Christian ends the meeting and Stevie decides to head into the kitchen to get to know the people working there.
She has briefly met Delores, but not the rest of the crew.
Just when she wants to go over to the kitchen somebody gently grabs her arm. The large hand that is wrapped around her wrist, sends sparks through her entire body. It can only be one person causing this.
She turns around and she sees exactly who she expected to see. She stares directly into those beautiful brown orbs that are Daniel's eyes.
"Hi there. You didn't mention you would be here and possibly work for the team last week."
"Because I didn't know it yet. I was thinking about it. I still am."
Daniel just can't wrap his head around how breathtakingly beautiful she is.
These last days he has been going back and forth, trying to make up his mind on whether to forget about her or not.
It was pointless though. He already knew he would never be able to just forget about her.
And now she is here and all he can think of is how badly he wants her to stay with the team.
"So how can we make sure you stay?" He asks her.
"I don't know, probably let me get to know the kitchen and the people working in it first."
He's not really sure how to react to that. She sounded a bit cold, like she doesn't want to talk to him.
Did he say something wrong? He was just being nice to her.
She invited Seb over for dinner last night. Does that mean she is interested in Seb and not in him? Seb told him he wasn't ready for a relationship and he knew that Daniel is interested in getting to know her. What if that was all bullshit and there is something going on between them.
He wouldn't blame Seb, but it would definitely hurt.
Just when he wants to turn around and walk away she smiles at him and puts her hand on his arm.
"I'm about 80% sure I'm going to accept the job. I was just going to meet everybody who works in the kitchen and start making plans for the menus this weekend. I'm sure we will be able to talk a bit more later. But by the looks of your press officer, you have to go."
She looks over his shoulder where Charlotte is about to lose her mind.
They only have a few more minutes before he has to be in the press conference, so he really should get going.
He can feel the warmth of her hand on his arm and he also feels those sparks again.
If only he could stay here with her touching him, but he can't. And she is right, she should get to know the people she's going to work with.
"Yeah you are right. I would love to catch up and hear all about how this all started, maybe we can have some coffee later? How do you drink yours? With lots of milk?" He asks her and she scoffs.
"Hell no, black and strong, with a bit of sugar. If I'm still here when you're done we can have a coffee."
His heart makes a little jump, so it's not that she doesn't want to talk to him and she is very likely to stay which makes him beyond happy.
He also knows Charlotte is not beyond happy with him at all right now so he really should go.
Now he doesn't mind so much, knowing he will see a lot more of Stephanie this weekend and maybe the rest of the season.
So he quickly says bye for now and follows Charlotte who is grumbling because now they have to hurry to be in time.
But not even her being cross with him can dampen his mood. Stephanie is here and it instantly made his weekend ten times better than it was.
"You know there were pictures of you with her on the beach going around social media last week right? And then people started to speculate who she was when you went over to here to celebrate your pole and she was also filmed standing with the team at your podium ceremony." Charlotte causally mentions.
He didn't know, because he hasn't been on social media since, well, a while. He only posts stuff on there every now and then, but he doesn't really check what is posted by others. Especially not the gossip stuff.
He sighs, it feels like every move he makes is put under a microscope to be analyzed. Every little detail is investigated which annoys him. He knew this could happen when he started F1, but social media was far from what it was now.
People are obsessed with his private life, who he is dating, who is might be sleeping with.
He didn't think it people noticed him and Stevie on the beach. It was really quiet that evening so he thought they were ok.
"How bad is it?" He asks Charlotte.
"Just speculation. Her name is already going around because people know her. Apparently she was top of her class in culinary arts and some of her old colleagues have put her name out there."
Daniel feels a rush of anger washing over him, why would they do that? Just because they know her doesn't give anybody the right to put her name out there.
"That's not ok. They should respect her privacy. Is she also on social media?" He asks his press officer.
"Not that I know off. She hasn't been tagged anywhere and I tried to find her, but nothing came up. For somebody her age that's quite rare. But maybe she has a very private and closed off account."
He shrugs, he sometimes regret ever starting his social media accounts, so he can't blame her. Seb is pretty much she only one who hasn't got any and he really respects that.
"I've went through the questions of the press conference, they are all about the race. Nothing personal so don't worry about that."
"I wouldn't answer anything personal anyways."
They arrive at the conference room where a whole lot of reporters are already waiting to get started.
He quickly sits down on the chair between Esteban and Charles and they get started just a minute later.
~~~~~~~~~
Stevie walks into the large kitchen where people are already busy cutting vegetables, meat and fruits for todays lunch.
Apparently on Thursdays they don't do dinners, just lunch and some small bites.
It's media day and most people will leave after the interviews and press conferences are done.
She quickly locates Delores who is overseeing the fish station.
It seems they are having something with salmon today and Stevie's trained eye can tell the salmon looks very fresh and perfectly filleted.
Delores looks up and smiles. She was so nice when they were introduced and she also seemed relieved that they found somebody who could take over.
Stevie can imagine how crazy her life has been and how much she would love to take it easy and enjoy her family from now on.
"Ah Stephanie! Good that you are here. Let's go say hi to everyone. I can't really do a big introduction like Christian just did because we need to get things ready."
"That's fine. I don't want to delay anything. Just talk me through everything as we go around."
Their first stop is the fish station where she meets Carl. He is in charge of preparing and cooking the seafood.
He seems very kind and welcoming and Stevie can tell she doesn't have to teach him how to work with fish.
They are having some salad with the salmon which is nice, but Stevie's brain is already thinking about ways to make it a bit more interesting and exciting.
Next is a bigger work space where they are getting the vegetables and salads prepared.
For the vegetarian option today they have Penne Arrabbiata. Very tasty, but also quite simple. Although sometimes simple doesn't mean it needs to be changed and this is a classic.
She gets introduced to the people that are working on the vegetables, but there are quite some people around this work space and it will take some time to remember all the names.
Maybe she will have to start out with some name tags to help her with that.
Then they go to the next station which is the meat station. They divided that in two parts. One for the chicken and the other for the other meats.
Stevie loves that, because you don't want raw chicken around other food.
There will be chicken Parmesan and some stir fried beef with rice and vegetables.
All and all fine dishes, but nothing too exciting.
Stevie's head is already spinning with all the names and jobs she hears, so she decided to make name tags later today.
Delores will arrange a list with names for her so she can make sure she doesn't forget anybody.
The last station is for the desserts.
There's a woman working on some custard for a crème caramel.
"This is Melissa, she is our dessert queen. Melissa this is Stephanie. She will, hopefully, take over my job."
The brown haired woman looks up from her pan filled with sweet smelling vanilla custard.
"Hi Stephanie. Nice to meet you." She nods smiling.
"Just so you know. Melissa will be drooling over Seb all the time. But she won't even try to talk to him. She will however complain that he doesn't even know she exists." Delores tells Stevie with a huge grin on her face.
Melissa scoffs and rolls her eyes.
"A girl can dream right? Even if he knew I existed he wouldn't look twice at me anyways."
She looks back at Stevie and smiles.
"I can't help it. The man is a god, he's absolutely gorgeous. And way out of my league."
"Why would you say that? Sebastian is a really nice guy. I invited him for dinner last night and he seems so sincere." Stevie says making Melissa look at her gasping.
"You invited him for dinner?! Well there goes any chance I ever had."
Stevie quickly shakes her head.
"No no it's not like that. We're just friends. I'm staying in one of the mobile homes where he is with his caravan. I'm not looking for a relationship don't worry. But you should really talk to him, he's really nice."
She can tell Melissa really fancies Seb, but why she thinks she wouldn't stand a chance Stevie has no idea. Melissa is a beautiful woman, maybe a few years older than her, but she seems very nice.
"Why do you think he wouldn't be interested in you? There's nothing wrong with you." Stevie would like to know.
"Well maybe because he is smoking hot and I'm not. Besides he can date models who have a size zero and I am also not that."
Melissa points at her curves, but Stevie thinks she has an amazing figure and she highly doubts Seb is that shallow.
"Seb is a man, not a boy. He would appreciate your beauty.
I could introduce the two of you."
Melissa's widens her eyes.
"Nooo, I would freeze and probably say really stupid things. Never mind I'll just admire him from here."
Stevie shrugs, she's pretty sure Seb would be really nice to Melissa, but she is not going to force anything on them. Seb isn't exactly looking for a new relationship at the moment, but who knows, when he's ready again she could give the two some gentle nudges towards each other.
She might not believe in love for herself anymore, but she loves to see other people find love.
She enjoys the time she is spending in the kitchen, helping out wherever she can and getting to know the people working here.
It might not be as high end as her kitchen in the restaurant, but it has everything they need to make sure they can prepare really good food for the team and their guests.
She goes through the pantry to see what they have in stock for this weekend and it's filled with plenty of fresh produce and other ingredients.
Just after lunch she decides to go see Tina and the kids. She's anxious to find out how they are doing and if Cole and Zara behaved.
Zara probably has, but you never know with a two year old.
When she gets back to the mobile home she sees Tina sitting on the deck with Cole who is drawing and Zara who is drinking her bottle.
When they get home after this weekend she can slowly start eating some vegetables and fruit. It's
going to be interesting to find out what she likes and what not.
"Cole look, it's mommy." Tina gently nudges Cole who is lost in his drawing. Or well scribbling mostly.
"Mommy! You already back?" Cole says as he jumps up to give his mother a cuddle.
"I am, but I have to go back in a bit. I just wanted to see you. Did you have fun?"
She sits on the steps of the deck with Cole on her lap, Zara is being burped by Tina and Stevie can tell how comfortable Tina is taking care of the little girl.
"Yeah fun! Zara was sleeping, Tina play tickle mouse."
Tina laughs, "that was a lot of fun yes. And he made a really nice drawing for you Stevie. It's inside. Why don't you go get it Cole. Zara will have to go down for a nap soon."
It's so weird for Stevie to see somebody who is not her parents be so amazing with her kids.
Cole listens to her immediately and runs inside to get his art work.
When he comes out he is waving a piece of paper in Stevie's face and when she is finally able to stop his hand from moving she sees he has made a very colorful drawing for her.
"That is beautiful sweetie. When we get home we will put it on the fridge ok?"
"Where home? Gramma and grampa or us home?" He asks and his question pulls on her heart strings.
"For now with grandma and grandpa. But we will find a home for ourselves again as well." She answers hoping that will be enough for him.
"But no daddy? Daddy come back?"
His big light blue eyes stare straight into her soul and she feels her heart break again.
She shakes her head.
"I'm sorry honey. But no we won't have a house with daddy anymore."
She can feel the tears well up in her eyes. Cole needs a father. He just doesn't have one that deserves that name. Or who deserves to be the father of these two amazing kids.
"Is ok mommy. No cry."
He wraps his arms around her neck and she holds him as tight as possible.
For a boy as little as he is, he is a million times more caring than Mitch ever was. She can only hope that with her raising him, he will stay like that and he will become a caring man when he grows up.
"I love you little man. You know what! Why don't you and Zara come to the paddock later and then you can come see the kitchen mommy is going to work in. Maybe we can bake some cookies for the guests tomorrow?"
Forgotten is Mitch, as soon as she said cookies his attention was on the idea of stealing some of the dough.
"Yes! Chocolate chip cookies?" He asks tilting his head slightly.
"Sure. I saw they had chocolate chips so why not. But we also have to make some healthier options for Sebastian and Daniel. They can't eat chocolate chip cookies this weekend."
He opens his mouth in shock.
"No cookies? Poor Bastian and Daniel."
"I know right. It's horrible. But I'm sure we can come up with good cookies for them as well."
Tina gives Zara to her mother so she can have a cuddle before going to bed.
"What time do you want me to take them there?" She asks.
"I think around fivish, five thirty. Delores told me most of them would be finishing up at four thirty because then everybody is heading out anyways. There's just the teams that are practicing pitstops and going through things in the garages, but they won't come to hospitality to eat."
After enjoying Zara's little smiles and giggles for a bit she knows she should be going back. It's just difficult to leave her kids even though she has now again seen how well they are doing with Tina around.
She hands her daughter over to her nanny who takes the little girl to bed. Tina also takes Cole inside with her to keep an eye on him.
Stevie heads back to the paddock, knowing she will now be able to fully commit to this job. Her kids are safe with Tina, she feels like she belongs in that kitchen and this whole environment is a dream to be in.
She will let Christian know when she sees him.
~~~~~~~
Daniel walks in the hospitality hoping to find Stevie for that coffee.
Behind the counter he sees Delores who is talking to one of the mechanics.
Daniel is bouncing from one foot to another, excited to see Stephanie again.
Finally the mechanic takes his tray of food and goes to find a table.
"Daniel! How nice of you to come see me. But you know I'm too old for you."
He puts his hand over his heart as if she just ripped it out.
"Oh Delores why are you so cruel? Haven't I charmed you enough to even consider me?"
They always joke around like this and he will definitely miss her. But now he knows Stephanie will probably be working here soon, he will miss Delores a bit less than before.
"Well if you don't want me, maybe somebody else will."
He puts his phone on the counter, he was texting his mom to see how she was doing. She told him earlier today she was coming down with the flu, but nothing too serious.
"Maybe some stunning, black haired young woman with bright blue eyes?" Delores asks.
She already saw him talk to Stephanie earlier and the way he looked at the new chef told her everything she needed to know.
He is smitten and it was pretty adorable to see. This confident man who has been flirting with many women around here, now seems to have found somebody he truly fancies.
"Maybe.... Is she here somewhere?" He asks and she shakes her head.
"No she is on a break and she stepped out for a bit. I don't know where she went."
Daniel feels disappointed wash over him. He was really hoping they could have that coffee now, he will have to go back to the garage to go through some stuff before tomorrow and by the time they are done, hospitality will be closed.
His face drops which makes Delores grin a bit. He's got it bad, that's for sure.
"Oh love don't worry. She will be here all weekend. I'm sure you will be able to enjoy each others company at some point. Do you want some coffee?"
He nods, he knows he's being a bit stupid right now, but he is a jealous at Seb for spending the entire afternoon with her yesterday. If only he had taken a morning flight instead of one later that day he would have been there as well.
He hates being so childish, but he just can't help it right now.
"There you go love. Now don't go sulking. I think she is here to stay. Your time will come soon." Delores hands him his cup of coffee and he decides to head back to the garage.
~~~~~~~~~
Holding Cole's hand tightly in her grip, Tina is pushing Zara's pram through the paddock entry gates.
Zara had a great nap and is all fed with a clean nappy to go see her mom.
Cole is thrilled to be here, even though there are no cars on track and he's not in a garage.
Still he knows this is where the race cars are and the people who drive them, so for him this place is heaven.
There's barely any visitors left, just some media people wrapping up and Tina knows right now the pit lane is crowded with people who got special tickets for today. They can walk through the pit lane and watch the teams work in the garages.
Most drivers are already gone or heading out for the day. The rest of the weekend they will be here a lot longer.
"Tina can we go see race cars?" Cole asks.
"Not right now Cole. They are in the garages and we can't just go there. Especially not with Zara's pram. But I promise you will see race cars really soon."
He seems satisfied with that answer and he's also happy that he's going to be baking cookies with his mom.
She takes a quick peek in the pram to see Zara happily looking up at the sky.
It's such a sweet baby, she rarely cries and is just a happy little girl.
Cole is also the best toddler ever. He is kind, funny and very energetic. But he listens very well. You can tell Stevie has done an amazing job raising him so far.
Just when she looks back up she sees somebody in red walking up to her.
The radiating smile almost knocks her off her feet, those dimples are just to die for.
"Tina, hi." Charles looks at Cole and then down at Zara.
"I didn't know you had kids." He says.
Tina smiles, she is still nervous around him, but not as bad as she was before she talked to him the night before.
"I don't. I'm their nanny. This is Cole." She puts her hand on the little boys head.
"And this is Zara." She nods her head towards the pram where Zara is making cute little sounds.
"Ah ok I see. Very nice to meet you Cole."
Cole looks up at the man and raises his eyebrow.
"You talk funny." He said making Tina hold her breath.
"Cole that's not very nice to say." She warns him.
"That's ok. Do you know why I talk a bit funny?" Charles squats in front of the curious boy who is shaking his head.
"Because I am from Monaco. And we speak French there. English is not my first language like it is for you so I have a French accent."
That answer is satisfying enough for Cole and he is looking around at all the buildings again.
"I'm sorry about that." Tina apologizes to Charles.
"Don't be, he should be saying stuff like that and ask questions at his age. He's like three yes?"
"No I two." Cole sticks two fingers in the air.
"Well then you are a very clever boy for your age. It was very nice to talk to you Cole."
He turns back to Tina who is melting by the interaction between Charles and Cole.
"So are you free later? Maybe we can have a drink somewhere? Just us?" He asks making her heart beat out of her chest.
"Ehm, I think so. But I have to check first."
"Of course. Can I have your phone, then I will put my number in and you can text me when you have an answer? Where are you staying?"
With shaking hands she pulls her phone out of her pocket and gives it to Charles.
"I'm staying at the campsite actually."
Charles types in his name and number before handing the phone back.
"Well maybe I can come over later? I can't stay too long because I need to get enough sleep. But I would love to talk a bit more."
"Sure. I will ask and then I'll let you know."
"Perfect. I have to run now. Bye Cole, bye Zara. I hope to see you later beautiful Tina."
Again he smiles and it's a good thing she is holding the pram or she would have dropped on the floor right there.
"Ok let's go see your mom." She quickly makes her way to the hospitality building to talk to Stevie.
~~~~~~~
"Of course you have the night off. We will be here for a bit and then I'm taking them back so they can go to bed. You've already done enough today so text Charles that you would like to see him."
Stevie carefully lifts Zara out of the pram. Maybe she shouldn't, but she doesn't strain herself and Zara is still pretty light so it feels fine.
"Really? Oh thank you. If you need me just call or text and I will come help." Tina feels bad that this is the second night in a row she won't be there for Stevie. Even though she had the kids all day, she still feels she should be available in the evening as well.
"That won't be necessary. Have fun."
Tina heads out and Stevie is actually very happy to be alone with her kids.
She adores Tina and she couldn't do this without her, but she also feels a bit like she is asking too much of the young nanny.
Besides she is free now, so she can easily take care of her two sweethearts herself.
Not much later she and Cole are kneading the dough and making little balls of it.
Cole than pushes them flat a bit before Stevie puts them in the oven.
"This is going to smell so good and I'm sure they taste even better."
Cole is snacking from some left over dough while Stevie washes her hands.
There was some salmon left over and she quickly makes a plate with salmon and some vegetables for Cole.
When he sits down to eat, Zara starts to grizzle a bit from the play rug she is on.
Stevie heads over to her and picks her up.
"I'm sorry, you must be bored by now."
She sits next to her son with Zara in her arms but the baby girl stays fussy.
"Mommy sing sunshine." Cole suggests.
He is not wrong, that song usually helps settling Zara.
"Good thinking Cole. You're such an amazing big brother."
She places Zara with her hands under her head, facing Stevie so she can sing to her and look at her at the same time.
Her little feet are softly pushing against Stevie's stomach.
"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are gray."
~~~~~~~~~
"I think I left my phone on the counter when I got coffee this afternoon. I'm just going to check if it's still in here." Daniel tells Michael, his trainer who is eager to get going.
"Alright but make it quick. I'm hungry."
Daniel takes the four steps to get inside at once.
He tries the door and is very pleased to see it's still open.
Quietly he walks inside, expecting maybe Delores to be wrapping up some things.
What he doesn't expect to see is a little boy with curly brown hair, sitting on a table having dinner.
He definitely didn't expect the woman he's been eager to see to sit next to the boy with a baby in her arms singing to the little girl.
He freezes, his mind going a million miles an hour. Whose kids are those? Are they hers? She never mentioned them before, not that they talked about kids or anything.
His thoughts are tumbling in his head, but the one thought that is most dominantly present is if this changes anything for him.
"Mommy who is that?" The little boy asks.
"Who?" Stevie looks up and spots Daniel standing there with his jaw dropped.
Her eyes are wide open in the same shock as Daniel.
"Daniel?" She says.
"Stephanie.. what?" He stammers.
"Daniel get your ass out here. I'm starving." Michael shouts from the other side of the door.
It's like he's being torn out of some trance state of mind.
Next to the door is the lost and found box and he sees his phone in there so he quickly grabs it.
Stephanie is still staring at him, her eyes still wide open, she looks... scared.
"Daniel! Come on now!" Michael shouts again.
"Yeah I'm coming." He shouts back.
"I have to go." He turns around, opens the door and leaves.
Leaving Stevie absolutely devastated.
She was right, as soon as he knew she had kids he would run as fast as he could.
She isn't interested in him, but why does it feel like her heart just broke all over again?