Page 18 of Crashing into Love

“So cool! I want to win medals one day, too.”

“I’m sure you will, kid,” Drew replied. “But your mom is giving me the universal grown-up signal to leave you two alone right now, so I’m going to make a run right now. Have a good rest of your lesson, Gia.”

“Oh, okay,” Gia said, sounding a little disappointed, which made Drew smile at her before she winked and turned to go.

CHAPTER 8

“Mom, that was the Drew today, wasn’t it?” Gia asked as they drove back to the lodge.

“That was Drew, yes.” Selma left off the word her daughter had used before Drew’s name because there was more than one Drew in the world.

“She’s the one we watch all the time.”

“Not all the time,” she replied and pulled into the employee lot. “She’s staying at the hotel for a little while. Then, she’ll be gone.”

“But she was trying to teach me today,” Gia noted.

“No, baby. She was trying to correct me; there’s a difference. Come on. Get your stuff, and let’s get inside. I’ll run you a bath before I have to get back to work. Can you eat dinner in your room for me tonight? I’ll have them bring you chicken fingers.”

“Can’t I eat downstairs with everyone?”

“That’s mostly grown-ups, Gia,” she said and opened her door. “Maybe when we get one of those big family groups in, and they have kids your age, you can have dinner downstairs. It’s also hard for me to watch you down there when I’m working.”

“Fine,” Gia replied, clearly unhappy with Selma’s answer.

Gia got out of the car, and Selma gave her a few things to carry. She carried the rest and prepared for her daughter to be pouting for the rest of the night.

“Gia, I know things are hard right now.” She nodded for Gia to join her on one of the benches outside the back of the lodge, and when Gia sat down, Selma sat next to her. “I know Grandma getting sick meant that I had to give up some of our time together and that when I’m in season, we don’t have a lot of time together as it is. But Grandma is going to be better soon. I’ll have more time with you before I have to go again.”

“Can I come with you?”

“Not this time. But maybe next time.”

“Mom, you say that every time.”

“I know.” She shook her head. “I mean it this time, okay? We’ll figure out a schedule that makes sense with your school. I can’t take you out of school for days in a row, Gia.”

“Yes, you can. I don’t need to go. I’m going to be a snowboarder, like you and Drew.”

Selma gave her a tight smile, loving that her daughter wanted to be like her. Liking it less that she wanted to be like Drew, though, she pulled down on Gia’s beanie to make sure it covered her ears more.

“Gia, you still have to go to school. You know I’m not going to be able to snowboard forever. School teaches you what you need to know to get a job when you’re too old to continue to snowboard,” she replied.

“I don’t like school.”

“I know. But it’s still important.”

“I need time to practice now, Mom. You’re letting me learn, so I need a coach, and I need to learn how to do everything. I want to compete.”

“Okay. Slow down. How about we go inside, and you take a bath because you’re all sweaty? I’ll have them bring you up some dinner, and you can do your homework, which I will be checking later to make sure you did it. If I can get some time tomorrow, we’ll go back up to the mountain. But if not, I’ll take a break and teach you a few things here. All we really need is snow, right?”

“Right,” Gia said. “You promise?”

Selma wished she could. She’d learned over the past few months of having to take care of the lodge, her grandmother, her daughter, and her career, all at the same time, that she had already broken a lot of promises to Gia. As a result, now, Gia always asked her to promise because she was a very smart kid and had noticed that, too. Selma hated that. She didn’t want Gia to worry that she wouldn’t be there for her or that she didn’t want to spend time with her. If Selma had her way, she’d spend most, if not all, of her time with her daughter. But life didn’t work that way, and that was especially true right now, when all of these responsibilities were weighing on her shoulders simultaneously, and she was having a hard time keeping track of the promises she’d made her daughter that she’d already broken.

“I promise to look at the schedule to see who can cover the front desk tomorrow for me. How’s that?”

“Okay,” her daughter replied with no enthusiasm.

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