Apex [h.s]

chapter fifty nine

Song: Promise, Ben Howard

And meet me there, bundles of flowers, we'll wade through the hours of cold

Frankie Doyle

November

"Miss Doyle, this is Dr. Ross calling with your results. I'm sorry, although your injury has made significant progress in it's healing. I am not confident that it will be able to withstand the physical requirements of driving in motorsport this year. I believe that it is in your best interest that you don't compete this season. That way, come next season, you'll be able to carry on at peak performance. If you were to drive this year, I'm afraid that you would be more likely to injure yourself again and that could lead to more serious, permanent damage. I know this isn't the news you want to hear, but know it is for the best of your racing career. Give me a call when you get this if you have any questions. I'm sorry again."

I've lost count of how many times I've listened to that voice mail. After receiving it in July, I hoped that somehow, Dr. Ross' words would change. I hoped they would say that my back was stronger than ever and that I had nothing to stop me from racing.

But of course...the words remained the same. 

A part of me knew that I wouldn't be racing this season. I could feel it in my bones. It still hurt when I found out though. 

Harry and I had signed to a new team just before I found out that I wouldn't be racing. After James, our manager, threatened to end Harry's contract when he didn't finish the final race last season, Harry started looking for a new team almost immediately. James had even begged to get us back on is team. He realised that without us as his drivers, he wasn't anything special. But Harry refused. He wanted us to be part of a team, not just money makers.

Unsurprisingly, there weren't many managers who were keen to take both of us together, especially in the state I was in. There were too many uncertainties.

I told Harry that he should just go for it without me. He was desirable on his own. He didn't need me...not now...

The look of shock on his face stunned me. He told me we were a package deal. We worked well together, we motivated each other and he wasn't going to take the risk that we would be racing in different rounds or touring championships.

It warmed my heart that he was willing to take the harder route just to be with me.

We managed to find another team eventually. The only downside was that their headquarters was based in Australia, which meant a lot of travelling for meetings. On the upside, it was great exposure for international racing.

In our interviews with potential teams and managers, we had made my situation very clear. We made sure they knew there was a chance I wouldn't be racing this coming season. Our new team had said they had seen me race, and that I was an asset they didn't want to loose, even if they had to wait a year to use me.

To know that people saw me as more than my injury gave me a new feeling of confidence. In the entire mess of the past months, I had forgotten that I had technically won the championship. The only way I could've been beaten was if Harry had come in first in that last race. No one else had enough points to knock me off the top. Since Harry didn't finish either, I still had the top spot on the leaderboard. I never got to celebrate my win though...

The team offered me the position of Harry's race engineer so that I could still be active on the team. I was so grateful for that.

The perks of working for an Australian team was the sponsors were willing to put more money into a potentially international team, which mean more money for Harry and I. Although the money wasn't the reason I do what I do, it was a perk of the job.