ALICE Ch 247

Kylie has no cash. In her defense, who uses cash?

She smiles nervously at Lora, who stands there, holding her wallet once Katya has gone.

Kylie hesitates, thinking hard for the right thing to say.

“Brekkie?” she suggests.

“What time is it?” Lora says, staring at the wall. Then she pulls herself together and looks at her phone. Her eye twitches, and she blinks several times.

She is late. And traumatized. And there is semen on her leg.

She is late and sleep deprived.

She is late and sleep-deprived and dysregulated, and she smells.

Late, sleep-deprived, dysregulated, and dehydrated.

Those things, as well as being underprepared because the time in which she’d have done her last-minute prep before leaving her own safe, solitary, hygienic hotel room, was an hour ago.

And there is still semen on her leg.

FF1

“A bloody prostitute!”

Erica Bruhl hears the raised voices in the hotel room as she passes it, but that’s none of her business. She’s headed for the track. Even under normal circumstances, this would be the highlight of her week. These are not normal circumstances. She had lunch yesterday with Valeria Flores. It was the least romantic, most awkward interaction of her entire life. She can’t wait to do it again.

She steps into the elevator with a slightly hungover Jeremy Clarkson. He is catastrophically late.

“Ms. Bruhl,” he greets her politely as he hits the button for the first level. “You are positively glowing.”

“Thank you,” she says, blushing as she types with her thumbs to Val.

A VERY PLEASANT MORNING TO YOU

I LOOK FORWARD TO THE DAY’S EVENTS, AND I WISH YOU PRECISELY THE SAME AMOUNT OF LUCK AS I WISH ALL THE OTHER DRIVERS

I AM A PARAGON OF JOURNALISTIC OBJECTIVITY

She sends that. Then waits a moment before sending several kissy emojis, although she hasn’t so much as held Val’s hand.

FF1

Snug in bed at the hotel, Faye Darcy watches the race coverage on TV. A shot from the paddock gives her the briefest glimpse of her mother, and she knows something is wrong. Everything’s wrong, of course. It’s not lost on Faye that Alice is furious at the team and that Glynda carries all of that on her shoulders. The mid-season contract renewal for debut drivers is supposed to be a matter of course. The provision is only there in the first place to make things easier for all parties if there is a huge, unexpected problem not covered by their performance clauses.

Faye has already signed, naturally. And she doesn’t even feel particularly bad about it. She’s quite pleased with her driving, under the circumstances. Faye has no talent for racing, and she also doesn’t have the drive for it. But she does have some skill, although it seems it’ll take more than that to get her mother’s approval. As always. At any rate, it’s past time to re-sign Alice, and Alice hasn’t done it. To the best of Faye’s knowledge, Glynda hasn’t mentioned it. That’s a testament to the severity of the situation: that Glynda’s just letting Alice be and not even trying to influence her. She must be doing that in open defiance of Annette and the FUTA money people.

Glynda is good at a lot of things; she’s even a fair driver. But she doesn’t grovel. She certainly doesn’t grovel to the woman who is sleeping with her daughter.

That situation already exists and is a disaster. Judging by the look on Glynda’s face just now, Faye perceives that something’s wrong on top of that.

“Er,” Faye says, and the caretaker sitting beside the bed perks up.

“Yes?”

“Can you bring me some Gaviscon?”