Book 2: Beginning Again -Carlos Sainz

Chapter 47

Marie stood outside the door, triple checking she had the right room number even though she could hear the music and voices from inside. She took a deep breath, reminding herself that there were plenty of people in that room for her to talk to and that she wouldn't spend her whole evening staring at Carlos. Marie opened the door softly, peering in first, before she closed it behind her. No one noticed her entry, so she walked in slowly and took in the party. Majority of the Ferrari garage was there, also notably some Mclaren staff and several drivers. Most everyone was still in their team gear from qualifying, so it was fairly obvious who belonged to who. Marie didn't even try to fight it as she scanned the room for those bright red shirts. Coming up empty, she awkwardly walked over to the makeshift bar.

"I should just leave now, before anyone even notices that I'm here," Marie thought as she poured some vodka over ice, then looking for a good mixer. "One drink just to hold and look like I belong here."

"Hey, you're Maria, right?"

Marie's head snapped to the man who had quietly appeared at her side, smiling politely at her.

"Marie but yeah, you look so familiar. We met at the afterparty in Mexico last year with your friend?"

"Yeah we did! Patrick." he said as he extended out a polite handshake.

Marie took quick stock of him as her hand met his. He was tall, with light brown hair, piercing blue eyes, and a cute smile that made her blush a little.

"So, Patrick, what do you do?"

"I was just about to ask you the same question, I wasn't able to get the answer out of you back in Mexico before Carlos dragged you out of the room," he said with a laugh.

Marie smiled, but the memory of that night, that time in her life, gave her a chilling feeling. That night was before everything. It was before they could actually admit feelings for each other and before Marie regretted it all. When she was still reeling from the Chad breakup and making questionable decisions. When they were all passion, no string. All gas, no breaks. These days, it felt like the car had fully broken down.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I work for one of the company sponsors for Ferrari. I run their social media teams right now but I'm actually leaving the grid to take a more permanent position back in the UK," Marie said as the cold, sinking feeling returned.

"Wow, that's probably one hell of a gig," Patrick said with a smile. "I'm an engineer. I work mostly behind the scenes now on smaller stuff but I'm hoping to work up in the ranks."

"Whose car do you work on?"

Patrick turned over his shoulder and scanned the room, pointing to Carlos, who was conveniently surrounded by 4 women.

"That man over there. In his natural habitat of course, surrounded by women." Patrick rolled his eyes with a smile before looking back to Marie and realizing. "Oh shit, wait, you two dated, right? I'm so sorry."

Marie saw the genuine embarrassment on Patrick's face and assumed he wasn't trying to sell a months-old headline.

"Yeah, we did. We're all good now though, just colleagues and friends."

The lie slid through her teeth easily, but left a bitter aftertaste in her mouth. She quickly looked back over to him, recognizing the one girl from somewhere. They looked at him like he was a million dollar statue in a museum. Marie looked back to Patrick, but just as he was about to finish his sentence, his eyes shifted towards the figure coming towards him.

"Hey, man, great job today on qualifying. Solid runs," Patrick said as he dapped up Carlos, who didn't even need to enter Marie's vision for her to know.