Chasing Daisy

then I sob, and there’s no one there to comfort me, no one there to pick up my scooter, no one there to check me for cuts and bruises. I’m all alone.
    And then I think of Luis and his family and the warmth I felt at his house. I don’t want to be alone anymore. I want to be with him.
    In the far-off distance I see a big screen televising the race. The camera pans in on Luis. He’s right behind Kit Bryson, and they’re both lapping backmarkers.
    I stand up and watch. Go on, Luis. You can do it. Win the championship. Do it for Will.
    He pulls out from behind Kit and outbreaks him into the corner. I scream for joy before the sound is ripped from my throat in horror as I watch a backmarker lose grip in the wet and crash into a wall. He spins back across the track and slams into Luis, whose car shatters as he hits a wall on the other side of the track. Kit makes it through the carnage unscathed.
    In desperation I try to make out what’s happening on the big screen through the rain and the mist, but I can’t see if Luis is moving inside the cockpit. Oh, God, please, no, please, no. And then I’m running, as fast as my feet can take me, swiping my access-all-areas pass as I push through gates that allow me back to the pits, drenched, muddy, bleeding, but I don’t care. Please don’t take him from me, I beg. Please, no. He’s mine. He’s mine. He’s mine to lose.
    I run all the way down the paddock and burst into our garages. ‘WHERE IS HE?’ I scream. Everyone spins around to look at me, and then I hear Holly’s words telling me it’s okay. I look up at the television screens in a panic to see Luis walking down the pit lane and then I’m pushing through the crowd in the garages and running to him.
    He’s surrounded by camera crews and journalists, trying to catch a word from the guy who almost became world champion in his debut season. But there will be more races to win, more world championships to conquer, and I want to be here for Luis, by his side, supporting him so he’ll never feel alone. Life can be snatched away from you in an instant, but if you don’t give yourself up to love, even with all the risks of losing it, life isn’t worth living.
    I barge through the camera crews, ignoring the complaints, because I just want to hold him again, to check that he hasn’t been hurt, to make sure he’s real.
    I reach him and fling my arms around his neck. And then he’s holding me tightly, my face pressed into his racing overalls, as tears stream down my wet and muddy cheeks.
    ‘Hey!’ someone shouts. ‘We’re trying to conduct an interview here!’
    ‘It’s okay,’ Luis tells the camera crews. ‘It’s my girl. My girl.’

 
Epilogue
     
    I’m sitting on Luis’s white designer chair in the bay window of his Hampstead home. Or should that be, our Hampstead home? I’m drinking a cup of espresso coffee and reading the Sunday papers, because they don’t scare me anymore, even though I sometimes appear in them now with Luis by my side.
    It’s March, and the next racing season hasn’t yet begun, but soon we’ll be jetting off to Melbourne. I’m hoping my recent therapy sessions will help with my fears, but we’ll see. I certainly won’t be getting on any more scooters. I’ve promised that much to Luis, at least. Luckily Simon didn’t make me pay for the last one I crashed. I guess he was still experiencing a guilt trip.
    My tutors at catering college have agreed to let me have the time off to attend the races this year, due to my ‘exceptional circumstances’. It’s going to be hard juggling lessons with being a supportive girlfriend, but I’m up for the challenge. One day, Luis has promised me we’ll open up our own restaurant, but first things, first. I need to get some proper hands-on experience before we think about taking that step.
    Holly sold up her place in Berkshire and moved to Chiswick in west London. We’ve seen a fair bit of each other since we quit the Grand Prix scene, but not as much as I’d like because she’s been holed up in bed with the new man in her life. Pete’s younger brother, of all people. Pete made the introductions. I kind of hoped she’d end up with Pete himself, but it wasn’t to be, and Adam is definitely a cutie.
    Catalina is pregnant with triplets, so she and Simon will both have their work cut out for them. I hope they make it. Perhaps their children will bring them closer together, but hmm, I don’t know. . .
    Luis and I spent