Book 2: Beginning Again -Carlos Sainz

Chapter 45

Marie was, once again, bored out of her mind during FP2 in Qatar, her last race on that side of the ocean. She picked at her fingernails, checked her own social media pages, and briefly considered laying down for a nap. Everything was going pretty smoothly, and truthfully she still found the free practices to be painfully boring. Marie looked at her phone for the third time in as many minutes hoping to see a reply text from the Ferrari social media manager. Marie had sent the account name over to her and a brief text about what the account was doing and how Carlos seemed to be uncomfortable discussing it with her. Marie still cringed at that phone call, knowing that he was probably awkward since she sounded jealous. He didn't know what to say since she was so out of line, so out of pocket. The familiar feeling of embarrassment crept up as she tried to think about something else. Anything else really. It felt like a thousand years later that the practice round was over and everyone was back to milling about, prepping for Saturday. Marie had some meetings to attend that day, since she had fully taken over with her more senior role at the company. She was facing enough imposter syndrome to have once killed her, but she was staying strong through it all. Carlos' absence was noticed and felt by her every day, as he was always the one reminding her how incredible she was and how much she deserved to be taken seriously. Marie followed Gavin as he led them to one of the conference rooms, eventually falling into the chair next to him. She answered emails as they all waited for the meeting to start. It was the mundane nature of all of it that caused Marie to feel like she was on autopilot. It wasn't until the knock on the door that she actually felt like she woke up. The door opened very slightly to reveal a surprising face: none other than Lando Norris. He looked slightly embarrassed as he only opened the door enough to show his face and spoke quietly.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I need to borrow Marie. It's urgent."

Marie felt every eyeball fall to her as she looked to her dad.

"Email me the recap from the rest of this?"

He nodded with confusion, but motioned for her to go. When time was going so fast once before, suddenly everything slowed down as she stood up and gathered her things.

"What the fuck is going on? Why does Lando Norris need me? I'm pretty sure I've only met him a handful of times. Is everyone okay? Oh god, is Carlos okay?"

Marie's thoughts scrambled as she closed the door behind her, trying to read Lando's face as he stood there.

"What's going on?" she asked, following him as he started walking away as soon as the door was safely shut.

"You'll see. I'm really sorry for pulling you out of that meeting, but he said I should.

"He? Carlos? At least he's alive enough to be talking." Marie thought, letting her brief nightmare about him dying fall by the wayside. Lando rounded the corner and Marie knew they were headed towards Carlos' driver's room. She expected to see him, and was ready to demand an explanation for scaring her half to death. Instead, the red suit belonged to Charles.

"Oh thank god you're here Marie," he said as he saw her, pulling her in for a brief hug.

Marie had always liked Charles, and getting to know him more over the past few months just made her like him more. He was nice and thoughtful, the type of guy you could call when you needed an inconvenient favor. Marie had never seen him look so stressed as he stood outside Carlos' room with his trainer.

"What the fuck is going on, Charles?" Marie said with more force than intended. The fear rose up again as she looked between the faces of Charles, Lando, and Carlos' trainer. "Anyone? Is Carlos okay?"

"No, he's not okay and we need you to ... help." Charles said as he searched for the right word.

"Someone please get to the fucking point," Marie snapped.