Page 44 of Crashing into Love

“I will. Thank you,” she replied.

Selma took the brochure she was handed and headed out to the hallway, where Gia was sitting at a desk there, doing her homework.

“Are you ready?” Selma asked.

“Am I in trouble again?” Gia asked without looking up.

“No, honey. Come on. I’ll tell you why I was here in the car, okay?”

Gia packed up her things without another word, and they got into the car. Selma pulled out of the lot and got them onto the street.

“Mom?”

“Yeah, honey?”

“Can I talk to Drew tonight? You told me that she said it would be okay.”

“I’ll text her and ask, okay? No promises, Gia. Drew is a very busy person. You know she and I are about to find out about something very important.”

“I know. You started training again. Grandma told me that since she’s back, you can snowboard more.”

“I was training all day today before I came to pick you up. And you know what?”

“What?”

“I raced my fastest time ever on the course.”

“You did?” Gia asked excitedly.

“I did. And I’m supposed to get a phone call tonight telling me that I’ve been called up. Do you know what that means?”

“No.”

“It means that the team has selected me to compete, and if I do well and stay healthy, I’ll be going to the Olympics again. Would you like that?”

“Yeah, that would be cool. You won’t fall this time, though, right?”

Selma had walked herself right into that one.

“I hope not.”

“Will Drew be there?” Gia asked.

Selma let out an exasperated sigh then. Drew hadn’t even been gone that long, but Gia had asked if she could talk to the woman just about every day. Selma had held off on saying yes, coming up with all sorts of excuses because she’d been hoping Gia would find something else that was bright and shiny to cling on to. Unfortunately, she hadn’t had any luck on that so far. Drew, for her part, had asked if she could talk to Gia, too, and Selma had made excuses to her as well. They’d talked on the phone a few times after Gia had gone to bed, which surprised Selma because she hadn’t expected them to keep up any connection outside of their sport. Even though Drew had asked if she could talk to Gia, Selma had honestly expected her to back out of it, which was one of the reasons she hadn’t connected them so far.

“I don’t know, baby. Maybe. She has to make her own team.”

“USA.”

“Yup.”

“Mom?”

“Yeah, Gia?”

“Are you and Drew going to race against each other again?”

“Yes.”

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