Last Man Standing

Chapter 40

Marylinde was happy the next formula one race was in France, meaning it was close to home. And that meant Marylinde's parents were going to come over for the weekend. Even though she wasn't going to be driving the car, she was happy her parents would join her. She had seen them very little since the season had started. She had spent her time in England at the factory mostly, only seeing her parents at night. The last time she had spent real quality time with them had been weeks ago.

"Kasper!" Peter embraced Marylinde's father, they had always been good friends. "And Denise, how lovely to see the both of you here." Peter kissed both of Denise's cheeks. "Marylinde is getting ready for a Red Bull challenge, so she asked me if I could come to pick you up. Here are your passes." Peter handed Denise and Peter their paddock passes and watched as they entered the paddock. It was already buzzing with people, even though it was just media day.

"Thank you, Peter. Can we join them?" Peter nodded and lead the parents of the only female driver in formula one to the Red Bull facilities. They were inside for the video, the usual pairings of Max and Alex and Pierre and Yuki, but instead of Sette Camara, it was yet again Jüri standing by Marylinde's side.

"Mary, brake and right... Now!" Marylinde did what Jüri told her. They were having a blindfolded simulator race against each other where the times of the teammates would be added together at the end of the race. The team with the fastest time would win the challenge. "More right! Gas now!"

"Yeah Gasly!" Max laughed. "Now!" It was like normal, just teasing between the six of them but the fact that there was an indirect connection between Marylinde and Pierre made by Max, made both of them uncomfortable.

"What is it between Mary and Gasly?" The looks on both Pierre's and Marylinde's faces were giving away that there was something between them that was off. Denise looked at Peter and then back at her daughter and the Alpha Tauri man that was driving blindfolded.

"Don't start about it with Mary. It is a sensitive subject." Denise frowned. "They were sort of dating. And Freja advised against it because of Mary's career and she abruptly walked away from it. Afraid to risk it all. Pierre has been waiting for her to come to him again but Mary has been too scared." Denise slowly nodded as she looked back at her daughter. She and Jüri had switched places and the latter was now blindfolded and driving the virtual call into the wall.

"You didn't say anything!" He screamed when Marylinde told him he had to reverse the car out of the wall. "It is bloody France! How did you get me to crash into a wall?!" Marylinde dropped to the floor as she nearly died of laughter. She had screamed fire and murder but somehow it had all gone by Jüri, which made the case all the funnier.

"I did say something." She wheezed. Denise looked at the spectacle and from the corner of her eye, she saw Pierre, trying to force himself to remain focussed on the screen on which he had to guide Max around but his smile broke through either way. Marylinde's laughter made him involuntarily smile every time. Denise noticed and sighed silently.

This was going to acquire a mother's touch.

The challenge continued, and eventually, it was Red Bull that had the fastest time with a second difference to Alpha Tauri. The reserves had been half a minute behind, thanks to Marylinde not being able to catch her breath after sending Jüri into the wall and having heard him throw a tantrum for doing so.

"I'm blaming you for this loss," Jüri said, his arms crossed but a grin was tugging on his lips. He didn't like they had lost but he had to admit that he and Marylinde had had the most fun out of them during the challenge.

"Fine, I had a good time. I don't mind." She grinned.

"But I can't wait to see how you managed to crash me into a wall!" Jüri still didn't believe Marylinde had managed to make him drive into a wall in France of all places. Marylinde shook her head with a chuckle. She wasn't going to start the debate all over again. The cameras stopped rolling and Marylinde turned away to see her parents standing at the side.