Page 23 of One Summer in Monte Carlo
Mathieu had practically pushed them all out of the apartment, despite Olivia protesting she’d rather stay in her room. ‘Papa Jean-Claude’s down there getting ready. Go and wish him good luck. He’d love to see you all. Florence and I need to get the apartment ready for the lunch party.’
With the pit-lane passes hanging around their necks on ribbons, Nanette and the twins crossed the Boulevard Albert 1er at a designated crossing place between the barriers, and made their way down the pit lane to the garage, where Jean-Claude was fine-tuning his Lotus before the race.
Along the pit lane, the cars with their curiously old-fashioned looks were the star attractions. Pierre was fascinated to see a car that had raced in the very first Monaco Grand Prix over sixty years ago on display at the end of the pit-lane enclosure. Even Olivia was impressed when Jean-Claude told them how well his qualifying laps had gone.
‘Can’t believe the old girl went so well. Fourth on the grid. Just have to hope she keeps going now.’ Jean-Claude patted the dark green bonnet of the car gently. ‘Imagine – I’m alongside Damon Hill on the second row,’ he said, looking at Nanette.
Nanette smiled at his boyish enthusiasm. ‘Good luck,’ she said. ‘We’ll be cheering you on from the balcony.’ And the three of them left Jean-Claude and his mechanic to finish their last-minute adjustments to the car.
Strolling along the pit lane with the twins, Nanette remembered the countless times she’d been involved in preparations for Grand Prix races with Zac all over the world, but there was something different about this pit lane. It took her several minutes to realise exactly what it was.
There were crowds of people milling around and there was the usual frenzy of mechanics preparing cars for racing, but it was all rather subdued and, like the cars, old-fashioned. The razzamatazz atmosphere of a modern Formula 1 grand prix was missing.
Next week, Monaco would be in the grip of twenty-first-century racing-car fever as the modern Formula 1 roadshow took over and Monaco turned itself into the most glamorous racetrack in the world, but this Sunday morning, it was all about nostalgia.
Knowing that once the racing started they wouldn’t be able to leave the pit lane, Nanette ushered the twins across the road and they made their way slowly home.
Back in the apartment, Pierre grabbed Mathieu’s binoculars and took up his position on the balcony, where he had a good view of both the starting grid and the pit-lane exit. Guests were starting to arrive. Olivia took one look at one of them, a tall, lanky teenager, and gasped.
‘Dad didn’t say he was coming,’ she said.
Nanette laughed at the expression on her face. ‘Who is he?’ she asked.
Olivia looked at her in disbelief. ‘You must recognise him. It’s Foxey. He’s the lead singer with a really, really cool band. Les Grenouilles.’
‘Oh,’ Nanette said, watching as Olivia ran to her room to change into her ‘best’ jeans – the ones with the tear in the knee – and to fetch her autograph book.
‘Be really cool if he’d sign it for me,’ she said. ‘Do you think he will?’
‘I don’t see why not,’ Nanette said. ‘Go and ask him nicely before anyone else arrives.’
She watched as Olivia shyly approached the young singer, held out her autograph book and politely asked in perfect French. ‘Would you please sign it for me?’
Nanette held her breath in case the boy refused, but she needn’t have worried, He smiled at Olivia as he asked her name before writing in her treasured book.
Nanette was less than thrilled to see the next person who arrived – Boris. Accompanied by a group of six men and the blonde woman Nanette had seen with him in the restaurant, he walked confidently into the apartment. After a cursory glance in her direction and a polite ‘Bonjour,’ he went through to join Foxey and the other guests on the balcony.
Nanette stood undecided. She didn’t fancy going out there and being ignored by Boris and his cronies. She’d wait until all the guests had arrived.
When the doorbell rang, she quickly called out to Florence, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll get it,’ and opened the door to find Evie and her boss, Luc, standing there.
‘Evie. What a lovely surprise to see you again,’ Nanette said as Luc went through to join Boris on the balcony, leaving Evie with Nanette.
Together they went into the sitting room, where Mathieu was now supervising pre-lunch nibbles and drinks with Florence. Accepting a glass and taking a plate of hors d’oeuvres, Nanette and Evie edged their way outside towards Pierre and Olivia on the balcony.
Several of the cars were already on the grid, having driven round the circuit to get to their starting positions, and their mechanics were thronging around, giving them final checks in the last twenty minutes before the formation lap.
‘It’s Papa Jean-Claude’s race next,’ Pierre said. ‘Look, here he comes out of the pits,’ and he trained the binoculars down on the pit-lane exit.
‘Gosh, from up here they look like the Dinky toys my kid brother used to play with,’ Evie said, leaning over to get a better look.
Huge TV screens had been positioned around the circuit, including one at the tight first corner, Sainte-Dévote, where the cars would still be jostling for position after the start.
Nanette watched as Jean-Claude began his drive round the circuit to get to his place on the starting grid ready for the formation lap. For some reason, her stomach was a mass of knots, much like it had been whenever she watched Zac race. Knowing how much the opportunity to race his Lotus again meant to him, she so wanted Jean-Claude to have a good, safe, race.
By the time he emerged from the tunnel and was negotiating the bends by the swimming pool in front of them, all of Mathieu’s guests had arrived and the balcony was buzzing.
Nanette, looking out across the harbour, saw Zac on the deck ofPole Position. Thankfully, he was obviously not planning to join them for lunch. Since the morning of his surprise appearance in the apartment, talking about forgiving and forgetting and expressing the desire that they should be civil to each in public, Nanette had been wondering where and when their next encounter would be.
