ALICE Ch 48

“Jesus.” Alice is thrown. This narrative is very different from what the world is assuming. “Faye, I’m not hearing anything bad here. I mean, god. Good for Glynda. I should be nicer to her.”

Faye just hunches further, like she’s trying to disappear.

“Faye,” Alice says, putting an arm around her. “What’s the problem? You drove the lap. You earned the seat. Hell, you out-drove Missy Woodcock and Checo today. It’s only the second race of the season and you’re not even at the back. Why are you beating yourself up over this?”

“People can’t know how Mum made a bags of our launch. They have to think that she did all this so that I can drive.” Faye looks up, on the verge of tears. “Do you know what people say about her?”

Alice can only return her gaze and swallow.

Right. She misread this whole thing. Faye doesn’t care about her performance, at least not with regard to herself. She’s only thinking about her mother, who is indeed taking a beating in the court of public opinion. Even if there have only been two races, Glynda has thus far been seen as a competent leader. And much like Christian Horner, for example, she’s also viewed by much of the public as a ghastly person. While some people enjoy Christian Horner’s supervillain energy, likewise some people like Glynda’s ice nepo mommy vibes, surely. But there are also plenty of people mocking it, and Faye believes that it’s her fault that Glynda is taking these bullets.

More importantly, it looks as though she feels as though it’s her job to refute the narrative. To do that she has to drive well. Really well. P10 and well behind the girl with no engine will not do that. It’s starting to make sense.

It’s not just her reputation, points, or normal jitters for Faye. In Faye’s mind, her mother’s honor is on the line tomorrow. And now Alice has stirred all that up. Faye’s on the verge of another meltdown.

Alice sighs. She’ll need the big guns if she’s going to calm Faye down.

She uses her fingertip to tilt Faye’s face upward. Faye’s eyes widen and she looks a little pink.

“Faye, look at me.” Alice wipes away Faye’s tear and pushes her hair out of her face, then cups her cheek. “Breathe. Look at me. Now look at this.”

Alice holds up her phone and plays the Tiktok dog video that’s queued up, something with a Shiba.

Faye’s face lights up with delight.

“Ooh! That’s a good boy!” she says delightedly, watching rapt. The next video begins and she leans closer to the phone, clutching at Alice’s arm. The nightgown kind of downplays it, but Faye has a chest. A very soft one. Alice pushes those thoughts away as another video starts, this one of a German Shepherd intently staring at a treat, tail wagging. “Oh! He’s a good boy too!”