Book 1: Leap of Faith -Charles Leclerc

Chapter 19

Chapter 19: September 18th, 2023

Caroline found herself standing outside of a semi-nice restaurant enjoying the warm breeze that blew through her hair. She had convinced herself about a thousand times to actually go on this date, even though she had prepared and typed out at least 7 excuses. She had matched with this guy on Hinge and he wanted to meet up for drinks after a few messages. Ian seemed like a cool guy, and that was probably all Caroline could comment on after their brief interaction. She knew that people did this every day, all over the world, but somehow she still felt so weird standing outside the restaurant waiting for him. She glanced down at her watch, noticing that he was already about 10 minutes late. Her thoughts drifted to Charles and his punctuality, something that Ian clearly did not have. She felt her emotions rising up just thinking about him, quickly pushing them down when she saw the man approaching her from across the street.

"Hi! Caroline?" he asked.

"Yes! Ian, I presume?" Caroline said while laughing and holding out a hand. She wasn't big on hugging strangers. She felt it was just a bit too intimate and decided a hand shake was appropriate for this occasion.

"Thanks for meeting me. I'm big on skipping the conversations in the app and just going on a date to see if there's any chemistry," Ian said while they were walking to their table.

"Yeah, I totally get it! Honestly, this is the first time I've ever gone on a Hinge date, so I'm a bit nervous," Caroline responded with a nervous laugh.

"Oh interesting! That surprises me. Were you in a long relationship before getting on Hinge or what?"

"Oh damn, we're just jumping straight into it." Caroline thought to herself.

"Uhhhhh, yea. Ish. Just haven't been interested in dating for a while. I took a break to focus on my career and my relocation here!" Caroline was pleased at her response, keeping it a bit vague for his personal question. The two conversed lightly over their first drinks and discussed wine pairings for food. She noticed that he was a bit snobby about his wines, grilling the sommelier about each one, asking exactly where the grapes were from.

"That's fine, he just really likes wine!" Caroline thought, trying to convince herself that how he treated the sommelier wasn't a red flag.

"So," Ian said, taking Caroline from the conversation in her brain. "What do you do?"

This was Caroline's favorite question to get asked, as she had the best profession. She launched into her monologue about how she fell in love with the practice, the science, and the research of it all. She could feel the happiness pouring out of her words, and usually people loved that story. But Ian sat across from her, a sour look on his face.

"What are your hours like for that?" he asked, his tone matching the look on his face.

"Ehhh, they can be pretty brutal. At least 40 hours a week, but I normally do 45's, plus the time that I've spent traveling and working with the Formula teams." Caroline anticipated his excitement over the mention of F1, as usually every European had some interest in the sport.

"So what are you going to do when you have kids?"

Caroline was startled by the question. She looked at him, waiting for him to laugh or smile, indicating that he was joking. He stared back at her with an intensity that made her shift in her seat. She blinked back at him, not knowing how on earth to answer that.

"Ummm... I'm not sure. That's not on my radar right now, so I haven't thought about it. But I absolutely love what I do and wouldn't consider quitting it," Caroline answered hesitantly.