Page 71 of Retrograde
‘This is the same racing sim we have at HQ, isn’t it?’ Brett asked, inspecting it closely.
He didn’t often go to HQ because each driver had a set-up like this in their own homes. Julien’s was in Malmedy, Brett’s in Sydney and Marco’s in his flat in Monaco. But with Brett being banned from HQ for a while anyway and not planning on leaving Tuscany until he was sure he was on the straight and narrow, this surprise set-up was exactly what he needed.
Jasper nodded excitedly. ‘I contacted the company and got you a new one, it’s had upgrades so it’s even better than the ones we’ve got at the moment. Sit in it, go on. You and Moretz are the same height so we’re pretty sure everything should be in the right position for you.’
Brett lowered himself into the chair and gripped the steering wheel, and immediately felt at ease. At home. ‘This is perfect. It feels so much better than my last one.’
‘I’ve been playing around all day, and I think the settings are spot on. They should match what our actual car feels like,’ Julien said. ‘They’re the settings I use, anyway. Oh, and I know you don’t usually use a trainer these days, prefer to crack on with things yourself, but my trainer is happy to help you out, get you set up with a programme,if you want. You can do it all online, weekly video calls. We could even train together.’
‘Cheers, Moretz. And you, Jasper. I really appreciate it.’
Lucie closed the door on her co-workers, leaving them to play around on the racing sim. It was a serious, strict part of training, but all three of them, their boss especially, were getting carried away with testing how the steering wheel responded. It was the second crash paired with cheers that she took as her cue to make a swift exit and find her parents.
‘I can’t believe we pulled that off.’ She heaved a sigh of relief as she collapsed onto a stool at the breakfast bar, gratefully accepting a glass of water from her mum.
‘I can. You’re a good girl, Luce,’ her dad smiled, but there was a sadness in his eyes that she hadn’t seen many times before.
‘What’s that face for?’ she frowned, but he looked nervous. Her mum matched his expression. ‘Guys, you can be honest with me.’
‘We’re just worried about you, that’s all. You’re putting a lot of your time and energy into work and Brett’s recovery. Have you thought about how long you and Brett are going to stay here with us?’ Mateo asked.
When Lucie stayed silent, unable to provide an answer, her dad sighed. She didn’t think he was disappointed in her as a person, just perhaps wishing his daughter’s life looked different right now. They were mid-race season, and that usually meant she and Brett were jetting about all over the place with the team. This was the first yearthey’d stayed in one place, and although Brett had to work on his sobriety, Lucie shouldn’t feel obligated to stick it out with him.
Except she didn’t really feel obligated, it just felt like the right thing to do. She wanted to do it. To be here, guiding him and supporting him.
‘He’s healing, Luce. We sit outside and drink alcohol every evening, and it’s like he doesn’t even notice. He turned his nose up at the smell of your dad’s whisky the other night. But as much as we love him, he has dragged you through hell. That isn’t his fault, it’s just what happens when someone’s mental health deteriorates.’
‘Don’t you think you two need to sit down and have a conversation about what’s going on here? At what point do you go back to your normal lives?’
Lucie just let them speak while she sat there feeling overwhelmed. That trip to Rome had done her so much good in the early stages of this whole debacle, but then Brett had that outburst in Monaco and she immediately dropped everything to be by his side.
Every waking minute was consumed by worry for his mental state, and she had allowed the lines to blur, which was making everything more confusing forher. He might be okay with keeping it casual, but Lucie wasn’t. She needed space.
Desperate to change the subject, she ignored her parents’ firing line. ‘Do Julien and Jasper have somewhere to sleep tonight?’ They were supposed to have got a hotel in town, but everything had been so rushed and chaotic in the end that she doubted they’d pulled it off.
‘Yes. Here. We figured Jasper could take your room, Julien could take the spare and you could just share a room with Brett, since you do that every night anyway.’ Mateo held her gaze before smirking. ‘You think we didn’t know? Lucie, sweetheart, you two couldn’t be more obvious if you tried. There are fireworks any time you’re in the same room.’
‘Dad!’ She went beet red.
‘Mateo, stop embarrassing her.’ Rosa bit her lip, trying not to smile too widely. ‘Are you two just, you know, enjoying yourselves? Or is it something more?’
‘Now who’s embarrassing her?’ Mateo retaliated.
‘I don’t really know what to say, to be honest. He’s just… it’s Brett.’ Lucie shrugged.
That wouldn’t provide much of an explanation to anyone, but to her parents, who knew thembothlike the backs of their hands, it was all she needed to say.
Lucie and Brett lay in bed that night to the soundtrack of Jasper’s snores. They were violent, to say the least. At multiple points, she had debated going in there and suffocating him to get him to stop, but he was still her boss. It wasn’t appropriate. In the end, they had decided to turn the TV on to drown him out.
‘I can’t believe you guys did all that for me,’ Brett murmured.
‘It wasn’t a big deal.’ She shrugged one shoulder, the other crushed up against his side.
‘Sunny, are you kidding?’ He breathed out a laugh. ‘My boss and my teammate just travelled from two separatecountries to bring a very expensive piece of technology to an alcoholic ex-racing driver.’
She sat bolt upright. ‘Don’t ever call yourself an ex-racing driver.’
‘Well –’
