Page 13 of Crashing into Love

Selma gave the woman a small smile and watched her as she grabbed her purse from under the desk and headed to the employee parking lot, which was at the back of the building, through the kitchen. It was a very small employee parking lot that had lasted them for decades already, but it would have to get bigger soon because she’d hired several people, and they’d never had this many of them working here at once before.

Being on the mountain made any kind of expansion complicated, though. There was paperwork and permits, and they had to make sure they didn’t damage the trees or the ski runs, which were the whole reason for them being here. Presently, adding a few more spots shouldn’t be too difficult, so Selma thought about that as she walked around the tables to pick up all the trash and dishes that people had left behind. They had kitchen staff who were supposed to clean things up, but she’d sent them home after going up to her own room for a few minutes and returning downstairs.

Sending people home early saved them a bit on payroll, which helped her cut costs, and Selma had been all about cutting costs because, while snowboarding paid okay, she wasn’t in some major league sport where she could get millions a year and even more in sponsorships. She’d been lucky to get an endorsement deal with a shoe company that her agent had worked out for her. Her grandmother also needed the money from this place to live off, and Selma might end up having to take over the lodge one day when her snowboarding career was over, so she wanted to keep it in good shape.

After taking a gray plastic tub of drink glasses into the kitchen and running them through the dishwasher to return to the bar, she wiped down all the tables, and finally, feeling okay about how everything looked, she decided to check on the fire and return to the desk until Howie arrived to take the overnight shift for her tonight. What she saw by the fire was a surprise, though. Drew Oakes was sitting on the sofa, reading a book, and not a book on her phone. Drew was reading a paperback book that she’d probably found in the stack on the rack by the fireplace.

That had also been Selma’s idea. People could take a book or leave a book, and others could enjoy whatever they left behind. She wished they had space for a real library, but they’d have to take space from somewhere else for it, and any bit of available space they had needed to go to revenue-generating activities like the food, drinks, ski and board rental or purchases, or the very small spa they had. Selma thought about going back to the desk and saying nothing, but Drew was the only one downstairs since it was so late. Most people came back from their runs, hung out, had a drink or a meal, hung out a little longer, and then, the yawns would start, and they’d all head up to their rooms. Drew wasn’t in her room, though. She was sitting on Selma’s sofa, reading a book.

“Are you just going to stare at me all night?”

“What?” Selma asked, surprised, because Drew hadn’t even looked up to see her standing there.

“You stopped.” Drew looked up then. “And you’re just staring at me. Can you read this book from that far away? If you can, you should go on one of those TV talent shows to try to win some money.”

“I wasn’t staring,” she argued. “I was just surprised to see you down here. I thought you went upstairs earlier.”

“No, I’ve been down here the whole time.”

“You weren’t here a minute ago.”

“I went to the bathroom. Is that a problem, too?” Drew closed the book.

“No, I was only saying that I didn’t see you when I was at the desk before.”

“Are you keeping an eye on me or something? What exactly do you think I’m going to do here, Selma? I came here to ski and board, just like everyone else. I didn’t know you were related to the owner of this place.”

“I’m not keeping an eye on you. I work here, so I’m around. And you were definitely around tonight.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Drew leaned forward and dropped the book on the table in front of her.

“You seemed to have a lot of fun talking about some girl you picked on.”

“What? I didn’t pick on her,” Drew argued. “My teammates did. Also, she was a bitch and wrong. I didn’t block her. Had I done that, they would’ve DQed me, and she would’ve gone through. But she didn’t, and I’d ended up winning the whole thing.”

“Yeah, I know. You bragged about that, too. All about your win by three seconds.”

“So? I’m not allowed to tell my friends stories?”

“I know that story, Drew. I was there. She didn’t yell at you. She just walked up to you and asked you why you cut her off. You made it seem like she screamed in your face or something. She didn’t.”

“You were there?”

“Yeah, I was. I’d raced before you and was waiting for my teammate in your heat before I left. I was standing right there when she came up to you, and it wasn’t at all how you made it sound. If your friends messed up her room, that’s not cool, but you said she stopped boarding a year later and failed to mention to everyone why that was.”

“I don’t know why it was. I just know she wasn’t there the next season. It’s hard to keep up with everyone coming in and out.”

“No, it’s not. And you either did, and you’re lying, or you didn’t because you thought she was beneath you or something. Both really suck, by the way. She left the team because her dad died, Drew. She had to go home to take care of her mom, who struggled a lot. She had a younger brother, too, and her mom needed help with him.”

“How do you know that?”

“I followed her on social, and I saw her stories. She decided to give up boarding and get a job close to home to be with her family. So, when you tell stories about her, maybe tell people that, too, so that they know she wasn’t an asshole to you and that she actually gave up her career and her dream to take care of her family. I think that might change your story, though, making you out to be the bad guy, so maybe you wouldn’t want to do that when you’re trying to make someone else out to be the villain.”

“Hey, I didn’t know, okay? And I didn’t lie: she was rude to me when she came up after that race. She accused me of something that was literally impossible because she was so far behind me, and she did it in front of everyone.”

“She was a kid, Drew. Seventeen, right? Maybe she didn’t know the etiquette, but you didn’t have to make fun of her a million years later.”

“Well, I’m sorry I had fun with my friends in your presence and you didn’t care for how I told an accurate story. I didn’t know why she quit. I was told she left the team, and I didn’t see her on tour. I don’t ask questions about stuff like that, okay?”

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