Page 121 of Crashing into Love

“Yeah. But it’s more than that, too. There are things I’ve never really thought of having before, and now, I want them. I live in a one-bedroom apartment, but I think I want to buy a house, which I’ve never really cared about before. Plus, I’m in love, yeah, and she has a daughter, so… I don’t know. I’m thinking about how, if we work out, I could be a stepmom to Gia one day, and I like that thought. It’s still so soon, but I can see these things happening. And Selma is younger than me, so she’s got years left on a board. I can actually see myself traveling with her and watching her win races while Gia and I are on the sidelines, cheering her on; and I have never wanted to be on the sidelines before.”

“You like to be in the action.”

“Yeah. This is a whole new thing for me, wanting to be there, watching someone else, but I do. I think I’d like to have one more send-off season, if I can, and then say goodbye to pro boarding to do something else.”

“Like what?”

“I haven’t figured that part out yet. Some of it depends on my relationship because Selma lives in Vancouver, and I don’t. My best guess, though, is something like coaching and commentating, like most other pro athletes do when they retire.”

“You’d be great at both,” Chris replied. “And I have connections all over the place, so, when you’re ready, just let me know, and I can help get you set up somewhere.”

“Thanks, Chris,” she said.

“Of course,” he replied. “And I’m happy for you, too. You deserve all of that; whatever it is you want.”

“Thank you.”

“Now, I have another meeting to get to, and you have a flight to catch, so let’s do that and get to work. I want a gold medal for Team USA, Drew.”

“Understood.” She chuckled a little.

???

Hours later, when she got home, Drew threw her laundry from the one-night trip into the washing machine and decided to wait until it was done before she showered because her hot water heater couldn’t handle the washer being on at the same time as the shower, and she didn’t want to take a cold shower tonight. She iced her knee instead. It was fine and didn’t hurt, but she’d done a lot of walking that day, and they’d also poked and prodded at it for their tests, so she wanted to be careful.

Once she was out of the shower and in bed, though, she pulled out her phone and tried to decide if she should call Selma or just send her a text that she’d gotten home okay. She was a little surprised that Selma hadn’t texted her already because the woman had known about her plans and had her flight number, so she would’ve known that Drew had landed hours ago now.

“I’m going to have to find a way to get over her, aren’t I?” she asked no one.

Loneliness hadn’t ever bothered Drew before – or, at least, not all that much – but tonight, it really sunk in that Selma wasn’t ready for her to be in her whole life and that she might not be for a while. That meant that Drew would have to find a way to fall out of love with a woman she’d only just fallen for, and she’d have to find a way to stay in touch with Gia, despite no longer being with her mother, because Drew would keep her word as far as Gia was concerned. As long as Selma let her, she’d try to talk to Gia whenever she could.

“God,” she muttered and tossed her phone on the bed.

She’d just pictured Selma in the background of a video chat with Gia, and there was some blurry figure with her, too. In Drew’s mind, that blurry figure was Selma’s future partner because, eventually, Selma would be ready for someone to be in her life all the way, and if Drew kept in touch with Gia, she’d have to see them together or, at least, know that they were together. At some point, Gia would make a comment about Selma and that person taking her to a movie, or dropping her off at school, or being at her birthday party and Christmas morning, and Drew wanted that. She could be patient, though, and she’d told Ruth that she wouldn’t give up, so she needed to relax and give Selma the time that she needed to figure things out on her end. Drew picked her phone back up, decided that it was already late and Selma was likely asleep, so a text would be in order.

Drew Oakes: Hey. Hope everything is okay there. I’m home. The doc gave my knee a passing grade, and I found out from Chris that as long as I don’t screw up and injure myself again, I’m pretty much a lock to be on the final roster. I’m not counting my chickens or anything because a lot can happen between now and then, but it’s good news. And I wanted to call, but it’s really late, so I didn’t want to risk waking you or Gia up. Anyway, I miss you, Selma. Can we talk tomorrow, maybe? I mean, really talk about us and what we’re doing. I’m not trying to pressure you, but I don’t even know when I’m going to see you again, so even if we just plan that, I’ll be happy. Anyway, I miss you. Good night.

Drew set her phone to charge for the night, got up, and did her nightly routine before she climbed back into bed. No response from Selma, which made sense if she was asleep, but they always texted when one of them flew, so it was still strange to Drew that Selma hadn’t checked on her earlier. Drew would’ve called Ruth, but she didn’t have her direct number and didn’t want anyone at the resort calling the elderly woman and waking her up on Drew’s behalf. So, she crawled under her blanket, put something on TV, and tried to push her concerns about Selma and their relationship out of her mind as she watched a rerun of some show she’d seen a dozen or more times. A few minutes later, though, she thought she heard something, so she put the TV on mute, waited a few seconds, and there it was again.

“What the hell?”

Drew dropped the remote on her bed and left her room, hearing the sound again. Someone was knocking on her door late at night. She approached and quickly looked out the peephole, wishing she’d thought to bring her phone with her in case she needed to call 911 on whoever was out there. Her eyes went wide, and she breathed a sigh of relief as she pulled the door open.

“Selma?”

“Hi, babe,” Selma said.

CHAPTER 36

“What are you doing here?” Drew asked.

“I’m sorry. I know it’s late. But I had to get Gia from school, make sure Grandma was okay to take her for the night, arrange for Kirsten, and–” She stopped. “Can I come in?”

“You have luggage,” Drew noted, looking down.

“I was kind of hoping you’d let me stay here for a few days.”

“You’re staying?” Drew asked.

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