Start Again | Forbidden Book 2

32. The One

Olivia was glad to arrive to their beach house, the warm ocean air running through the open windows, the sound of the waves crashing on the shore underneath the moonlight, the Jimmy'z paper napkin framed on their bed's nightstand. She had known in the past that this beach was her favorite place on Earth, but it had never been more true than in that moment. It was their second home. 

The week that followed was absolute bliss to them all. They had a chance to get away from the hustle and the stress of Formula 1. Olivia was back to surfing, Max, the kids and Checo would play soccer, they built sand castles with the kids, and they would gather every day to eat together. Technically Max and Olivia could have some of those meals at their own home, but since none of them ever felt like cooking and Checo and Carola were right there...

Once the week came to an end they traveled to Canada for the next race. These race weeks had become pretty straightforward. They would arrive, settle in the hotel, and every day Max and Olivia would go their separate ways. Olivia spent her days with the Mercedes team, which she was starting to love, while Max would spend his days with Red Bull. Then race day would come around and Max would win every race by a ridiculous margin. Meanwhile Lewis and George were trying their best to score at least a podium in the tractor they had been given. 

This race was no different. Lewis had a great start in P2, and he fought for the rest of the race to stay there. Max took P1 with ease and retained it with total control. Sometimes Olivia wondered if he was ever too bored in there, not battling against anyone. However she knew Max well enough to know he wasn't fighting against no one, he was fighting against himself. His past self to be exact, fighting to be better than before. 

On the Mercedes side, George crashed against the barrier and dropped to the bottom of the grid, and just as he was starting to go back up the order and into the points, they had to retire his car. There was simply too much damage. Liv watched as George came out of his car in the garage and went straight to his driver room, he was clearly not happy but George was way too polite to start blatantly complaining or to get angry at someone. 

Near the end of the race, it turned out that the only person who could take Max out of the race was himself, when he nearly lost control of the car for going over a curve. However he was still relaxed enough to laugh about it on the radio. "I nearly take myself out on that curve, haha" she could hear his happy voice on the radio. 

At the end Max won yet again, while Lewis wasn't able to retain his P2 spot but still managed to obtain P3 behind Fernando. George had a DNF and Checo was in P6. He had had a few tough races now, Olivia just wished he could secure his P2 in the championship so Red Bull could finally achieve what they hadn't last year after the whole Brazil fiasco. It would also be his best finish in the championship ever. 

Afterwards they had another podium ceremony on which Olivia was happy to go and cheer for Lewis and Max, taking photographs for her team. The celebratory dinners Red Bull used to have every time they won were less common now. It was simply ridiculous to have one every race now, and Max and Olivia were flying out of the races sooner than before. Right after the race they headed back to Monaco accompanied by Charles on the plane. Meanwhile Checo, Carola and the kids headed to Spain before they all had to be in Austria. 

On the plane ride over to Monaco they all had some dinner before they slept for the majority of the ride. Although Liv was awake long enough to watch a movie with Charles while Max was still sleeping.

Liv loved her friendship with Charles, in moment like this she suddenly remembered they had dated for a short time and it seemed kind of ridiculous to her. As much as she loved him, she saw him like a brother. The reality was that Max was it for her. He was her 'one', it seemed silly that there had been a time when she had tried to deny it or fight it.