Fields of Gold; Daniel Ricciardo

Good food and good company.

It's not a long drive until Daniel and I reach a cute cottage. There aren't any signs outside to indicate that this is actually a restaurant. "What is this, it looks really cute and all, but is this a restaurant?" I ask confused.
"It is, it's a place a lot of the McLaren staff go to often. It's just not very well known, which is nice, because that means it's not so busy and well, for us that's nice. Not having pictures all over social media, just for grabbing a bite to eat." He explains.
"I can imagine that gets really annoying, you really don't have a lot of privacy do you?" I grab my purse and phone and want to open the door of the car. "No wait I will open that for you" he jumps out of the car and runs to my side. "Really? We do live in the 21st century you know." I roll my eyes, but it is also quite charming he tries so hard.
"I can be a gentleman, I just want you to feel special." He helps me get out of the car again.
"You have made me feel special all day, you don't have to try so hard." I gently touch his arm as we walk through the door of the restaurant.

Inside looks just as nice as the outside. There are only a few tables and there is only one actually occupied at the moment, but by the looks of their clothes, they are people who work at the team.
Daniel is greeted by one of the servers, you can tell they know him, because it's like friends who see each other again.
He introduces me to the server:"Nick this is Skylar, she has spent the day with me at the factory and now we are really hungry"
"Nice to meet you Skylar, let's get you a table and make sure you guys get fed then" he shakes my hand and leads us to a nice table. The menu's are already opened at the table so I take a quick look at it.
It has only a few options, but that's fine by me. It all sounds great to be honest. "What can you recommend?" I ask Nick.
"Well if you are not a vegetarian, I would suggest the steak, it's amazing." He points it out on the menu.
"Ok I'll follow your advice then, I would like the steak please." I also order a glass of red wine. I'm not really a drinker but red wine with steak is just delicious. I also order some water to go with it because I haven't had alcohol in quite some time.
Daniel orders the same except for the wine, because he still has to drive. After that Nick leaves to tell the chef what to prepare for us.
Even though we have spend the entire day together we still have plenty to talk about. I want to know everything about his life before he got into F1 and about his home in Australia.

After a while our food arrives and it looks really good. The steak melts in my mouth and is seasoned just right. The grilled vegetables that go with it are also perfectly cooked.
When we finish our food, I lean backwards to give my stomach some space. "Pff that was amazing, but I'm really full now."
"Well that was the whole idea right?" Daniel laughs.
"Yeah you're right. You know, I decided to see if I can get tickets for the race in Imola. I really want to experience a race weekend, so when I get home I'll see if there are tickets left and if I can find a hotel and a flight there." I tell Daniel.
"You'll love it I'm sure. Are you gonna go by yourself then?" He asks as he wipes his mouth with his napkin.
"Yeah I think so, I've travelled on my own before, so I'm fine by myself." At that moment Nick comes to clear the table," would you guys like a dessert?"
"I would love dessert, but I'm so full I'm afraid I might burst if I have anything more. I would like some coffee though."
"Sure I will get that for you, Danny you want something?" He looks at Daniel.
"I would like some espresso, I have to drive Skylar home so I could use a bit of caffeine." Daniel also relaxes in his chair.

"Do you have to drive the entire way back to the factory after you drop me off?" I ask a bit worried, because it's getting late and that would mean he has to drive one hour to my home and then 2 hours back.
"No, I'm staying at a hotel about half an hour away from your town, I'll take the car back tomorrow." He answers.
"Ok good, because otherwise I could get a cab from here to take me home." Nick brings us our coffee and leaves us.
"No that's not going to happen, I'm taking you home myself. I'll be fine." He reassures me.