Page 59 of Retrograde
‘I’m going to hang up now.’
‘Fine. Goodbye. Good luck with the work thing.’
‘Bye!’ Lucie laughed.
As Bea’s voice was replaced with the babble of an Italian radio presenter, Lucie allowed her mind to wander. She had seen Brett briefly this morning, andshe’d had to fight to convince him to stay with her parents for the day. He wanted so badly to be involved in the livery reveal, and she knew he felt awful about being banished from work events as well as races. She tried to reason with him and tell him that ignoring Jasper’s wishes would only anger his boss, but that didn’t stop Brett from moping.
It didn’t help that yesterday, Revolution’s PR team had released a statement announcing that Brett wouldn’t be racing for them for the rest of the season. They said it was due to personal reasons, and Lucie had confiscated Brett’s phone so he couldn’t see responses. Fans were angry and confused, and she couldn’t blame them, it was unusual for a driver to step away for so long without more reasoning but they had to trust the process.
Lucie knew Brett would risk revealing the truth one day, because nobody in the industry was open about their mental health. He had a platform, and he was going to use it. Eventually. When he was strong enough to tackle the criticism and judgement head on.
She had asked her dad to keep an eye on him and suggested maybe they could work on one of his classic cars together.
Lucie knew she couldn’t wrap him up in cotton wool, but it didn’t stop her wishing she could be with him today instead of travelling a couple of hours away to spend time with the people Brett wanted to be around, in the environment he was temporarily not allowed to be in. How was she supposed to document today and plaster on a fake smile when her heart was elsewhere?
As she pulled up to the hotel in her tiny Fiat, parking next to a row of black SUVs, a wave of nausea hit her. Everyone knew she was close with the team’s drivers, Brett most of all, and she was no doubt going to be bombarded with questions about his welfare. The wider team didn’t know what was going on with him, so they were going to push her for information out of curiosity and concern, and their friends were going to want updates.
She was supposed to be here as part of the team, to work. To do her social media magic. But in reality, she was here as Brett’s spokesperson. She was going to have to put on a brave face and lie to her co-workers, to sponsors and people who cared about their teammate and friend, and she hated it. She wanted to hide. But instead, she would be there next to the stage to get those perfect shots of the car and the team, doing her colleagues proud and keeping her best friend’s dignity intact.
Lucie grabbed her bag from the passenger seat and jumped out of the car, locking it over her shoulder as she hurried inside to find Faith. Maybe she shouldn’t be telling her without Brett’s permission, but Brett openly flirted with her all the time, so did it really matter?
Checking in at reception, Lucie turned to her left and saw Revolution Racing’s reserve driver, the one replacing Brett this season. ‘Oh! Hey, Lucie.’
‘Hi, Garrett!’ Lucie went straight into work mode, hoping she was as welcoming as possible. None of this was Garrett’s fault, but it felt alien to see him standing there in team uniform. Brett’s uniform. He was evenwearing an ID badge with ‘Driver’ written underneath his name. It all just felt wrong.
‘I’m sorry to hear about Anderson, I hope he’s doing all right.’ To give Woods credit, he did look genuinely apologetic.
‘Thank you, it’s appreciated and I’ll make sure to pass that on.’
‘I was going to drop him a message, but since I don’t know the situation, I didn’t want to overstep and make him feel shit about the whole thing.’ Woods’ cheeks flushed and he rubbed the back of his neck, shifting uncomfortably.
‘It might be better to leave it for now, but I’ll make sure he knows you’re thinking of him. I’ll let you know when he’s ready though.’
‘I’ll be sure to do his team proud, keep his car in one piece.’
‘You’re part of the team too, Garrett. You know that, right?’ Lucie smiled at him, trying to ease his nerves. It warmed her heart to hear how much he respected Brett, and to know that he was so grateful to be racing for a top team. At least he didn’t have a massive ego.
‘I know, but it’s not forever. I will happily step aside again when Brett is ready to get back behind the wheel. Oh, I wanted to ask you, do I have to, sort of, match his energy on camera? Because I’m not sure I have the right personality…’
Lucie laughed as she took her room key from the receptionist. ‘Not at all. You just be yourself, and I’ll make you look good. Fans might complain a little atfirst, especially the die-hard Anderson fans, but they’ll just have to get used to it.’
‘Awesome, thank you. Anyway, I’ve got a meeting with my manager so I’d better dash, see you later!’
He departed and Lucie’s heart sank a little. There was no denying that Brett played a huge role in the success of the team’s social media content, and doing things without him was going to take a lot of adjustment. From what she knew of Garrett so far, he was friendly enough, but the humour just wasn’t there. It wasn’t fair to rely on Marco and Julien to carry the content, and she and Faith had to make sure that even though he was only here temporarily, Garrett was given an equal platform and shown in a good light. If sponsors and other teams liked what they saw both on and off the track, and he had fans behind him, it would give him a better chance at being signed by another team next season.
She wished that Jasper had chosen a woman to fill the position. It would make perfect sense; to have a female driver on a team where the social media content was run by a two-woman team who had an entire campaign and academy dedicated to women in motorsport. She was certain that if a permanent position on the team ever came up, she could convince Jasper to approach someone like Savi Hart or Océane Clair. Not that shewantedto say goodbye to her beloved Revolution Racing boys, but change always came eventually.
Knocking on Faith’s hotel room door before she’d even got to her own, desperate to get to her before Bea opened her mouth, Lucie groaned when she heardMarco’s voice on the other side. She was going to have to kick the guys out.
‘Luce!’ Marco hugged her and gave her a little squeeze.
‘Hey, Mars.’
‘How have you been?’ He pulled back, holding her at arm’s length and staring into her soul with his piercing puppy-dog eyes; she was so close to breaking down to him.
‘Okay.’ She smiled weakly, her eyes welling up with tears.
‘Hey, Luce!’ Julien appeared next, bucket hat on.
