Sparks - Daniel Ricciardo

Forty Four

📍16th July 2022 - London, UK

"So, I was thinking, you should have your wedding in a traditional English mansion." Connie said as she balanced the mountain of wedding magazines and news articles in her arms, carefully weaving around the furniture to ultimately drop them onto the glass coffee table in front of Amber.

Ever since Austria, Daniel thought it would be best for the couple to have a little downtime until the next race. That, and he wanted to space himself from Blake.

To Daniel, Blake still owed Amber a sincere and heartfelt apology.

An apology which was still yet to be delivered.

"I'm not sure an English stately home is either mine or Daniel's vibe." Amber said as she bit down on her bottom lip and shook her head to suggest not to Connie's plan.

Daniel was now renting out a house in central London. He knew Amber loved being in London; it was a home away from home for her.

Despite growing up in Australia, she had spent a lot of time in England's capital over the years and she found that she had practically grown up, in herself, in this part of the world.

The house was spectacular. One in which she had fallen in love with, almost immediately.

Michael had joined the pair back to England, but had decided to stay in his own apartment here to allow Daniel and Amber some time to breathe.

He would show his face at least once a day to take Daniel out for a PT session, but would never over stay his welcome when he knew that they needed to spend time together, away from others.

Connie had been visiting a few of her friends over in London, hence her appearance at the front door of their rented home this morning. As soon as Amber realised it was her friend, she immediately texted Daniel to keep Michael away for as long as possible.

Connie and Michael still hadn't spoken about everything that had happened between them, and Connie had no intentions of doing so.

"A beach wedding?" Connie suggested as she flipped through various pages, pointing to the catalogue couple in each other's arms next to the sea. "That would be adorable! You could definitely have a beach wedding back home."

"I guess." Amber shrugged as she looked through a different magazine on her lap. "I don't want a massive wedding, Con. I'd like something beautiful and understated."

Connie nodded along as she asked Amber near enough every question under the sun about her wedding preferences.

The dress, the cake, the band, the food, the venue, the guests.

Amber hadn't had one minutes peace to even consider her wedding until today, and after her extensive conversations with Connie, she was beginning to feel overwhelmed.

"There's a lot to consider, isn't there?" Amber asked as she raised her eyebrows in surprise, before taking a deep breath and closing the magazine in front of her. "How am I meant to find the time to organise all of this?"

"I'm sure that Daniel will help." Connie reassured her friend as she placed a comforting smile across her face. "You don't have to rush into this and get married right away. Take your time, enjoy the process."