Lost and Found

Chapter 20

Sara was nervous, Carlos would be arriving at any moment now and her parents and brothers were making a very big deal out of it. They weren't blind and they knew Sara better than anyone, so they knew it meant a lot to her, meaning Carlos meant a lot to her, even though she wasn't ready to admit it yet.

"Please, Sara, you are making me nervous with your pacing." Sara sat down but jumped right back up when she heard a car driving up the driveway. "Stay here and behave!" Sara told her family and rushed to the front door.

"Bonjour." Sara chuckled. It had become quite the thing for the two of them to greet each other in the other's language.

"Ola." Carlos grabbed his suitcase from his trunk and placed it on the ground. In the meantime, Sara had put on some pair of shoes that had been standing next to the door – she was guessing they were Martin's – and hugged Carlos tightly. "It's good seeing you again." She whispered.

"I agree." Carlos let go of her and together they walked into the house.

"My mom would very much appreciate it if you were to take off your shoes. You can leave your suitcase here, we'll take it up later." She smiled and kicked off the shoes again. She placed them neatly on the side of the hallway so no one would trip over them and waited for Carlos to do the same.

"Are you nervous?" Carlos asked, a grin tucking on his lips. He had remembered the conversation of when Sara invited him over.

"Quite frankly, I am," Sara admitted and then took a deep breath. "But let's go shall we?" Together, they walked into the living room where – much to Sara's surprise – everyone was still sitting where they were when she left. "Carlos, this is my family: my mom Melissa, my dad Vincent, my eldest brother David and Martin. Guys, this is Carlos."

"It's nice to finally meet you, we've heard a lot about you, spoke over the phone as well but it's good to meet you in person." It was Martin who was on his feet first to greet Carlos. It didn't surprise Sara much as he was the one she was most worried about when it came to introducing Carlos to her family.

"Ah, it's good to have a face with the name and voice." Martin gasped loudly.

"You never showed him a picture of me? What are you? A total stranger to me? I am your brother!" Sara rolled her eyes at Carlos who just laughed. David was a lot calmer but made sure Carlos knew he was welcome. Vincent was a bit more held back, he knew that the divorce cost Sara a lot, she was broken for a little afterwards because of the stress and he didn't want his little girl to go through all of that again.

"Do you want something to drink dear?" Melissa, on the other hand, welcomed Carlos into the family immediately.

"Coffee please." Carlos smiled at Melissa. "Do you need any help?" Melissa quickly looked at Sara who smiled as well. She had predicted it correctly.

"No dear, please sit down. You must be exhausted after such a long travel. Just sit and we'll take care of you." Carlos thanked her and sat down next to Julia. He shifted in his seat before looking her in the eye for a moment. Despite acting like he was confident, he wasn't at all, meeting Julia's family meant a lot to him as well.

"So tell me, Carlos, what do you like to do outside of racing?" Vincent asked, looking the Spaniard straight in the eye, making Carlos even more uncomfortable than he already was.

"I like to play a bit of golf, I do it a lot with friends and whenever I am home I spend as much time as possible with them and my family. They are the most important part of my life, despite not seeing them as much as I'd like."

"How often do you see them?" Carlos smiled as this was something he was proud of. He didn't just say he tried to spend every possible moment at home, he actually did whenever it was possible.

"I always try to go home for a day or two between races and they sometimes visit me. When I'm off for a couple of days, I fly home. Even though I am very lucky to have a family member with me at all times, my cousin is my manager so I have him around almost all of the time."

"That must be nice, having a familiar face with you." Melissa sat down on the sofa next to her husband. "We heard a few things over the years from Pierre and Anthoine but we've never really been invested in the sport unfortunately but it must be hard being away from home so much."

"The team becomes a bit of your second family, so even when your not home with the family you are born into or your girlfriend, wife or kids, you're never alone. There is always someone looking out for you like a family member would."

"Carlos even has a bit of a little brother in the team."

"How old are you if I may ask?"

"Twenty four."

"So that is a really young teammate, you're not even that old yourself."

"It's a really talented kid, he's a great driver, but an absolute child." Carlos laughed. "But it is always good fun and he knows when he needs to be serious, so we have a good atmosphere in the team together. It's been great so far." Vincent nodded and the conversation continued. Carlos fit right in. David had just picked up golf, which caused golf to be a great subject to break the ice. Martin already had a boy crush on Carlos and Melissa already swooned over him as her son-in-law. Even Vincent didn't take long to take a liking to Carlos.

By the time dinner rolled around and the food Melissa had cooked was displayed on the table, they moved to the dining room. The conversation quickly continued.

"So, you and Sara met at the interview right? We are so proud of her and to hear she would get to interview two formula one drivers was amazing. As well as Emma Watson of course." Carlos smiled at Sara who was slightly blushing at the compliments from her brother but had to shake his head.

"We met at the McLaren technology centre. She had gotten the guts to drag a Renault junior driver into our facilities."

"Of course, that is such a thing Sara would do, always dragging people-"

"Renault Junior?" David asked. "Who is a Renault junior?"

"Anthoine."

"Of course you dragged Anthoine with you. It is always Pierre or Anthoine." Carlos chuckled.

"But how did you meet then, because going to the technology centre doesn't necessarily mean you get to meet you."

"He scared the living hell out of me. I was looking at some of the cars that are displayed in the hall when he sneaked up to me and scared me."

"Well, I had to say hi to such a pretty girl. I'm happy I did." Sara poked Carlos between the ribs making him squirm away from Sara, to only get back on his seat properly to poke her in her side. The rest of the family looked at the two and smiled. Carlos and Sara had gotten close over time. They had heard the name Carlos or Carlitos a lot over the past couple of weeks. They noticed Sara was going starting to like Carlos a lot.

Carlos' behaviour was telling them the exact same story, behind his tough façade, he liked Sara a lot. He was acting all tough for her to like him. But then again, Sara brought out the soft side in him even though he was trying so hard not to. She unknowingly forced him to be fully himself around her.

"I love your casserole ma'am."

"Please, Melissa."

"She wouldn't have let you if she wouldn't like you." David winked. "So be happy you get to call her Melissa." They all laughed as Melissa whacked her son over the head for exposing her. "Ow!" David looked at his mother accusingly.

"Remember how I told you it sometimes seems like I have a little brother?" Carlos nodded. He hadn't understood what Sara had been trying to say with it at the time but he had a very good idea of what she had meant now. David was the sometimes seemingly little brother.

"Either way, Melissa, I am very happy at least you like me because I like your daughter a lot and I am hoping to spend more time with her in the foreseeable future." A scarlet red blush spread over Sara's cheeks and neck.

"Thanks for updating me on that one before blurting it out to my family." She whispered. "Not that I mind but a heads-up would be nice."