Page 63 of Crashing into Love

“He’s nineteen now and already done with college,” Drew continued. “He’s actually close to being finished with his graduate degree and is going to be an aerospace engineer. Anyway, I know you’ve been thinking about what’s best for Gia, and that she’s alone even in that school made for geniuses, so I thought you might like to talk to someone who’s been there. If not, it’s okay. I told her that it might happen; it might not. Either way, she mentioned she’d be more than willing to talk to you, answer questions, and even introduce you to her online parent group for people with kids like Owen. That’s her son. He’s a good kid. I only met him a few times, but he’s crazy smart, like Gia.”

“Drew, you didn’t have to do that.”

“Do you not want to go? I don’t want to overstep. I forgot about Owen, honestly, until we were talking about Gia on the phone last, and then I remembered her talking to me about some things with him a while ago. I thought maybe she could help. If not, it’s totally okay.”

“I’d love to talk to someone else in this situation, but I’m sure that’s not how you want to spend part of your day. She’s your ex-girlfriend’s sister.”

“Andy and I are okay now. I don’t know if we’re ever going to be close again or anything, but we’re all right. And Heather is cool. She and her husband really struggled with Owen acting out when he was younger. I guess it took him a while to settle down and find the right program or something. I don’t know.” Drew took another sip of her coffee before adding, “She can tell you all about it if you want to go.”

“Yes, I’d love that. Thank you,” Selma said.

“No problem,” she replied, feeling pretty good about her idea to see if Heather would mind talking to Selma while she was here in person.

Breakfast eaten and dishes in the dishwasher, Drew didn’t know what to do until it would be time to leave for lunch, which would take them an hour to get to since they were going someplace closer to Heather to make it easier on her. So, they just sat on the sofa, and she was going through things to watch on TV, wishing she’d thought more about what they’d do for the three days and two nights that Selma would be here.

“So… Does Gia know you’re here?” Drew asked finally.

“No, she thinks I’m traveling for work. Training; so that I don’t have to lie to her about winning or not winning anything. I didn’t want her to know because she’d be upset that I got to see you, and she didn’t.”

Drew smiled and said, “I miss her, too.”

“You don’t have to say that stuff just because you–”

“Selma, I love your kid. She’s funny as hell, obviously smart, and she’s actually really patient and takes direction well, which definitely not all nine-year-olds do. She’s kind of adorable. I meant it when I invited both of you. While I’m still glad you’re here on your own because I know you needed a little break, but if she were here, I’d have her find some science documentary for us to watch or something.”

“She loves those. How did you know?”

“She told me. That’s why we were drawing flowers that day in the lobby – something about the Fibonacci sequence. She’d watched a documentary about it and how it was present in flowers, so she was showing me how to draw them.”

“That’s why she said it was wrong,” Selma said with a smile and nod.

“Yeah, I told you she was right.”

“Do you want them?”

“What? Flowers? I’m not much of a flower girl.”

“No.” Selma laughed a little. “Kids. I was so young when I had her, that I hadn’t fully formed my opinion on that for myself. I guess I thought I might, but I also might not. Then, she was there, and it was a done deal.”

“Do you want more?” Drew asked.

“No,” Selma stated and shook her head. “She will be an only child. One is enough for me. I did not like being pregnant, and that had nothing to do with me still being in school at the time. Gia is a lot of work, too. Don’t get me wrong – I love my daughter more than life, but raising a gifted kid and doing it without her father on top of that, even with the help of my family, was really hard. I don’t want to do that again. I feel like I gave her all my energy, you know?”

“I get that,” Drew said.

“What about you?”

“Kids?” Drew let out a deep breath. “I never thought about it because boarding came first. I figured that I’d meet a woman, settle down, and we’d talk about that. But I’m still boarding, and I’m not getting any younger, so… I don’t know. I don’t think I’d want to be forty-five with an infant at home. That’s just not for me. But an older kid? Maybe. If I adopted or something.”

“You’re good with my kid. I’d bet you’d make a great mom, Drew.”

“We’ll see, I guess,” she said. “Want to find something to watch for us? I’m doing a bad job here.”

She passed Selma the remote.

CHAPTER 20

The conversation with Heather had been exactly what Selma had needed; confirmation that what she was doing for Gia were the right things. Heather had been patient and so understanding that Selma almost hadn’t wanted to let her leave the restaurant, but the woman had added her to the online parent group she belonged to, where they discussed their gifted children and the issues they had. Heather had explained that it was a way for them to learn from each other but also to vent about being parents and the toll it took on them at times.

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