The arrangement, which would end after the last race in Suzuka.
Ceci walked down the grand staircase and paused at the foot of the stairs, before venturing down a hallway she thought would lead her back to the drawing room.
“Ceci?” a voice said.
She turned around and saw a man standing in the doorway of one of the rooms she’d passed.
“I’m Leo’s father.”
She could see the resemblance.
He invited her to join him in the library.
They sat in opposite armchairs and were silent, the only sound coming from the tapping of his foot on the wood floor.
Her heart was racing. Just get it over with already.
“Should we just get it out of the way?” Ceci blurted.
“What’s that?”
“You know. The thing every cloud has a lining of and …”
He grinned. “The thing you shouldn’t leave unturned.”
She chuckled. “Yes. That thing.”
He sighed. “Silverstone.”
She wanted to be the first to speak. She needed to be the first to speak.
“I am sorry about it. I wish it didn’t happen. No one wants to win a race that way. We thought Anker had room to pass. He obviously thought so. He’s an aggressive driver. Sometimes that’s a good thing and sometimes it’s not. But for that to happen in the last race of the season, and in England no less …”
He nodded. “It was a tough loss. But if you put it up against the rest of my son’s Formula 1 experience, even taking into account the last few years, he can’t complain. I certainly can’t. And if we’re going to be honest with each other, I have to admit, Anker reminds me of Leo when he first started driving.” He paused. “He’s not that driver anymore. Not that he should be. Everyone changes. Or should. If you don’t, you’re not living.”
He peered at her. It should have made her uncomfortable, but it didn’t.
Odd.
“I think the fact that you’re here is a sign of that. At least I’m hoping it is. Leo’s never brought a woman to the Grouse Gathering.”
Ceci felt her cheeks burn.
But he didn’t bring me. He didn’t even invite me.
He sighed, staring at the books lining the walls as if speaking to them. “Athos always brings the same woman. Lovely woman, makes a great impression. But there’s nothing there. That makes her safe. Sometimes I think Athos would have made a great monk. Porthos, on the other hand, is like a kid in a candy store. Always a different woman. You’d think she was the love of his life. But it never lasts. And then there’s Aramis. He can’t reconcile his heart and mind. If he brings only one woman to this thing, that’s surprising. Usually he invites at least two, sometimes even three. I suppose that makes him a kind of playboy. But truth is, he’s really too much of a romantic. Leo is too. But Leo is different.” He paused, lowering his head. “I don’tknow if you know … he was only twelve when his mother died, and this was really her event.”
Ceci felt uneasy. Had she made a mistake coming here?
She cleared her throat. “WhyLeo? He told me his mother named him.”
He smiled. “She did. She said when she looked at him, she saw a lion. So, Leo. And when he got older, she said he’d proven her right. The name fit him. I think most people assume she meant he was brave. And don’t get me wrong, he is. But she meant something else.”
“He’s got a big heart,” Ceci said. “He’s lionhearted.”
She blinked, surprised at the sound of her own voice. She’d had the thought, but she hadn’t meant to say it aloud.
He smiled. “You see it too. Because I think his manner sometimes can be deceiving. I don’t think people see that.”
