Page 22 of Crashing into Love

“I saw Drew.” The girl pointed.

Selma looked over at Drew and gave her an apologetic expression.

“I’m sorry. She got away from me. And she snuck a cinnamon roll this morning, so she’s a little…”

“Hyper?” Drew guessed.

“Yeah. Too much sugar.”

“I heard she has a snow day.”

“Yes, we got dumped on. Did you see it?”

“I did, yeah,” Drew replied. “I was going out to enjoy it.”

“Can we go, Mom? Drew said we could.”

Drew looked up at Selma with wide eyes and shook her head.

“Gia, did Drew actually say that to you?”

“No,” Gia replied. “But she’s going out there. Can’t we?”

“Sorry,” Drew mouthed to Selma silently.

“She can coach me, Mom.”

“Honey, we talked about this last night…” Selma sat down next to her daughter. “Drew is a guest here. She’s not a coach. She’s a professional athlete and is here on vacation, okay?”

“She can’t help a little?” Gia asked.

Drew wasn’t sure what to do. She’d planned on going out anyway and didn’t mind showing Gia the basics, but she was not about to say something that would piss off the girl’s mother after they’d just finally, possibly, reached a bit of a détente.

“We’re not even going out today, Gia. I have to work,” Selma said and pushed some of Gia’s black hair behind her ear.

That black hair matched her mother’s, but Selma’s was down and framing her face while Gia’s had been pulled back into a ponytail, complete with a pink hand-tied bow. Their eyes matched, too. So did their caramel skin. Gia really did look like her mother in miniature, and Drew found that adorable for some reason.

“I can cover for you,” the woman, whom Drew knew as Olivia, offered as she walked past with bags of cookies.

“Can I have a cookie?” Gia asked, hands outstretched to grab one.

“Oh, no,” Selma answered and put those hands down for Gia. “And it’s okay, Olivia. We have that big VIP group coming in today.”

“Yeah, but Kelly did everything for them last night. The bags are made. I have enough cookies.” Olivia held up the bags. “And I’ve already gotten the keys and everything ready, too. Plus, Howie got the snowplow up here and took care of the drive and parking lot, so we’re all good.”

“I swear, you and Kelly conspire against me sometimes.”

“I think it’s conspiring for you when we’re trying to get you to take a day off,” Olivia argued. “But we’re good here.”

“Mom, please. You promised,” Gia pled.

“I promised that I would check the schedule.”

“But Olivia said–”

“Well, if Olivia said,” Selma joked and sighed loudly while Drew took a bite of her oatmeal. Selma looked over at her and asked, “Orange or grapefruit?”

“Huh?”

---