Page 111 of Crashing into Love

Drew looked at Selma, who nodded.

“Sure. But I have to get it from downstairs. There are more pieces. Can you wait up here?”

“Okay. Mom, can I have cake now?”

“Yeah, honey. Take that piece there and carry the other one to Grandma. I’ll get the rest cut up and bring them out, okay?”

Gia took two plates, and when Selma looked back up at Drew, the door to the suite was closing behind her.

“Fuck,” she whispered to herself.

Then, she looked up at her grandma, who accepted the cake from Gia before she glanced back up at Selma and shook her head.

???

After all of the kids had been picked up, Selma looked around her living room, finding it to be not as messy as she thought it was going to be, and she started picking up the plates and cups and the leftover items from the goodie bags she’d handed out. Gia was in her room, already playing with the gifts she’d been given, and her grandma was in there with her, trying to learn about the book Drew had gotten her daughter called ‘This Book is a Planetarium.’ It was an interactive book that could somehow project constellations on the ceiling, and it also functioned as an infinite calendar, a musical instrument, a geometric drawing generator, a message decoder, and a sound amplifier.

Selma was sure she would hear all about that later, but Drew was nowhere to be found. She’d come back with the rest of the game and played a round with the girls, who all seemed to enjoy it, but they were hopped up on sugar, so that probably had something to do with it, too. After that, Drew had gone to her own room to let Selma take care of getting all the girls back to their parents and give Gia a chance to calm down a little, too. Selma thought she’d come back after a while, but she still hadn’t, so she walked into Gia’s room and motioned to her grandmother that she was going to the other room.

“Hey,” Drew said when she opened the room door. “I thought you had a key.” She moved farther into the room to let Selma in.

“I do. But I didn’t just want to walk in,” she replied. “I thought you’d come back over.”

“I didn’t know if I should. Maybe you’d want some time alone with her.”

“We were all going to grab dinner, I thought.” Selma closed the door behind herself.

“I can grab dinner solo, if you want.” Drew sat on the end of the bed.

“Why would you do that?”

“Selma, are you ready for this?”

“Ready for dinner?”

“For me being in Gia’s life. I got the impression today that maybe you aren’t.”

“It’s not that,” she said and sat down next to Drew.

“Then, what is it?”

“I’m terrified. I’ve never done this before, Drew.”

“I know that. But you also said I could come. I’ve been trying to be so patient and understanding, and I don’t want to cross any lines, but it feels like I have, and I didn’t mean to. I–”

“You didn’t. It’s me, okay? I’m scared that she’ll get too close to you, and you’ll be gone. Drew, she loves you. I’ve never seen her act like this around anyone. She’s getting really attached, and that scares me.”

“We’ve talked about this, though.”

“Sure, but not when you were right there, and she ran to you instead of caring about her birthday cake that she’d been desperately wanting for weeks now. It’s different, seeing her with you.”

Drew nodded and looked down at her feet.

“So, what do we do?”

“What do you mean?”

“Do I stop talking to her? Stay away from her for a while until you’re ready?”

---