Running From The Flames

Pre-Race

The day dawned bright and I woke up feeling lighter than I had in years. I felt the sunlight warm on my face like I had washed away the masks I had hid behind in a state of numbness. The same person I had gone to sleep thinking of was the same one on my mind when I woke up and I wasn't the only one.

"Morning, mama," Addie mumbled as she rubbed her eyes and climbed into my bed. "We see Pear now?"

"Not yet, babygirl, he's got a big race to concentrate on today," I said, tickling her when she began to pout. "But, when the race is over we will find him and congratulate him okay?"

"Okay," she huffed, clearly not happy with having to wait.

I checked my phone while we lay in bed waking up and stared at my home screen for a minute thinking it looked odd until I remembered I had deleted a bunch of the apps that normally filled the page. Forgoing my normal routine of reading the news and scrolling through instagram for a bit, I opened the messages I had received to see my dad had invited us to breakfast.

"Get dressed, sweetie, Grandad's going to meet us downstairs."

Addie tumbled off the bed in her haste but quickly got to her feet and rushed to change out of her Frozen pyjamas. I was a little more sedate as I got up and brushed my teeth before struggling to pull a hairbrush through my hair. By the time I had managed to tame the mess and tie back from my face Adelaide was dressed with her leggings inside out and mismatching socks so we fixed that up and made our way down to the restaurant, Le Limùn.

The restaurant was already quite full and from the lanyards hanging around the majority of necks they too were here for the Monaco Grand Prix. From the quick glance around I hadn't been able to spot my dad so I stopped in front of the maître d'hôtel.

"Bonjour madame, je peux vous aider?"

"Oui, there should be a reservation for Damian Vowles."

The hostess looked at the bookings before leading the way to a table overlooking the water. "Would you like a high chair for a mademoiselle?"

"Merci," I said with a nod and took a seat with Addie on my lap while we waited when my phone vibrated.

Pierre: I found another one for Addie to steal.

A second later an image came through and I smiled at the selfie Pierre had taken with an Alpine hat identical to the one Addie had left in her room. 

Me: What if I want one to match too?

Pierre: Sorry gorgeous, it's our thing, she might get jealous.

"That smile wouldn't have anything to do with a certain F1 driver, would it?"

I shoved my phone face down on the table as Addie climbed off me to hug her grandad and I rose to give him a hug too.

"Hey dad, how have you been?"

"Trying to put out fires with the press," he said with a knowing look as put Addie into the high chair that had arrived and took his own seat. "You're lucky Addie was in most of the pictures with you and Pierre, they can't publish any photos of minors without signed release forms."

I breathed a sigh of relief and reached over the table to grab my dad's hand. "Thank you. I'll be more careful."

"He's a racer, sweetheart," dad said, his fading American accent thickening with his emotions. "They run as fast as their cars and never stay in one place. That's not what you need, you need stability." He nodded his head to Addie. "For her sake and yours."

I sighed and was grateful that the waiter arrived to take our orders, giving me a second to think of my reply. All too soon he was gone and my dad looked at me expectantly. I felt like I was a child again and not the 25 years old that I was.