Page 5 of Over the Limit

“You sure you don’t want one?” He holds out a mint, the candy again crinkling between his fingers.

“I’m sure. Thank you, though.”

He chews the inside of his cheek. “So an American who works in F1. How’d that come about?”

“An army brat who moved a lot throughout Europe from base to base until we ended up on one in Italy. Our house was near a track, and we’d spend weekends there. It was an inexpensive way to have a family outing at the time. It was there that I met the right people at the right time.” I shrug. “That type of thing.”

“Probably a little bit of luck and some hustle on your part.”

“True.” I nod, thinking of how hard it was for the once shy version of me to get those introductions to put me on the course of where I am today.

“I lost you for a second. Where’d you go?” he asks.

“Nowhere.” My smile is fleeting and bittersweet as I think of so many firsts that were had at that track. “There’s just a lot of history there. Behind it. How my life progressed.” How it’s still happening.

“Why’d you say it like that?”

“No reason.” I clear my throat and glance back to the entrance and the party still going on inside its doors. “Just history, but one that was well worth it. I love my job.”

He studies me for a beat, and I fear he can see way too much. But the curiosity etched in the lines of his face vanishes when he smiles. “It’s a damn cool one.”

“Says an F1 driver who has the best job in the world.” I roll my eyes at how funny his comment sounds but more than appreciative of it. “What about you? You started in karts. Was it always your ambition to be an F1 driver?”

“Isn’t it all of ours?” he asks.

“I’d think, but I don’t know.”

“I’m sure you can google every interview I’ve ever given on the subject,” he says and then lowers his voice and leans toward me. “Or are you after my deep, dark secrets?”

“How did you know that’s what I was after? I’m looking for the good gossip,” I say, chuckling. I do know some of Lachlan’s rise to F1, as I do of all the drivers, but we’ve never chatted like this. It’s fun, and even though I’ve witnessed his personality from afar, it’s so much better up close and personal.

“The good gossip, huh?”

“Yep. Tell me something no one knows about you.”

“You mean besides my addiction to peppermint?”

“Yes. Besides that.”

“That’s a hard one,” he muses as he leans back on his elbows, his lips pursed in thought. “I have a vast knowledge of random animal facts.”

“What?” I bark out a laugh. That was not what I was expecting.

“Yep,” he says with a definitive nod. “I was determined to be a vet when I was growing up, so I learned everything I could about animals. The stranger the fact, the better, because that meant I’d be able to solve even the hardest cases.”

“A veterinarian, huh?”

“The Formula 1 thing is just a fallback job.”

“Something to fill the time.”

“Yep.” His smile crawls slowly across his lips. There’s a boyish charm to it that I hadn’t noticed before tonight. “Just filling time until I get up the courage to chase those dreams of mine.”

“If I told you I didn’t believe you, would you tell me one of those random facts?”

“You want an animal fact?”

“I do. I want to see how vast this knowledge of yours is.”