Page 51 of Crashing into Love

“That’s so good, baby,” she replied.

“Mom, Grandma said I need to eat dinner now,” Gia told her.

“Oh. Okay, honey. Can you put Grandma on the computer for me?”

“Okay.”

Gia ran off, and Selma’s grandma appeared on the couch in front of the screen.

“How are you?” Selma asked her.

“I’m all right. She’s just excited right now because you called, and she wanted to know if you won or not, but she’s been pretty relaxed since we got home. She’s got a ton of homework now and seems to like it.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I think it’s working; whatever they’re doing for her.”

“Thank God,” Selma replied.

Then, her phone dinged. She looked up and saw a text message from Drew.

“What is that little smile for?”

“Huh?” Selma asked.

“You just smiled.”

“Oh, I’m happy for Gia. She was really struggling.”

“Sure.” Her grandma winked at her. “I’ve got to get dinner on the table, but you get some rest for tomorrow and text me after the race, win or lose.”

“I will,” she said.

After they disconnected, Selma quickly switched over to her messages.

Drew Oakes: How did you do today?

Selma Driscoll: Call?

Drew Oakes: Sure.

Selma wasn’t sure if that meant she was supposed to call Drew or if Drew would call her, but before she could do anything else, Drew’s name appeared on her screen, and she pressed the icon to accept the call.

“Hey,” Selma greeted.

“I hope it’s not bad news since you wanted to talk instead of text.”

“No, I’m through to the final. My board was overwaxed, though, so I just barely made it.”

“Really? Damn.”

“Yeah. It was running slow at first, so I had him take a look, but I think he went a little too far, and I almost crashed out.”

“Fuck. Are you okay?”

“Oh, yeah. I didn’t. I held on. It just cost me time, so I had to hurry to catch up and get a second place so that I could race tomorrow. How did you do?”

“Won both prelim heats, so… feeling pretty good about that, at least. My semi is tomorrow morning, and the final is in the afternoon. I don’t know how I’ll do, honestly. I’m tenth in the world, which should sound good to me, but in my semi, I’ve got the number three in the world right next to me, and in the other semi-heat, there’s the number nine in the world. So, while I’m glad Team USA is really kicking ass, it makes my life in these kinds of events just that much harder.”

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