ALICE Ch 104

Alice struggles in race meetings. There’s a lot of technical stuff being discussed that she often feels as though she should be keeping up with, even though it’s mostly for Colby, the pit crew, and the engineers who monitor car performance.

Part of the problem is that she sits next to Lora and she wants to look smart rather than like someone trying not to fall asleep in Algebra.

Faye never says a word in these things. Alice suppresses a yawn as Glynda grills the engineers for the third time.

Then there’s chatter about strategy, which Alice has to pay attention to. Obviously when there are cameras and Netflix around, it’s always talk of winning and the world championship. Behind closed doors, it’s about realistic goals like maybe getting lucky and capitalizing on mistakes to think about getting past Fernando.

Honestly, Faye has the harder job tomorrow. All Alice needs to do is stick to Fernando. That won’t be easy, but at least it’s simple. Meanwhile, Faye has to fight off Sainz while also carrying the expectation that she might overtake Val.

Alice hates all meetings, but especially race meetings. They only add to her anxiety by making everything seem more complicated than it needs to be. Yes, there are a lot of moving parts, but in the moment while driving the car, it’s easy to focus on the things that matter. Alice doesn’t like cluttering her mind with all this other stuff.

Thoroughly exhausted and still sore from Kylie’s intense and not-very-sexy workout earlier, she finally is able to drag herself out of FUTA HQ. The paddock is busy. As she takes a drink from her water bottle, she returns a wave from Lewis Hamilton as he goes past on his scooter.

Erica is with a pack of other journalists interviewing Charles down by Ferrari’s bright red HQ. It’s amazing how quickly she’s gotten to know all these people. She leans on a railing, doing her best to forget everything from the meeting. She wishes she could cut past all this waiting and just do the race, but time doesn’t work like that. It didn’t work that way when she was a little girl who wanted her presents on Christmas, morning, and nothing has changed.

She frowns, remembering that Faye had been trying to tell her something earlier.

Then she looks over to see a familiar figure dressed in an incredibly white dress, like something from a James Bond movie, sashaying her way down the paddock. The rather utilitarian guest pass contrasts with the glamorous look, but Irinia Orlova is still a profoundly lovely woman. So is her daughter, but Sasha doesn’t have her mother’s poise, although she too has a cute outfit: a strappy, black designer halter top and white shorts that make the most of her slender legs.

Should Alice go find Faye?

Or see what Sasha and Irina want?