La Rosa Gialla

Chapter 18

February 2024

"Mary, can I talk to you for a second?" I told my manager after walking into her office just before the end of work. "Hello, Adri. How did you enjoy your vacation? Were you at home?" she smiled at me. Mary was the best manager any employee could ever ask for. Friendly and helpful, but at the same time she stood up for herself and did not compromise her demands on our professionalism and the level of service we were supposed to provide. "It was very nice. That's kind of why I'm here," I began cautiously, sitting down on one of the two black leather chairs that stood in front of her desk. Mary put down the paper she was holding and looked straight into my eyes. "Mary, you know I love this job and I'm very happy to be here with you, but..." I took a breath and watched as not a single muscle in her face moved. "I would like to go back home." Mary sighed, but then smiled slightly, "I suspected it. Today you walked here like a body without a soul. If you want, we can write a notice right now. The standard notice period is one month, but if you need to leave earlier or would like to stay here longer, we can make arrangements."

I was left looking at her in complete shock. "Are you psychic or what?" I finally asked and she laughed. "No, but I like to have an overview of things and I like to know something about all of you. About you Adri, for example, I know that you don't go to any company parties, you usually eat lunch alone and it takes you a long time to open up to people. I know you're not all that happy in London. I know you haven't had it easy in the past, and that's why I completely understand that you want to go home."

"Thank you, Mary. I would like to stay until the end of the month if that's ok. If you need me to train someone to take my place, I'll be happy to do it," I replied, still a little frightened by how perfectly she had described me. "OK. I'll write it down and you can sign it tomorrow," she smiled at me and I took it as a sign that I should go. I immediately changed in the dressing room, collected my things and went home. It was only a few streets from the clinic to my apartment, but I still made a quick stop at Lidl for some food.

At home, I had to solve the dilemma of who to call first. In the end, like a good daughter, I dialed the number for dad, who answered in about 2 seconds. He must have spent the evening doing his favorite pastime, watching YouTube videos. "Ciao, cara! How was your day?" I heard him smile over the phone, and my corners suddenly spread into a wide smile too. "Ciao, Papa. I resigned today. I quit at the end of February," I informed him. "I'm glad, Adri. And most of all, I want you to be happy. Should I ask at the hospital for a job?"

"No, you don't have to. Charles said he would ask."

"Charles?"

"Yes, Papa. Charles."

"I've been hearing his name more and more lately," he chuckled.

We chatted a little more about my first day back at work after vacation, and I ended up hanging up and going to make something for dinner before dialing the second most-called number. I didn't even manage to put a slice of cheese on my bread before my phone started ringing. I quickly ran to it and answered the call. "Hello!" I exclaimed cheerfully. "Hello. How did it go, Rossi?" Charles asked, and even though I couldn't see him, I could imagine him smirking. I also smirked at him calling me by my last name again. "I'm done here at the end of the month. So I hope you're already looking around for a job for me," I told him excitedly and he let out a sound that was probably supposed to be a squeal of joy, "Ha!" I moved the phone away from my ear and grinned at the black screen. "You're going to be very surprised, Adri!"

"Am I going to be surprised? What have you come up with, Charlie? I'm getting a little scared."

"You do not have to be afraid. I think," he stopped. "Did you know that even mechanics and other employees need the services of a physical therapist from time to time?"

"Where are you going with this?"

"For now it would only be temporary, but the team is missing one physiotherapist due to illness. Would you mind if you weren't in Italy as much as you thought?"

"And where would I be?"

"Well, you won't make it to Bahrain, but you could start in Saudi Arabia..."

The calendar of F1 races flashed before my eyes, which Charles had repeatedly sent me in recent weeks. Bahrain was the first race, Saudi Arabia the second.

"As in..."

"As in you were an official employee of Scuderia Ferrari and came to a few races," he explained to me and my vision went black for a second. Until a month ago, I wanted nothing to do with Formula 1 and I tried hard to avoid anything related to Ferrari. Which is hard enough when you live 3 km from the Ferrari factory in Maranello. And suddenly I'm supposed to work for them because a guy I thought I'd never see again in my life, let alone find any sort of relationship with him again, arranged it for me?

"Adri, are you there?" Charles asked after a few seconds of silence.

"Yes, I am."

"And do you take it?"

"Yes, I do!"