Another race and another bout of nerves hit Chloe. She really thought she'd be used to this by now but she was so heavily invested in her driver that she doubted that the race day nerves would ever stop. Seb had started from sixth on the grid and had just passed Pierre Gasly to take fifth with Max and Charles ahead of him. She kept her eyes glued to the screens in hospitality, unblinking and in a trance like state, with Antti keeping her company, the work she should have been doing had already been forgotten, she swallowed and licked her lips, her mouth had already gone dry and her right leg was already jiggling up and down.
"You can calm down you know, he'll be fine." Antti reached across and touched her arm and she flinched, startled by him. "Sorry, didn't mean to make you jump." He looked amused by her.
"Please don't tell me to calm down. I'll be calm after lap fifty-two." She replied as she returned her gaze to the screen.
"You're not normally this bad." He said quietly making her eyes flicker back to him momentarily. She said nothing and they sat in silence for a while as the laps went by. "I'll go and see how Eva, Steef, Isaak and your parents are getting on in the garage." He stood up, eventually realising that he was going to get very little conversation out of Chloe while the race was on. A couple of laps after he'd gone Max and Charles both pitted, releasing Seb and moving him up a couple of places, and she watched anxiously as the two cars started to head to the pit lane exit side by side. Max made the exit first and she shook her head as she realised that Charles had lost a place during his pit stop. Her focus went back to Seb, with a possible one stop strategy she knew he could have a shot at a podium finish, with the two Mercedes scampering away at the front a win was looking unlikely but she knew he'd happy with third after struggling with set-up all weekend. Hitting lap twenty, Antonio Giovinazzi left the track, ending up stuck in a gravel trap and within seconds the safety car was sent out, she sat back in her seat, allowing herself time to breathe and took a long drink from her bottle of water as Seb came into the pits and then left with a new set of hard tyres bolted on. Three laps later the safety car went in and she sat forward in her seat once again as the race restarted, remaining mesmerized by the screens for the next fourteen laps as it became apparent that Seb and Max were going to be fighting for third place. The closer they started to get, the less she found herself blinking and the more her nerves started to jangle and by lap thirty-eight the Dutch driver had got passed Seb.
"Shit!" The word flew out of her mouth before she could stop it as she stood up from her chair, guests and team members were suddenly looking at her though this wasn't the first time they'd seen her like this. Then a moment for Seb, where it all got so much worse as he ran into the back of Max, sending them both off the track, her heart felt as though it had leapt up into her mouth before sinking like a stone. "No! No! No! Oh come on!!" Chloe yelled and slammed her hands down on the table sending the room into a brief silence, everyone was suddenly watching as both cars returned to the track but for Seb the damage was done, his front wing was badly damaged and he limped around to the pits for a new front wing, rejoining the track in seventeenth, and last, place. "Sorry." She mumbled and put her hand up in apology before sitting down. Antti had been right, her nerves were not usually this bad but what had just occurred on track was the reason why, she'd just had a funny feeling about today and until now couldn't put her finger on why. She'd kept it to herself, not wanting to tell Seb or anyone else, the last thing he would want is to hear that she was feeling as though something was going to happen in the race. Her mood dived spectacularly and she could imagine that Seb's mood was doing the same, even more so when it flashed up on the screen that the incident was now under investigation by the stewards. She wasn't sure she wanted to watch the race anymore now, she knew what would happen, she knew deep down that Seb had made a mistake and that the stewards would see that too. Another penalty was looming.
"Thought I'd better come back and see how you are." Antti sat down opposite her, having left their friends in the garage.
"How come you're so calm Antti?" She asked.
"Years of experience I guess, and I'm not in love with him." He smiled, finding himself funny.
"Aren't you worried he could retire from the race and take a potential penalty to Germany?"
"No, he'll have already thought of that, the damage to the car is actually not too bad." He replied, noticing that she'd ignored his previous comment.
"It was his mistake wasn't it?" She leant on her elbows and then leant her head on her hands, she looked as miserable as she felt.
"I hate to agree with you, but yeah."
"The press will have a fucking field day with it and the trolls on social media will love it." She glanced at the screen again. "I'm dreading taking him to the media pen already, he's going to be in a foul mood."
"He won't be as bad as he was in Canada, he'll be a bit down but he'll soon bounce back and you know he doesn't look at any press about himself or look on things like Instagram for reasons such as today. It'll bother you alot more than it'll bother him. You should do what he does and not have any social media accounts."
"I have to keep an eye on press and social media, it's part of my job." She let out a deep breath and sat back in her seat. "How's our guests in the garage? Is Isaak ok?" She thought of Eva and Steef's little boy, imagining that he must be devastated. She'd met him on Thursday for the first time, with dark brown hair and brown eyes he was the image of his mother but already had a confident streak like his father. He worshipped Seb and had taken every chance he had to be with him. A highlight of the weekend for her had been when Seb had lifted Isaak into his race car, something that the eight year old had been desperate to do and they spent half an hour together with Seb patiently going through all the buttons and dials on the steering wheel and answering every question that Isaak had asked him.
"He got a little upset, but he's ok now and your mum is more worried about you than she is Seb."
"Fuck." Chloe gestured to the screen with her hand and Antti turned to look.
"Well Seb might as well stay where he is now, no point in fighting through the cars when a ten second time penalty will put him right back again." He stood up. "Get his things and we'll make our way slowly to Parc Fermé. I'll meet you outside."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Seb made his way to the media pen, flanked by Antti and Chloe, as he took sips of his drink through his straw he was aware of her taking quick glances at him. She was a little wary of him, not that he could blame her, especially with what happened after the race in Canada, he doubted very much that she would offer herself as an outlet for his anger and frustration again even though she had said she would. Antti left them to go back to the garage and they entered the media pen, as usual he felt her hand on his back and she wordlessly pointed him in the direction of Natalie from Sky Sports. "You can talk to me, I won't bite." He said as he removed his sunglasses.
"Yeah, erm, sorry." Chloe mumbled as they stopped in front of Natalie who immediately launched into saying how good his race pace had been up until he hit the back of Max's car and then asked for his take on what happened. Chloe could see that as Seb spoke he looked understandably agitated so his words had done little to make her less wary.
"It was my mistake." He rubbed the back of his neck and glanced at Chloe before continuing. "He passed me into Stowe, he ran a bit wide which gave me the chance to run back, then it looked for a second that he was going to the right and I went to the left, but the gap didn't open and it was already too late and I crashed." With that he stepped away and Chloe had to quickly spring into action and direct to him to the next person, she had not been expecting him to finish with Natalie so quickly. In fact he spent very little time with everyone he spoke to and they exited the pen with her thinking that this was the quickest they'd ever been in there. He walked one step ahead of her on the way back to hospitality and was unexpectedly joined by pitlane reporters from RTL who launched into asking him about the incident, his time penalty and apologising to Max in Parc Fermé. He tried not to roll his eyes as a microphone that was thrust into his hands and he answered their questions, then as quickly as they had appeared, they'd gone.
"Three guesses what they were asking about." Chloe said dryly from behind him.
"You'd get it in one." He replied as the automatic doors opened and he swept into hospitality with her now two steps behind him. He'd been walking so quickly that she was a little out of breath. "I'm going to take a shower and then head to debrief." He was tempted to ask if she'd join him but he wanted to leave the circuit as soon as he could, having her in the shower with him would inevitably make them late. "I'll catch up with you in a while."
"Ok, I've got stuff to do anyway." She stepped closer to him, his expression softened as she put a hand on his chest. "I love you."
"I love you too." For a second he felt as though there was only the two of them in the room, her simple touch calmed him and then ignited his desire for her, getting her to shower with him suddenly became a hell of lot more tempting.
"Sebastian!" Isaak came running over as his parents walked in behind him and Seb turned as he heard the little boy's voice.
"Hey!" He smiled as Isaak flung his arms around him.
"Max got in your way!" He exclaimed, his face screwed up, showing his displeasure.
"Yeah, he did." Seb looked down at him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "But don't worry, we've sorted it out."
"Isaak was desperate to see Seb before he got busy again." Eva put her arm around Chloe's shoulders. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah, nothing that a large alcoholic beverage won't cure." Chloe watched as Seb and Isaak continued to talk.
"I'm sure you'll get a chance to do that at the meal later on, I think your mum could do with a drink too, in fact I think we all could. Seb is ok you know, he always looks forward, never back, he'll soon bounce back." Eva noticed how Chloe's eyes were fixed on him.
"That's what Antti said." She replied without blinking or breaking her gaze as Seb left to go and have a shower.
"And he's right, Seb's lucky he's got two people that care for him like you and Antti do. Come on, let's take a seat, you look like you could do with that drink right now."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sat at a large table for eight with her husband to one side of her and Antti sat the other side, Chrissie watched Seb as he sat there with one hand on the table, twiddling the stem of his wine glass and making it go round and round. Her daughter leant her head briefly on his shoulder and he responded by kissing her head, making a contented smile appear on her face. His other hand was out of sight, as was Chloe's, and Chrissie knew they'd be holding hands under the table.
"Stop staring, you'll make the poor bloke uncomfortable." David spoke quietly but firmly.
"I can't help it, they look so in love." Chrissie quickly looked away as Seb caught her looking, again. "And he seems quite happy considering how his race went."
"Well he's hardly going to sit there being miserable, is he. Work is work at the end of the day, no matter what you do for living we all need to switch off and that's what he's done. Ah, here comes desert." David stopped his conversation, not wanting the waitress to overhear him and watched as a large piece of chocolate cake smothered with whipped cream was placed in front of Seb. "Jesus christ, he's never going to eat all that on top of what he's already had, is he?"
"Now who's staring David?" Chrissie shook her head while hearing Antti chuckle beside her.
"Don't worry Chrissie, I've told him he's allowed the night off." Antti grinned and then thanked the waiter for refilling his glass with water.
"Your parents keep staring at us." Seb said as he eyed his desert, his mouth watered at the sight.
"They're probably wondering how a man as lean as you can eat a game terrine starter, a massive steak, with chips......." Chloe started to reel off his menu choices.
"I had a salad with it." He pointed out defensively.
"It was a side salad, added to your chips, mushrooms, onion rings and peas, and now you're about to eat the biggest slab of chocolate cake I've ever seen in my entire life."
"I was hungry and Antti said I could eat what I wanted. Some of us need to eat more than a caesar salad." He grinned.
"There was nothing wrong with me just eating a salad for my main, I didn't want to gorge myself." A wry smile appeared on her face at the fancy looking chocolate orange desert that suddenly appeared in front of her while Seb couldn't resist sticking his finger into his whipped cream.
"So you point out how huge you think my desert is and now you sit there with that in front of you." He smeared the cream on her nose as he spoke.
"Seb!" She gasped.
"Want me to lick it off?" He raised a brow at her.
"No." She wiped it off with a napkin. "Honestly, Isaak is better behaved than you!" She looked past Seb to Isaak who sat contentedly with Steef's mobile phone in his hands.
"Do I need to separate you two?" Chrissie pointed two fingers at them, the smile on her face told them that she was joking.
"You'll never be able to do that." Steef pointed out as Seb began to dig in to his chocolate cake. "They'd always find a way back to each other, love always wins." He added. Seb gave Chloe a sideways look and smiled as he heard Steef's words while Chrissie leant her head to one side as she admired the handsome Dutchman. It wasn't long before Seb had devoured his chocolate cake and he put his cutlery down on his empty plate making Chloe stare at him for a moment, shaking her head in disbelief.
"You fat bastard." She laughed and gave him a nudge and he gave her sheepish grin in return.
"Chloe swore!" Isaak popped his round to look past Seb. "Dad said you'd be the first!"
"I know, that's really bad huh? I'll tell her off later." Seb replied while looking at her, his eyes telling her that he already had ideas for her.
"I doubt you will, the amount you've ate it'll be roll on, roll off." She teased, the gin and tonics she'd been drinking was starting to take effect making her a little loose lipped.
"Take no notice Seb, she gets just like her father when she's had a drink. No filter and can't keep her mouth shut." Chrissie gave her daughter an amused look.
"It's ok, I've experienced it before. She'll probably suffer tomorrow and she'll get no sympathy from me." He sat back in his seat and stretched his arm across the back of Chloe's seat letting his fingertips rest lightly on her bare shoulder. It was in innocent gesture on his behalf but it made every nerve in her body stand to attention, causing her to fall quiet and figit slightly in her seat. Steef observed her over the top of his glass as he drank his wine, she was very responsive to even the slightest touch from Seb, as if her body was finely tuned to his. As she popped the last of her desert in her mouth she closed her eyes and he wasn't sure if it was Seb's touch she was savouring or the taste of her desert, she opened her eyes and her gaze drifted across the table to meet his, her face flushed as he held her gaze and she smiled shyly before looking away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With Seb being held back in the restaurant talking to someone about the Wimbledon tennis final, everyone else was waiting in the hotel foyer before turning in for the night. David and Steef had indulged in more red wine and were currently leaning against a wall deep in conversation, Eva had already taken Isaak up to get him to bed and Chrissie was flirting up a storm with Antti, or at least she was trying to as Antti gave Chloe a look that told her that he needed to be rescued. She just smiled and shook her head, she knew her mum would take a shine to Seb's trainer, starting to feel sorry for him she headed over.
"Mum, put Seb's personal trainer down." She loved an opportunity to wind her mum up.
"We were just talking. Honestly I don't know how you manage to get any work done with two handsome men to distract you." Chrissie replied. Chloe rolled her eyes, this was getting embarrassing, where was Seb when she needed him? His trainer needed rescuing, they both did. Luckily for her David came walking over, followed by Steef, hopefully her dad would save her from any further embarrassment by her mum. Or maybe not.
"There she is! I was just talking about you with stiff here." David was a little worse for wear.
"Steef, his name is Steef dad." Chloe huffed as Steef put his arm around her waist. "I'm so sorry." She looked up at him.
"Don't worry, I've been called worse." He pulled her against his side and she noticed her mum's eyebrows raise as she saw him do it.
"I was telling Steef how you've landed a good one with Seb."
"Cheers dad." She replied, wishing he'd shut up now.
"Remind me to ask him why he's not got that ring on your finger yet." He pointed to her left hand.
"David, that's enough!" Chrissie shot him an angry look but it was a little too late.
"It's a little too early for that Dad." She smiled, feeling puzzled by her mum's reaction.
"I thought he'd have asked you by now, he spoke to me about it weeks ago." He continued blatantly ignoring his wife's warning.
"David, please, you've said enough, I'm sorry Chloe, ignore him."
"Hang on, do you mean......?" Chloe looked at her dad, surely he didn't mean what she thought he meant, did he?
"Ah." David sobered up quickly, realising that he'd made a bit of slip up.
"No, don't go quiet now Dad, please, carry on." She folded her arms across her chest, she tried to remain calm on the outside but inside she felt her mind beginning to spin and a nervous excitement take over.
"He.....he's asked for my permission to.....he's planning to propose."