Twists and Turns in Monte Carlo: A Formula 1 Affair

{1.3}

"You are a Kennedy." "Unfortunately yes."

Joanne leaned back against the bar, taking a sip of her drink, her eyes fixed on Toto Wolff. "Team principal of the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team. Big job for a big guy, huh?" 

Toto needed a second. She really said that. "Yeah, a big job. I've been doing it since 2013, successfully, even with the pandemic around. We've won the Championship for the sixth time in a row now." He smiled proud.

"Does it not get boring?" Toto raised his eyebrows for a second. The blond woman who could easily compete with him in body hight, only being about ten centimeters shorter than him smirked at him. Her green eyes starring right into his, as she waits for an answer. "No not at all.  We have to prove ourselves anew every year. That requires teamwork and discipline", he takes a sip of his drink, "What do you work as if you value variety so much?"

"I even though I do not look like it, am a lawyer." He looked at her for a moment, perplexed. "Ha", she grinned, "caught out. Most people react that way when I say I work as a lawyer. To be exact, I am a cause lawyer and very actively involved in politics." "Interesting. Where did you study?" 

"Guess." He took a small step back and scanned her carefully from top to bottom. "Well your accent tells me you definitely lived in England for a while, so I'd go with Oxford." 

Joanne put her glas down at the bar. "Your final answer?" "If you act that way, I am definetley wrong." "That's right. I studied in Harvard, but I nearly did not get in. Was a bit of a shitshow, because I wanted to get in on my own not with money, but my grades were fucking bad." 

"Harvard law, prestigious." She nodded. "But you were correct about England. I grew up there and lived there till I got to college. Since then I live in the Us, well now I live in New York." 

"And?" "And what?", she looked at him confused. "How do you like it?" Toto asked interested. "I love it obviously, but I also like to come here if the city gets too hectic." "Is that why you came here today?" 

Her gaze wandered through the crowd before she turned back to him. "I think so. This feels almost like a little escape." Joanne cleared her throat. "But now stop pestering me with questions. Tell me something about yourself, Toto." 

"I am a Businessman who dropped out of university and I am originally from Austria but live in Switzerland." She followed his words closely, sometimes nodding along. "I am newly divorced, but we ended things on good terms."

Joanne raised an eyebrow curiously. "Divorced. Almost hard to believe with good circumstances." She ran her fingers through her hair. "Indeed, but that's how it is," he continued.

"Divorces are always messy. Trust me I am a lawyer. I have a few friends who work as divorce lawyers and let me tell you, people turn into animals when it's divorce-time." 

"But please don't let's talk about my divorce here now. I have one more question I'd like to ask you." Joanne smiles mischievously up at him. "Okay, one last question."

"What makes someone tattoo their hands in your line of work?" She kept eye contact with Toto. "Well, I've run out of space. Besides, tattoos don't define my coompetes or my social status, although sometimes older ladies change the till when shopping."

Joanne held out her hands so that Toto could examine the artwork on the backs of her hands and fingers, stretching upwards onto her arms. "And what do you call this tattoo style, Joanne?" "A mix of everything, I'd say. Blackwork patchwork fine line mix, maybe?"

Her fingers are adorned with rings, her arms adorn Cartier love bracelets and festival ribbons in equal measure. "Wanna know a secret?", Joanne leaned in still holding eye contact."When I let my mum see them, she admitted herself to a clinic for four weeks."

"You are kidding, Joanne." She shook her head. "Sadly not." Joanne downed her last drink for tonight. Then she began to search all her trouser pockets for something she apparently needed urgently.

"Are you possibly looking for these?" Toto carefully took out the cigarette that was still tucked behind her ear and held it out to her. "Indeed. Thank you.I will apologise for today. I hope you have a nice evening. Maybe we'll meet again somewhere, somehow, sometime. I would be delighted." 

She didn't wait for his answer but had already disappeared between the guests. Toto grinned briefly to himself, what an incredibly interesting woman.

He was heading straight for Fred Vasseur when he was intercepted by Christian Horner."Toto my friend, what took you so long?" "I was just having a very interesting conversation." "Really, from where I was sitting it looked more like a flirty banter with a woman half your age. In the literal sense." 

Toto smoothed out his suit and fastened the button on his jacket. "Don't make a fool of yourself, Christian. Besides, she flirted with me first"