Page 57 of Crashing into Love

“Are you serious? I mean, do you actually want me to come there, or are you just doing this because of my grandmother, who happened to walk in, and you like my kid?”

Drew had made the comment more on accident than anything else, but the more she thought about it, the more she wanted to see Selma again. Of course, that was precisely the reason she should tell Selma that she was having second thoughts and that they’d see each other at their next competition.

“I am serious,” Drew stated instead. “Selma, I don’t have many friends. I have acquaintances and colleagues, but I’ve put my career over just about everything else. When I won the race today, I only had my coach to hug, because I told my parents to stay home, and I realized how lonely that made me feel. I don’t know… I think it would be nice for us to hang out with no Gia. No offense. And it really would be totally okay for her to come along, too. I have one of my old boards she can even have or just train on here. It could be fun. But no hotel and no other responsibilities getting in the way, it would be nice to have a friend here for a few days. Did I just guilt you into coming now?” She laughed nervously, hoping to play off the fact that she really wanted Selma to visit now.

“I have to talk to my grandmother and make sure she can actually watch her.”

“Okay,” Drew said.

“And it wouldn’t be for that long; maybe a couple of nights or something. I could use a break from everything, but I don’t like spending more time than I have to away from Gia.”

“I know. I get it,” Drew replied.

“Okay. Let me figure it out on my end.”

“Yeah, whatever you need.”

“Also, she’s coming back out of her bedroom, so you should hang up unless you want to talk to her for another hour or two.”

Drew chuckled and said, “I wouldn’t mind. But I think you two need to eat dinner, so I’ll let you go. I’ll see you soon?”

Selma nodded.

CHAPTER 18

“I cannot believe I’m doing this,” Selma muttered.

“Sorry?” her Uber driver said when he pulled up to the address that she’d given him in the app.

“Nothing. Sorry. Just talking to myself like a completely normal person back here.”

“Normal is overrated,” he replied.

Okay. He was getting a nice tip today.

“Agreed,” she said and opened the door when the car stopped.

The driver got out as well and helped her with her roller bag. She’d only brought that and a backpack because she was only staying for two nights. That was as long as she could justify being away from Gia and making her grandmother babysit her kid even more than she already did. Grandma had tried to make it sound like Kirsten would handle the majority of the work, and she would mostly be cooking dinner and sleeping over more than anything, but Selma knew the truth and hated the idea of overworking the woman who had just gotten back to being well.

Still, Selma knew she herself needed a break as well. She’d actually been pretty surprised that her snowboarding hadn’t suffered, with her time off from her sport. Yes, she’d come in third, but that had been more about her board and the snow than her racing, and she’d done the best she could given the circumstances. That was also what snowboarding was sometimes: it was a weather-dependent sport in many ways, and those conditions could change from morning to afternoon. The wind could pick up from one race to another, or, sometimes, during a race, throwing her off her goal time or costing her a win if it was right in her face when she didn’t expect it. The snow could start in earnest, causing a clear day to disappear, affecting the visibility.

“Should’ve chosen basketball,” she muttered once the driver was back in her car.

“Hey!”

Selma looked up and saw Drew Oakes coming out of the glass door and waving at her.

“Hey,” Selma said back, and there was this quite unnecessary calm that came over her once her eyes met Drew. “Stop that,” she whispered to her own mind – or, maybe, it was to her damn heart to stop racing as this was getting ridiculous.

Drew arrived a few feet away and appeared not to know what to do next, which sounded about right because Selma didn’t know what to do, either.

“Where’s your board?”

“Huh?”

“Your board? You didn’t bring it?”

“No. I thought about it, but I figured if we were going to go, I could just rent one. I didn’t feel like lugging it around for a couple of days to maybe get in one run.”

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