Love Always Wins

46

Thursday April 30th.
9.35am.

Once again it was another warm, sunny spring morning in Switzerland's canton, Thurgau, and as Chloe sat outside in the fresh air with everything coming to life around her she knew that she should be feeling optimistic. Not only were there green shoots and blossom bursting into life in the ground, trees and bushes, there were also green shoots of recovery as the country began to tentatively ease it's lockdown restrictions. Starting a few days ago, on Monday, hair salons, some medical services such a dentists and physiotherapists, DIY shops and garden centres were allowed to reopen but with precautionary measures in place. But right now, most notably and serving as a poignant reminder to her of what today actually was - measures that restricted funeral services to immediate family only in Switzerland had been lifted. More people could now go and say their goodbyes to a loved one, while she was still restricted to watching her nan's service on tv via an online streaming service. She felt far from optimistic, she felt trapped and miserable and right now, she was alone. Hair salons being open again meant that Seb had decided to head out earlier to get his hair cut, something that had been the last thing on her mind but she understood him wanting to go, he hadn't had his hair cut since the launch of the SF1000 and to be fair to him, it was getting a bit long. She stared hard at her empty coffee mug, the hot drink being the only thing to pass her lips so far today because she felt constantly nauseous, something she was prone to when she was emotionally distressed or particularly anxious and today, she both of those things. Shifting her gaze towards the field that was beyond the garden, she wondered what her mum was doing now and how she was feeling. The UK was an hour behind Switzerland but she had no doubt that Chrissie would already be up, she really hoped her dad and her brother were both there to look after her and Chloe really wished that she could be there herself. For now, she had no choice but to hold on for the day when she could go back home, be reunited with her family and say her own personal goodbye to her nan without worrying about a two metre social distancing rule.

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1.30pm.

Feeling guilty and needing to apologise to his wife, Seb emerged from his office after being on a video conference call that had lasted the best part of an hour. Today of all days, he'd wanted to avoid any F1 related interruptions and he'd even decided not to train today; he wanted today for his wife, to be with her, taking care of her, supporting her and getting her through the day as best as he could. This afternoon's virtual meeting had been one that he hadn't been able to be excused from as Formula One prepared to make a return to racing in Austria with two races, on July fifth and twelfth respectively and the possibility of two races in Silverstone. Knowing that she'd been showering, he entered their bedroom to find her sat on the bed, surrounded by clothes. The room looked as though a whirlwind had swept through it, scattering her clothes everywhere.
"I don't know what the fuck I'm going to wear!" She exclaimed miserably, throwing her hands up in defeat. "Nothing fits, nothing that's suitable anyway."

For once, he wasn't quite sure what to say or what to do. To him, it didn't matter what she wore because they weren't going to be at the actual funeral, just watching it online and that meant that no one would be able to see her but he knew that to her, it did matter. She still wanted to dress as though she was going to be there. It was just a shame that because of the lockdown, they couldn't go out to buy her new clothes because those sort of places weren't allowed to open yet and that had meant her spending a lot of time either in her pyjamas (because they were stretchy) or in his sweatpants and T-shirt's.

"You think I'm being daft worrying about what I'm going to wear for a funeral we're not even attending, right?" She asked, seeing him standing in front of her and taking in the bomb site that surrounded her.