‘Poor dude.’
‘Alas, your turkey remains cold.’
‘So you really believe I can do it?’
She pats my arm. ‘Let’s focus on one problem at a time.’
Chapter 5
JULES
Minnie’s promised a small, informal dinner to introduce me to her friends in the paddock, but when we walk into the private dining room, ‘informal’ isn’t the word that comes to mind. We’re thirty-six floors up overlooking the sparkling streets of Melbourne's Central Business District. Delicate lights are threaded through the table, and floral arrangements look over us from the ceiling.
There two dozen people here, mostly still in their team uniforms. Minnie goes around the table introducing everyone, a mixture of drivers and their physios, trainers, and engineers. Tom’s teammate Étienne Blanchet is sitting opposite me, and is already looking when I make eye contact.
‘’Ow lovely of you to gift us with your presence,Zhoohl,’ he says, pronouncing my name the French way, giving me the ick in the process. ‘What brings you to the world of F1?’
I smile coyly. ‘I’m in Melbourne on a brand trip with Patrón. It’s great it could coincide with the Grand Prix so I can see Minnie in action.’
Something ignites behind Étienne’s eyes. ‘Patrón sponsors Martinel?—!’
‘How do you know Minnie?’ interjects Kurtis Hatten-Meyer, one of Ackland’s drivers and Minnie’s friend from childhood in Monaco. He’s sitting next to me and leans ever-so-slightly closer.
‘You know when I told you about moving back to England and getting bullied for being a posh private school girl?’ says Minnie. ‘Jules rescued me. She roasted them in front of the whole school, made “posh” the new trend, and got the popular group to cheer for me on Sports Day. Suddenly, everyone knew my name.’
Control the optics, control the outcome. An oldie but goodie.
A smile plays on Étienne’s lips. ‘You are very persuasive.’
‘So impressive,’ Kurtis rushes to agree. ‘Why would you do that? Why would you help the new girl?’
I shrug. ‘I’m a girl’s girl. I made it my job – helping women be the best they can be.’
‘Very noble.’ He nods fervently as waiters place sharing plates in the middle of the table – lean meats, slow-release carbs, and vegetables. An athlete’s dinner before qualifying day.
‘And what about men?’ Étienne asks, dripping with obviousness. ‘Do you like men too?’
‘She likes men alright. Come to trick one of our drivers into being your next fashion accessory?’ calls a woman down the table in a Pagari polo.
‘Georgie,’Jack hisses from the other side of Minnie.
He doesn’t need to worry. It’s not the first time I’ve faced backlash and it won’t be the last.
‘I have a type,’ I confess with a shy smile. I have to be careful how I phrase this; I need Étienne on my side, and Kurtis could be useful too. ‘My dad’s a tennis coach so I’ve been around athletes my whole life. I’m drawn to their ambition, their passion, their fire. I don’t need a man, and I can buy my own accessories, but I’m open if the right one comes along.’ I let myeyes flit – just for a split second – to Étienne, who’s looking back at me, eating up every word.
‘Then you dump them when it suits you,’ Georgie fires back.
‘My career always comes first. If that means I have to be single to focus, so be it.’
‘Yawn.’
‘Georgie.’
‘So you ’ave a short attention span?’ says Étienne, offering me a platter of chicken. ‘You need a man who will keep things interesting.’
Gross.He’s not a man, he’s twenty-two.
I can feel Minnie’s eyes roll beside me.
