embrace.
My phone starts to buzz, which interrupts us, but I see it's my mom so I decide to pick up.
"Hey mom how are you and dad doing?"
Hello darling. We are very good. The cruise is almost ending and we will get off the ship in Nice on Thursday morning. We thought we could visit you before we fly back home." She sounds very enthusiastic.
"That would be nice, how long will you be staying?" I ask her, it would be nice to officially introduce Daniel to my parents.
"Only a couple of hours. We booked a flight to the UK for Thursday evening. But at least we can see you again. It feels like ages."
"Hang on mom I have to ask Daniel if we have anything planned yet." I put her on hold and turn to Daniel.
"My parents cruise is going to finish in Nice this Thursday morning and they would like to visit for a couple of hours before their flight home leaves in the evening. Do you have any obligations Thursday?"
He checks his planning and shakes his head.
"No Thursday is empty, so yeah let them come over, I would like to meet them." I give him a quick peck on the cheek before getting my mom back on the phone.
"We are free Thursday so we would love to see you."
"Brilliant, I will text you the time we will get there. We've already rented a car so we can drive to you. Send me the address and we are going to see you in a few days." She hangs up and I text her the address so I can't forget.
"Let's put our stuff away and then maybe we can go for a walk and we need some groceries I think." I look around the room where our suitcases are. We pick them up and unpack everything for now.
We walk to the beach with a big blanket so we can make ourself comfortable.
It's so nice just sitting here, my back against Daniels chest and I just feel like I'm home.
If I could stay like this forever I wouldn't mind at all.
The next few days we just enjoy ourselves and time with just the two of us. I'm still trying to get rid of my jetlag, something Daniel doesn't seem to have at all. But I guess he's used to all the traveling and different time zones. At least I have plenty of time to lose mine before we go to. Baku is still almost 4 weeks away and there's not a lot of difference in time there. Canada is a bit different though, but after Canada it will be a lot of European races before summer break. So that gives me time to recover from Canada.
Eventually I will get used to it.
Wednesday Lando invites us over for dinner and just some fun. I love spending time with Lando as well, we text pretty much every day and we really grew close as friends. I feel more like his big sister every day and I just love him like a brother.
We arrive at Lando's a bit early, when he opens the door he pulls me in for a tight hug.
"Hey sis, it feels like I haven't seen you in ages."
"I know, I just had to get rid of this jetlag that's been bothering me, I'm alright now though so I'm looking forward to this dinner of yours. Have you been cooking it?" I ask anxiously, because then I might also get food poisoning.
"Nah I would never do that to you. I ordered something." He laughs and we follow him inside.
"Haven't you unpacked yet?" I ask surprised when I see his suitcases just standing there.
"No everything was clean when I flew home, so I might as well leave it packed so I don't have to do that for Barcelona anymore." He shrugs.
I roll my eyes, "you are lazy, but hey it's your life. I won't stick my nose into it."
"Good. Hey wanna try something fun?" He asks me and I raise my eyebrows.
"Always, but I don't know if your idea of fun is the same as mine."
He grabs my hand and almost drags me towards a small room. When I walk in I see his computer and gaming equipment.
"Wanna try being a race driver yourself?"
"Oooh I'm so in. Yeah set it up for me, let's see if I can keep it on the track myself." I take a seat on his chair and Lando makes sure everything is set up so I can try it without it being too hard.
It's pretty cool, he has a steering wheel and pedals, so it almost feels like I'm really driving.
He picks some easy circuits for me and I get going.
At first it's a bit difficult braking in time and following the race line, but pretty soon I get the hang of it and I can actually put in some decent laps.
"This is so much fun. I might get something like this myself." I say enthusiastically when I finished my last laps.
"And where do you want to put it?" Daniel asks me.
"Well maybe in the spare bedroom?" I suggest while trying my puppy eyes on him again.
"You should know by now those don't work on me." He sounds so cocky.
"How about this." And I bite my lower lip.
He quickly pulls me in and smashes his lips on mine. His tongue finds his way in between my lips, but then we hear Lando.
"No guys! If you are going to suck each other's face you can do that at your own place!"
We smile and I turn around. "You're right I'm sorry."
"It's fine. I'm still super happy for the both of you."
There's a knock on the door and Max comes in with Charles and Charlotte.
Charlotte and I immediately start chatting. She is so much younger than me, but it doesn't matter for us. We clicked from the first moment and she has been my friend since I got here.
"So tomorrow your parents will be here right? She asks me when we go to the balcony together.
"Yeah, it's nice to spend some time with them, but I have been spending all day tidying the apartment." I shake my head, "Daniel must have thought I lost my mind."
"I'm sure he didn't, but now I understand why you look tired again. Have you been sleeping well since you got home?" Everybody keeps pointing out the face that I look tired.
"I have, I'm fine. I'm just really glad to be home. We've spend the last couple of days with just us and I loved every minute of it. We went to bed early, even though we might not always went to sleep right away." I wink and Charlotte bursts into laughter.
"Oh my you two would be the perfect characters for a spicy romantic story."
Lando calls us inside because the food arrived and we have a nice night with each other.
The next morning I wake up way too early. I don't understand why I'm nervous that my parents are coming over. They will love Daniel and I don't think the place has ever looked more sterile than it does now.
Daniel goes for a run and I decide to join him, maybe that can ease my mind a bit.
My mom texts me that they came of the boat and will be there in an hour.
I can't sit still so I keep going around the apartment to see if there's something I can clean up.
"Baby sit down, you are making me nervous and I was fine." He pulls me on the couch besides him, but then there's a knock on the door and I jump up again.
Daniel grabs a pillow and puts it in front of his face. I can hear a muffled groan and I can't help myself, but he just makes me laugh.
"Come on, handsome let's open the door." I grab his hand and drag him off the couch.
"Love you baby." He gives me a quick kiss and then we go to open the door.
"Hello darling." My mom comes in and she gives me a light peck on the cheek.
Little background on my parents, I had a nice childhood, my parents always made sure we had everything we needed, but they never were the warmest parents.
Sure when I got stabbed they were there and my mom was acting all sad and stuff, but somehow it always feels like she only does that because that's how you suppose to act as a mom.
So I love them, because they are my parents, but as soon as my brother and I moved out they aren't really in our lives a lot.
Which is fine, they retired and have been traveling around the world. They worked hard enough for that, so they deserve it. But besides watching F1 with my dad, there wasn't much we did as a family.
My dad has always been more involved as my mom, with my dad it feels more like he actually wants to be there, for my mom it mostly feels she does things because she has to.
I've always tried so hard to make her proud, but I don't know if she is. Yeah maybe now, being with Daniel sure is something that she will like.
"Hi mom, hi dad. It's good to see you. How was the cruise?" I hug my dad and my mom has already moved her attention to Daniel.
"Well hello Daniel." She pulls him in for a hug and gives him a kiss.
Of course she is a lot more enthusiastic greeting him, but I already expected that.
"Nice to meet you Mrs. Hayes, Mr. Hayes." He shakes my dads hand.
"Oh just call me Rick, it's really amazing to meet you." My dad is almost drooling over Daniel and I roll my eyes.
"And I'm Karen, how did my daughter manage to reel you in? I'm sure you can date supermodels or celebrities." And there she goes. I try not to let it get to me, but hearing your mom say something like that, like I'm not good enough for him, does really hurt.
"I'm more in shock that I was able to reel her in to be honest." He smiles politely, but I can see his jaw tense up. He was definitely not happy with that comment my mom made.
"Sure you are." The way my mom smiles, with a skeptical look on her face says enough. She can't believe someone like Daniel could ever be interested in someone like me.
"Your daughter is the best thing that ever happened to me. She has made my life better in every way possible. I love her deeply and I am going to spend the rest of my life with her. Whether you believe it or not. That is, if she wants to of course."
He definitely does not like my mom very much. But the way he talks about me to her makes me tear up. I just don't want to cry in front of them, so I hold back my tears.
"Do you guys want to go out for some lunch? We can show you Monaco a bit." I suggest and my dad is up for it.
"I guess, but I would like a tour through the apartment. To see where my daughter has been hiding lately." I take them both with me to show the place. It doesn't take long, because it's not that big and my mom seems a bit disappointed.
"I thought it would be bigger." She says and Daniel explains that he is traveling so much and he was living her alone for so long that it has been big enough for now.
"I like that it's not huge. At least I don't get lost here and for the 2 of us it's more than enough space." I really do love this place, I'm putting more of myself in every day and it's really our safe haven now.
We finally head out and take my parents on a walk through town. This is something my mom does like. We also show them the marina and eventually we end up having lunch in a nice bistro.
When we get the check my mom actually leans back and I can tell she expects Daniel to pay. Which he does, because we invited them to have lunch with us, but I feel so embarrassed by the way she is acting right now.
They decide to head back to Nice after we walk back to the apartment. So far for having missed me so much. But I'm also glad, because I'm too tense when I'm around her that it's better they don't stay too long.
"Have a safe flight home. I'll come visit when we are in the UK again."
My dad hugs me, my mom only hugs Daniel although he doesn't seem to pleased with that. The entire lunch she was going on about how much he must make per year and if he is planning on getting a bigger apartment or a house somewhere. She knows he has the house in LA, I think she almost asked if they could use that as a holiday home, but that might have been just one step too far even for her.
Also my dad kinda helped with that. Sometimes I really don't know how they managed to stay married for so long.
When they drive away I let out a sigh of relief.
Daniel puts his arm around my waist and holds me tight against him. He kisses me on the top of my head.
"I know she is your mom and all, but the way she treats you is wrong in so many ways."
"In my head I know you're right. But I still want her to approve of me for some reason." We walk back inside, "I just hope I don't turn out like her when we have kids."
We are standing in front of the elevator and Daniel turns to me and softly grabs my chin so I look up at him.
"You have more love and compassion in your little finger than your mom has in her entire body. Our kids are going to be the luckiest children in the world having you as their mom. Don't you ever doubt that." He gives me a kiss and we go back upstairs.