Lost and Found

Chapter 23

The sun was shining brightly in the early summer days as Sara walked beside Carlos onto the grid. It was qualification day for Carlos and Pierre and race day for Anthoine. The birds were chirping loudly and the first cars started roaring already. She stayed by Carlos' side for all of the morning and then decided to go for a walk around the paddock to see if she could run into Pierre and Anthoine to wish them good luck in person.

But she didn't run into either of them but into a person she hadn't spoken to in years.

"So the rumours are true." Sara walked up to the table Juliette was sitting at. "Formula One, that's impressive." Juliette cleared her throat and placed the book she had been reading down.

"Yes, f1."

"I never thought I would run into you here." Sara sat down, not really knowing why. She wasn't on speaking terms with Juliette and truthfully didn't even want to be out of her own accord. "But life is full of surprises."

Like you suddenly leaving.

"Things can change fast over the years. How are you doing?" Sara forced out a smile. Now she had started the conversation, she might as well just be polite and try to make things at least a little bit better between them.

"I'm fine, thank you. I heard you became a journalist at Vogue." Sara proudly smiled. Her job was definitely an achievement and she was proud to be a part of the magazine.

"Yeah, that's right."

"And you have Elvira's job now? Well done!" Sara smiled, hearing her old friend be so excited, whether it was genuine or not, did more to her than she would ever dare to admit.

"Yeah, the world is small. And Elvira, she has just eight weeks left in the pregnancy."

"Eight weeks left? Jeez, time is going fast. How is she doing?" Over the weeks since the Monacan dinner, Sara had been keeping in touch with Elvira. She was such a wonderful lady and she couldn't wait to meet her and Daniel's child.

"She has such a wonderful pregnancy, she barely has any sickness or weird side effects. And Julie-" The nickname just slipped over her lips but in her excitement, she didn't even notice she had slipped into old habits. "El is so beautifully pregnant! Do you follow her on Instagram?" Juliette shook her head.

"No but I do follow Daniel, I sometimes see a picture of Elvira but not much. Daniel isn't posting much about his personal life, which is understandable though." Sara reached in her pocket for her phone.

"You are lucky I know El; otherwise, I wouldn't have any pictures." Sara opened Elvira's Instagram page and looked for the best photos. "You should follow her, she has nice content."

"Oh my gosh," Juliette whispered and grabbed Sara's phone out of her hands. Sara smiled as she looked at Juliette scrolling through the photos. "She looks so wonderful. What is her secret?" They laughed and Sara thought back at a conversation they had in the past in which they discussed pregnancy as an athlete and how their bodies would look during and after.

"I know right."

"Sometimes, I end up in an Instagram thread and it's just videos of cute babies. At moments like that I am just like: I want a baby. Baby fever..." Juliette dramatically said it seemed like nothing had changed since halfway through the final year of school. "I really can't use the baby fever in this stage of my life." Sara took her phone from Juliette and nodded.

"I don't want children right now as well. Maybe when I am older. Much, much older. I'm fine with my nephew right now. He is adorable."

"Yeah, true. If I ever want to make babies, I need to find a man first. I do have a new work-boyfriend but that's... Nah, never in a million years."