“He’s not my boy,” I lied automatically, eyes fixed on my screen. “And I’m working.”
Mason raised an eyebrow but didn’t press. After the Nat piece, most of the paddock seemed to have decided I was harder on Hirsch than anyone. The whispers about favoritism had died down, replaced by speculation about whether I had some personal vendetta.
If they only knew.
Friday
By Friday, Budapest remembered how to be summer. The air over the paddock smelled like warm metal and sugar. I trailed Mason for a bit, made a joke, accepted his coffee. He gave me one of those sideways looks good reporters give when they know a story is costing you something.
“You all right?” he asked.
“Working,” I said.
“Sure,” he said, and didn’t push.
My phone buzzed.
JONATHAN:Any chance for dinner tonight? Need to get out of my own head.
I stared at the message, fingers hovering over the keyboard. Every part of me wanted to say yes.
WALDO:Can’t tonight. Deadline. Tomorrow after quals?
Three dots appeared. Disappeared.
JONATHAN:Understood.
I screenshot the exchange and forwarded it to Thea:Disclosure - Friday 3:47 PM. Declined dinner request due to deadline.
Her response:Good.
That single word shouldn’t have felt like approval, but it did.
Saturday Qualifying
Qualifying blurred into a collage, shouts in a dozen accents, the press room’s printer coughing out transcripts, a cheer that rose and fell like a tide. I couldn’t hear Jonathan’s lap so much as feel its shape: the contained violence of precision.
When it was over, he had the front row, clean air and a real shot.
He pressed his lips together during the interviews, said the right things about teamwork and tires. When he glanced my way, it was quick, almost reflex.
I filed my qualifying report at 7 PM, but only after copying Thea first.
SUBJECT:Budapest qualifying report - pre-publication review per guardrails
Two minutes passed. Three. I watched the cursor blink, imagining her reading every word, looking for bias I couldn’t see myself.
Finally:Clean. File it.
Only then did I send it to the editors waiting for copy.
JONATHAN:You good?
WALDO:Ask me tomorrow.
JONATHAN:I’ll be here.
Screenshot. Forward.Disclosure - Saturday 8:04 PM post-qualifying exchange.
