Page 47 of Crashing into Love

Selma’s phone rang then, so she looked down at the screen, recognizing the number.

“Gia, I’m turning the stove off. Don’t touch it.”

“Why would I touch it?” she asked.

Selma picked up the phone and hurried into her bedroom to answer it.

“Hello?”

“Selma, hey. How are you?”

“I’m… Nervous.” She laughed anxiously, as if to prove her point.

“I’m sure you are. I get it. I’m sorry this call is so late, but is now a good time to talk?”

“Yes, definitely.” She sat on the edge of her bed and immediately started tapping her right foot.

“I know you had to take some time away from the team. How is your family situation now?”

“All good. Everything’s all good now,” she replied quickly.

“That’s great to hear. And we’d love to have you back with us.”

Selma smiled wide and said, “Yeah? Really?”

“Really. We’ve got training coming up. You’d have to be there.”

“I know. I can be,” she said.

“Okay. Then, I’ll have all the details sent to you, as always. We’re excited to have you back.”

“Thank you. Me too.”

They hung up, but Selma continued to sit there on the bed, trying to pull herself together in the best way because she was back on the Canadian snowboarding team. Assuming nothing bad happened between now and then, she’d be getting another call or having a meeting closer to the Games, telling her that she was going. After a minute, though, she heard Gia laughing loudly, which made her own smile grow even wider, and she made her way back out to the kitchen, where she turned the stove back on and stirred the ground turkey, listening to Drew and Gia talk about the plan for school and what activity Gia should choose.

“Gia, can you maybe let me talk to your mom for a second?” Drew asked.

“Okay.”

“Gia, can you go wash your hands?” Selma requested. “Dinner’s almost ready.”

“Okay,” the girl said again, turned the computer around, and hurried off to the bathroom.

“I think she’s going to choose art,” Drew said.

“For her activity?”

“Yeah. She said you mentioned painting to her, but she’s not a big fan of painting. She said she likes to draw, so there’s a drawing class or something.”

“Yeah, there is.”

“Well, now that that’s settled, want to tell me what they said?”

Selma smiled.

“You made it, didn’t you?” Drew guessed.

She nodded.