Page 19 of Crashing into Love

Gia used to be an easy-to-please kid, comfortable on her own, picking up new hobbies here and there, and loving the time she got with her great-grandma whenever Selma had to go to a competition. Since Selma’s grandmother had gotten sick, though, because it had been contagious in the beginning, Gia hadn’t seen her great-grandma, who the little girl just called Grandma, very much, and Selma knew that was also weighing on her small, nine-year-old shoulders.

“Let’s go inside, okay?”

Gia stood up, and they carried their stuff inside. They made their way up the elevator together and into their suite, which Selma had moved into years ago now. Here, Gia was able to have her own space, and it had been easier for her, being a single parent, to have this two-bedroom suite, with a small eat-in kitchen, a living room, and two bathrooms, than trying to find a house she could afford, which would’ve been farther from the mountain where she did her training. Selma knew that her grandmother would’ve made a lot of money otherwise, renting out this suite to guests, but the woman loved having both Selma and Gia so close, and it made things easier when Selma went away: Gia could sleep in her own room, and Grandma would stay in Selma’s.

As her grandma got older, though, Selma would have to figure something else out because taking care of the hotel and Gia wasn’t going to get easier for her aging grandparent. Even though Gia could do a lot of things on her own now, and she’d be able to do even more as she got older herself, she’d still need someone to keep an eye on her for the next several years. Selma would only be competing for maybe another five years if she was lucky and didn’t pick up a big injury. She couldn’t see herself going far beyond that because she didn’t want to miss her daughter’s entire childhood, and as it was, she’d already missed a lot of it. Snowboarding put food on the table, though, and Selma felt lucky that she’d found a career that was her dream and she’d made it work for her and her little family of two.

“You good?” she asked Gia after kissing the top of her head.

“I’m good. Will Olivia come up later?”

“Olivia’s not here tonight. But Kelly is,” she replied as she remembered who was on the desk that night.

“Really?”

“And I bet she’s bringing Kirsten with her.”

“Can Kirsten come up and play with me?”

“I’ll ask Kelly, okay? Kirsten might say no, though, babe.”

“I know.”

Selma kissed the top of her daughter’s head again and walked toward the door.

“Homework. I’ll check on you later and have Grandma FaceTime you, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Love you, baby.”

“Love you, too.”

She left Gia doing her math homework and took the elevator back downstairs, where she saw Kelly behind the desk.

“Hey,” Kelly greeted.

Kelly had worked at the lodge for well over ten years and now only worked during the busy season.

“Hey. Is Kirsten here?”

“She’s doing her homework at a table. Gia?”

“Wants to play, yeah.” She smiled.

“Kirsten?” Kelly yelled to her thirteen-year-old daughter, whom Selma had known since she was around three years old. “Want to go hang out with Gia?”

“I’m doing my homework,” Kirsten half-yelled back.

“So is she,” Selma said. “She asked for you, but don’t feel like you have to go up, Kirsten.”

“No, it’s okay. It’s quieter up there.” Kirsten packed up her things.

“I should pay her for babysitting,” Selma said to Kelly this time.

“Nah. She likes Gia. She just pretends to be too cool to spend time with anyone whose age doesn’t have ‘teen’ at the end of it now.”

Selma laughed and asked, “Everything okay down here?”

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