The perfect match

Arthur came jumping out of the house just when Max strapped in the car seat, carrying the rain clothes and a bottle of apple juice. “But it’s not raining.” He argued when Max took the jacket.
“But it did rain this week. If the track is wet or muddy, I don’t want you to get mud all over you.”
“Okay” Arthur said, climbing into the car seat and closing the seat belt.
“Good to go?”
“Good to go.” Arthur agreed and Max closed the back door and gave a wave to Pascal before rolling out the driveway.
They arrived at the track about 30 minutes later and Max got them two carts. The track was dry, so Arthur didn’t need his rain clothes after all. Max took a picture of Arthur in front of the kart, helmet under his arm. He sent it to Pascal and started explaining the car to Arthur before they got on the track, Max staying behind Arthur. They got back out of the track three laps later and Max went to Arthur, explaining a couple of things before they started again. Another couple laps later, Max told Arthur he would sit out a little, seeing some other kids coming on the track and he would film Arthur and always be on the sidelines if Arthur needed him. Arthur went back on track before Max even was able to pull out his phone, breezing around the track. He really was quite good, especially for his first time karting. He was a little slower than the other kids, but they were a little older than him.
“Which one is yours?” a woman asked from next to him.
“The little one in the red. Which one is yours?”
“The one in the blue.” She answered nodding towards the kart Arthur had just overtaken.
“He’s really good.” She said a little later “Where is he normally karting? I didn’t see him here before.” A man next to her asked.
“Nowhere. It’s his first time.”
“How old is he?”
“Five.”
“Impressive.” Was all the man said.
“You’re his dad?” the woman asked again.
“No, I’m … his uncle.” Max said, just now realizing he didn’t have Pascal’s written consent to bring Arthur here.
“Are you going to come back?” the man asked.
“Well, seeing how happy he is, I’d say yes.” Max said, laughing together with the woman.
“When you’re coming back, give me a call.” The man said, handing Max a card. Claude Devereux, Talent Scout, Sports Management
“I’ll suggest it to his mother.” Max said politely and the man nodded towards him before leaving.
“MAXIE!” Arthur yelled from the kart, having stopped at the entrance of the pit lane. Max quickly ran over, pushing the card into his pocket before pushing Arthur in his kart into the box. “It just slowed and stopped! I didn’t break it, I promise!” Arthur yelled in panic while getting out of the kart.
“Don’t worry, Arti. The fuel is empty, so the kart stopped. It was very smart of you to go towards the pits when you saw it slowing down. It was a very safe decision.” Max said to him with a smile.
“Can we make more fuel?” Arthur asked.
“Let’s eat something, okay? If you’re still up for racing more after that, we can do another round, okay?”
“Okay!” Arthur said, skipping in front of Max to the little food truck next to the track. Max bought them some fries and they sat down at one of the tables, Arthur falling asleep with his head almost falling into the fries before Max caught him. Max finished the rest of the fries before picking Arthur up and carrying him back to the attendant, returning their helmets and keys for the karts before carefully sitting Arthur into the car and driving home. He entered the driveway and carried Arthur to the house, Pascal opening the door.
“He fell asleep about 45 minutes ago, maybe we should wake him shortly or he won’t sleep all night?” he asked, sitting down with her on the terrace, seeing Charles already sitting there, arms crossed and staring at him madly. “Hi Charles.”
“Yeah, just be careful, he gets grumpy when woken up, they are the same.” She said with a nod to Charles and Max started waking up Arthur. It took him a couple minutes to be fully awake, but then he saw his mum and just started telling her about karting in rapid French. Max only understood very little of it.
“So, you took him karting, huh?” Charles asked.
“Arti asked and Pascale allowed it.” Max said with a shrug. “I made pictures and videos, I can send them to you as well.”
“Why were you here at all? You’re not trying to copy Daniel, are you?”
“No, Charles, I don’t. Arthur invited me, asking me to play Hot Wheels. Although by now I’m sure that was part of the plan to get me to take him karting.”
“He could have asked me, you didn’t have to go.”
“He knows. He” Max started and looked at Arthur for a moment, who was still chatting to his mum animatedly “He was worried that you two would worry too much while he was karting. He said he wanted someone who doesn’t tell him he’s good all the time and who cuddles him after every lap. He said he wanted someone who would be honest and tell him if he’s good or not.” He silently told Charles.
“So … is he any good?” Charles then asked and Max pulled the time sheet from the track out of his pocket, handing it to him. “Wow … and he karted over an hour?”
“Until the fuel was empty. He noticed the kart slowed down and tried to make it back into the pits, the kart stopped at the entrance, so he yelled for help. He’s a smart one, I didn’t teach him that.”
“Well, he’s watching us racing all the time, of course.”
“We don’t run out of fuel, though.” Max said with a smile. “He wanted to go again, but I told him we’d have a break and get some fries. He fell asleep, almost smashing his head into them. I didn’t give any of your names or where we came from, the interaction will be on the first video I’m sending you. A man on the track gave me this and told me to call when we go karting again.” Max said, pulling the little card of the talent scout out of his pocket. “I’ve never heard the name before and I didn’t have time to look him up yet.”
“Devereux … it rings a bell somewhere; I just don’t really remember why.” Charles said thoughtful. “If Arti wants to go karting again, I’ll ask my mum what she thinks about it.”
“Sure, none of that is my decision and I won’t argue with the one you’re making … I just want to tell you to watch those videos and look at the pictures. He seemed really happy there and just because he would be karting now, doesn’t automatically mean he would have to do it professionally.” Max said, looking on his watch “I need to go, my babysitter is supposed to be off soon, she needs to learn for uni.”
“She’s a student?”
“Yes. She studies fashion and marketing. She can do some courses remote, that’s why she’s coming to some of the races, but not all the overseas ones. Or my mum is taking care of Penelope sometimes, I don’t want to stress her with long distance flights twice a week all the time. She will be with us for the triple in Austin, Mexico and Sao Paulo, though.” He said with a wink, saying goodbye to Pascal and Arthur and leaving to his appartement.
Charles looked up Claude Devereux online in the evening while sitting and watching Netflix with his mum, as well as contacting his own manager, asking if he heard of him, giving the excuse that a kid at his brother’s school was approached by him. He seemed like a pretty good guy online. He had his own homepage, was mostly connected to the junior categories in France, the DTM and Formula E. As a talent scout, he was stated as the one to discover the talents of a couple of drivers in the bigger leagues, now mostly active in DTM and some in IndyCar. One of them got his attention. Oliver Bearman. He was still his manager now. That’s where he had heard the name, most likely even saw him in Saudi-Arabia, where Ollie had filled in for Carlos. Ollie would also be in China next week, being their reserve driver, he would ask him then.

“I don’t wanna go.” Logan groaned into his pillow in the little guest-storage-office-broom-closet-cave in Evreux, making Esteban laugh and lay down with him.
“Well, we still have a couple of hours.” Esteban said, stroking his back.
“Why do I have to start on Friday afternoon. It’s so depressing. It ruins the whole weekend.” Logan growled and laid his head on Esteban’s chest.
“So … you would have to preferred to … fly back from Miami on Monday, arrive in England Tuesday afternoon, immediately start working and then having off Saturday to Monday where you fly to France, before flying to Italy on Tuesday?”
“No, that sounds even worse.” Logan mumbled.
“See. I have to go back today as well, I’m just lucky I’m staying in France and have to leave later.”
“These last days here, they were really great.” Logan said, lifting his head onto his chin and looking at Esteban.
“Yes, they were.” Esteban agreed smiling, kissing Logan.
They had said goodbye to Sabrina and Laurent two hours later, again waved off with lunch bags and – now also for Logan – reusable to go cups, this time with tea. They took a taxi to the train station, where they got into separate long-distance trains.
It took Logan about an hour to the Paris Charles de Gaulle airport and he had some time to think. He had called Checo on Tuesday, right after they landed. He had also tried before the weekend, but his mate Carola had picked up and said he wasn’t ready to talk yet. The operation went good, but the recovery will take time, he couldn’t say when or if he would be back yet. He sounded disappointed, but Logan heard children in the background, telling him Checo was back home in Mexico with his family. One good thing at least. He assured Checo he’d free his seat at any time he was ready to come back, which Checo just answered with an hmhm, but not a real answer. They had hung up after Checo praised him for his performance in Miami and taking care of his car and Logan wishing him all the best and enjoying the time with his family.

Checo hung up the call and looked down from the lifted terrace into the garden. He loved this place. They had bought it after they got mated, knowing they wanted a big family. A huge white house, dark wooden and terracotta accents, fitting to the area. A big yard, enough space for the kids to run around, fenced in and hedged for privacy. Both of their families lived within a twenty-mile radius. It was a dream. Their dream. Carola, their kids and his mum played on the grass in the garden, he was ordered to keep it low for the next weeks, staying put in a chair in the shadow, his father next to him.
“That was your replacement?” his father asked.
“Yes, Logan.”
“The American, right?”
“Yes. He got second place this weekend, he’s really good. He’s ready to stay.”
“But are you ready to leave?”
“I don’t know.” Checo said and they stayed silent after that.