9. Meeting

LARA'S POV

I arrived in Manchester an hour ago, and I'm currently sitting waiting for Serena to finish the phone call. When she finished, she motioned for me to come in, and once inside, I sat down on the chairs in front of her.

"Good morning, Lara. How are you feeling?" She asked with a big smile on her face "It could be better" I answered honestly "Is something wrong?" Serena questioned, frowning, "Some things, but that's not what I'm here to talk about. I want you to put me to work" I said "But now we have the boy in the car, I can't just take him out just like that" she pointed out and I denied, because that's not what I want to do, or at least something I can do "I can't get in the car Serena, I'm pregnant" I confessed and a smile appeared on her face.

"Congratulations. You two must be happy" she responded "We are, but what I need right now is work" I insisted "And what's going to happen to your husband? Is he going to be around here too?" She asked curiously "Right now Cam and I are having problems" I admitted "I hope you work it out" my boss replied "That's what we're doing. The thing is, I don't want the press to know I'm working. I don't want Cam to have more pressure than he already has on his own" I replied "Then that takes away from us being on the wall or with the mechanics" she replied "I don't want my sister to know either" I pointed out "Even more complicated... What you can do is be in the simulations, test the configurations and improvements that are going to be put into the car. Your sister doesn't go there for those things" she said thinking what I could do "I could do that. It would allow us to improve the car faster and consider which ones would be better."

"True. If that's what you want to do, then do it" she said and I nodded "Sure, but what I don't want is for the press to see me, I don't want more rumours to start" I responded "I'll find a way so they don't see you. Anything else?" He asked "I would like to ask you a favour" I said "Okay, what is this about?" Serena questioned "I want to see Cameron's car myself" I asked "When you refer to Cameron's car, do you mean the car he had the accident with?" She asked in an incredulous tone. "That same one" I stated.

"What do you need it for?" She asked, "Because my husband claims something happened to the car before he had the accident and the reason, they gave isn't a reason for Cam to lose control of the car, reason I myself want to know what happened to his car" I responded "It will be complicated considering you're from another team. They won't want you to see their car in depth."

"I know, and that's why I want to sign a confidentiality contract with the team and have an FIA team monitoring what I do at all times" I informed and she nodded "Okay, I'll talk to the CEO of Cameron's team to see what I can do. I can get and then I will contact the FIA so they can send you a team."

"Thank you, Serena, I appreciate it" I thanked "Don't thank me for anything, not at least until I get you what you want" she said with a small smile on her face "I appreciate it anyway" I responded "I know, now to the serious stuff. Do you need any special care while you work? Anything I should know about your pregnancy and your situation with your husband?" Serena asked and I denied "My pregnancy is going great, as for Cam, we'll work it out, just now I need a little distance between us."

"Can I know what happened to keep you apart?" She asked curiously, "Cam isn't managing his operation the best way. We argued a lot and it made me stressed, which as you know isn't good for pregnancy" I said, knowing she would understand the situation "The thing is he closed in on himself, he drank too much and I suffered the consequences... I tried everything to help him, seriously, but there's no way to make him see anything, so I decided to leave in the last argument we had."

"Do you think there's something else that's bothering him other than the operation?" Serena asked and I nodded "I know there's something else. "Cam assimilated the operation from the first moment," I said, remembering his reaction when he woke up and discovered what had happened. "Maybe he's angry about what the press said about you?" She suggested and I frowned "What did they say about me? And why is he supposed to be bothered by what they said about me?" I asked, confused, "Come on Lara, even Sam is and is still bothered by what they say about me. Cameron was always overprotective of you in that area, so what they say about you, will bother him," said my boss and friend. "And what are they supposed to say about me?" I asked for. "Now that your husband can't compete, you'll stop competing too," she informed me and I laughed.

"That's the stupidest thing they can say. There's no way I'm leaving the competition until I consider it, and Cam knows I wouldn't," I said. "What if he thinks you might do it so it doesn't affect him?" He asked, making me stop to think about the possibility. "Well, he would talk to me about it before drawing conclusions," I responded. "In case that was before the accident happened, I'm completely sure he would talk to you, but now he must mean a thousand things. In his head he probably relives the accident. He'll be considering thousands of things"

I thought for a moment, wondering if it could be true, and Cam sometimes had nightmares and saw the race where his accident occurred several times a week, but I find it hard to believe he didn't address our problems and talk about them with me, despite it could be true. "I find it hard to believe he didn't tell me," I replied. "It was hard for me too when I was married to Sam, but now, we try to talk about everything, what bothers us, what makes us happy, things about our daughter…" she said with a smile on her face probably remembering her ex-husband and current boyfriend.

"So that makes me a bitch for not wanting to go home yet and not even answer his messages and calls," I said, more to myself than to her. "It doesn't make you a bitch, it makes you human, and separating for a while makes you put things in perspective. That you fix what bothers you and then share it with each other" she assured.

"I don't know, I just know right now, my head is not the best place to be, everything is a chaos" I said sincerely "Well, take the time you need to organize that chaos and return to your husband" she responded, leaving her hand on mine with a small smile on my face "Thank you Serena" I thanked putting the best smile I could put on my face at this moment "It's nothing. When do you want to start testing the simulators? I will have the rest as soon as I can" she assured and I shrugged my shoulders "I would like to start next week or the week after" I replied.

"Perfect, that will leave me more room to settle the matter with the journalists and get you your husband's car," she responded with a big smile on her face. "Now go rest and come back when you feel better. You don't even have to do it in these weeks, the simulator isn't going anywhere" she assured and I nodded. "Thank you for being so generous to me."

"It's nothing, girl, it's not about the team, it's about helping you, at the end of the day, we're friends," she responded with a smile, "We are. I'll leave you with your work, I have to catch a plane before Eli ends up murdering half of Santorini" I said with a small smile "Have a good time and think about what we talked about"

I nodded and with that, I left her office to go to the airport and take the plane to Santorini again, and with luck with enough time to think about what Serena had told me and at least get some answer to the thousands of questions accumulating in my mind, but before focusing on that I decided to send a message to my husband telling him I love him. It's the only thing I needed him to know right now.

ELI'S POV

It's five in the afternoon when I heard the door of the villa where Lara and I were staying open, which made me look at the kitchen door to see who it was, what I didn't expect was to see the Cam's mother with Lara.

"Isa, what a surprise to see you here," I said, surprised to see her. "I hope it's good one," she responded with a big smile on her face and I nodded, because that's what it was. "Have you been to Manchester?" I asked not understanding anything "No dear, you know I haven't set foot in England in recent years. I found her at the airport," she revealed, and Lara seemed to be a little lost and not listening to anything we're talking about.

"How has it been for you in Manchester, Lara?" I asked curiously, because by the look on her face, I could tell things hadn't gone too well. "Well, Serena told me to start whenever I wanted, she had no problem," she responded monotonously. "So, what's wrong??" I asked, stunned and not knowing what's happening to her.

"Nothing, I'm just tired and I'd better go to sleep for a while," she answered and left without giving us the opportunity to say anything else. "I thought she was better," Isa said with a frown. "And she was this morning when she left. I don't know what happened to make her like this" I murmured the last part "Maybe she's tired like she says" my best friend's mother-in-law pointed out "No, I'm sure those are things she has in mind"

"Like what?" Isabelle asked curiously "Probably something they told her in Manchester or something related to Cam" I answered and she nodded "She'll get over it and she'll tell us later, better tell me how Cam is doing" I asked wanting to know how my best friend and husband of my best friend "He's improving a lot. Bianca is helping him a lot with the physio and he's really going through the roof to know something about Lara" Isa informed and I let out a small laugh, because I knew he's doing it, more than anything because of his wife did the same.

"Lara is the same, but she needs the time" I defended my best friend "And I'm not saying the opposite, it's good to take the time she needs after the way Cam treated her, it's something I won't ever blame her for" she supported and I sighed a little in that area "Thank goodness, because I don't want Lara to feel more pressured than she feels right now"

"I suppose that's why she decided to work," her mother-in-law pointed out and I nodded, because that was the most likely reason why she did it. "Are you going to go with her?" She asked curiously "I'm not sure yet, I'm probably going and I'm also probably going to see Cam for a couple of days" I revealed "He would love that" my best friend's mother responded "I know, I want to make sure myself before helping them get back together"

"So, he doesn't hurt Lara again, right?" Isabelle asked, knowing my answer. "Of course, but also because I miss him," I admitted. "He misses you too," Isa confessed. "Well, I'll stop by sooner rather than later," I assured. "Tell me something first. What are you doing here?" I ask it out of curiosity," I said before she could take it the wrong way. "I wanted to know how my daughter-in-law is doing and see if I could help with anything. And why lie, I knew you had in mind to do something to get them back and I want to help you with that."

"But not before I make sure your son is really improving and not without being sure Lara is ready to take the step" I said seriously "You just gained a mission partner" she responded with a big smile on her face "Welcome to the club, Isabelle" I said with a laugh.