Page 56 of My French Love Affair

Jas leans back in her chair, shaking her head with a deeply amused expression. “Surely not.”

“Oh, this is better than I could have ever imagined,” Emlaughs.

I look between the two of them, my stomach dropping.

“What?” I prod, just wanting them to put me out of my bloody misery at this point. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on?!”

Emma just grins - the kind of grin that sets off warning bells in my head.

“That’s not a mechanic, babe.”

I stare at her, waiting for the punchline.

“Okay,” I say, dragging out the word. “And you know thishow?”

Emma places a delicate hand over her heart, like she’s about to deliver the final, devastating blow.

“That,” she says, her voice practically dripping with amusement, “is Frederic Moreau. One of the newer Formula One drivers for Mercedes.”

My stomach plummets, and I freeze.

I swear that the world tilts slightly beneath me, like I’ve just stepped off a curb I didn’t see coming. In fact, I actually start to feel a little dizzy.

Because somehow, in the disastrously short span of less than twenty-four hours, I have -

One: Started a full-blown verbal war with an F1 driver.

Two: Accused him of attempted abduction - at the airport, no less.

Three: Accused him of stalking me - because apparently, that’s just how my brain works.

And, finally,

Four: Just to really solidify my place in the Hall of Poor Life Choices, I’ve now downgraded his entire career by calling him a mechanic.

Truly a masterclass in humiliation.

“Bloody hell, Pops,” Jas snorts. “He’s an F1 driver, and you told him he fixes cars.”

I think I’m going to throw up.

“Oh my god,” I mutter, squeezing my eyes shut. “I can’t do this. I need to leave this country.Immediately.”

My friends are hardly sympathetic to my crisis.

Emma howls with laughter. “Poppy, you - you thought -”

“Don’t talk to me.”

Jas leans back as she cackles, the sound loud and unrestrained as she shakes her head in pure delight. Meanwhile, Emma wipes actual tears from her eyes.

I let out a long, agonised groan, pressing my hands firmly against my face and willing the ground to swallow me whole.

Apparently, the universereallyhas it out for me.

“No, no,” Jas chokes out, gasping for breath between her laughter. “I need to hear this one from the beginning. Please - tell us again. Right from the start.”

“Go fuck yourself,” I grumble.

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