CHAPTER 12

“Hey, you’re up,” Selma spoke when she walked into the house and saw her grandma walking toward her kitchen.

“Of course, I’m up. I’m fine.”

“You’re feeling good?” Selma set the bag of food she’d brought with her on the counter after following the woman into the kitchen.

“I triple-checked with the doctor. He said everything was good. I am not contagious anymore.”

“He told you that last time, too. And so did I.”

“I know. But I didn’t want to get anyone else sick. One person gets it, and everyone at the lodge comes down with it, too, and we’re giving it to our guests.” Her grandma set her empty teacup in the sink. “And I didn’t want to get Gia sick.”

“I know. I’m glad you’re feeling better, though.”

“Me too. It means I can get back to work.”

“Grandma, no. You should still rest.”

“Today, I’d like to get back to the office, at least, and take care of Gia for you. I know she’s been a bit of a handful with the snow days. Let me keep an eye on her in the office while you get out on the mountain for a bit. You need to train, Selma.”

“I got up the other day,” she replied, not exactly lying to her grandma but not telling her the whole truth, either.

“And?”

“It was good.”

“What did your coach say?”

“That it was good,” she repeated.

Her grandma stared her down carefully, and somehow, the woman always knew.

“What were you doing on the mountain, Selma?”

“Teaching Gia how to board.”

“You let that child on a snowboard? Finally, you agreed?”

“I did. And she did okay with it.”

“But you got no practice in, I take it?”

“Not really, no.”

“Today, you’re going up. Just do a run. You don’t have to do any of the real training you normally do, if you don’t want to. You need to relax, Selma.”

“So do you.”

“I’ve been relaxing for months now. I need to get back to work. I’ve been miserable just lying around her, especially knowing you’ve been carrying all the weight for me.”

“Grandma, you’ve helped with Gia more times than I can count.”

“That’s my job; she’s my great-grandchild.” The old woman winked at her. “You go. Get dressed and get your board. I’ll be at the lodge in a few minutes, and I’ll take Gia.”

“She has remote school today. I made her promise not to distract the other kids. Can you maybe watch her at home? You can bring the computer with you for the paperwork and stuff.”

“That sounds like a decent compromise.”

Her grandma was smiling at her, but Selma wasn’t sure how she felt about having her watch Gia today of all days. Gia had been pretty extra recently and seemed to only want to hang out with Drew. She’d really taken to snowboarding, which was fine, but she was supposed to be focusing on school instead of distracting the other kids in her class. Her grandma had a way with Gia, though. Gia knew not to test her and was always respectful toward her. On top of that, she’d gone from practically seeing her great-grandma every day of her life to not seeing her for a few months because she was sick. Selma knew Gia missed her, and she tried not to worry about how her daughter would handle it when the woman was gone one day; hopefully, very far off into the future.

Selma watched Gia hug her great-grandma for a solid minute, and despite video chatting with her regularly, she sat down on the couch next to the woman and proceeded to catch her up on everything she’d missed. Grandma then motioned for Selma to go change, so she obeyed and got dressed for a day on the mountain. Before she made her way out to the shuttle, though, which ran every fifteen minutes, she got a phone call, so she stopped at the doors to answer it.

“Hello?”

“Hello. Is this Miss Driscoll?”

“This is she.”

“This is Maxine Hazel. We’ve spoken before at Gia’s orientation.”

“Gia’s principal, yes. Is something wrong? I just left her. She was about to log in.”

“No, not wrong. We just need to have a chat. I was hoping to do it in person, but with all this snow, that’s been difficult.”

“About her behavioral issues?”

“Well, according to Gia’s tests and her teachers, she’s ready for at least seventh grade. Possibly eighth.”

“I know. But she’s only nine years old.”

“It can be scary, having a child skip any grade. And she’s already skipped a few, so I understand. Which is also why I was hoping to talk to you about doing something we do for a few of our exceptionally gifted students.”

“What’s that?” Selma asked.

“A more tailored program,” the principal explained. “It’s an individualized approach. She’d have curriculum in each subject appropriate for her level and would work with a specific teacher for each of those courses.”

“Oh,” Selma said. “Yeah, okay. If that’s best, let’s do that.”

“We can. The only issue is that Gia would essentially be on her own for most of her studies.”

“She wouldn’t be in a specific grade or class?”

“No. But we can work with you and come up with a plan to ensure she’s still socializing. There’s always lunch and recess. Plus, we have activities for her as well. She hasn’t joined anything yet, but we have a math club and an art club. She’s expressed interest in art, right?”

“Yes, a little,” Selma replied.

“Well, we don’t have to decide anything today, but when we’re able to get back to the school, I’d like to have you come in so that we can talk about it. Unfortunately, I don’t think keeping her where she is now can be an option for us.”

“I can get her to behave.”

“I’m sure you can. I just don’t think it’s what’s best for Gia in the long term. Let’s talk more in person. I wanted to call to set something up if you’re able right now.”

“Um…” Selma walked back to the front desk and set her phone on the counter. “Okay. Yeah.”

A few minutes later, she had a scheduled appointment at the school, and she was more anxious over what to do with her genius kid than she had been ever since she’d been told Gia was bored and acting out because she needed to go up a grade. The mountain would do her good.

Selma took the shuttle and breathed in the cold, fresh air when she got to the top. She felt incredibly lucky to live here because she had everything she needed for her sport at her disposal. There was a course for boardercross that she could use pretty much whenever she wanted, and she had slopes she could go down for fun, too. They even had a half-pipe here, along with other courses, if she were ever in the mood. As a member of the Canadian snowboarding team, she pretty much got dibs whenever she needed it, and while she didn’t need it today, she would soon.

Family had always come first to Selma, though, so when her grandma had gotten sick, her training had been the first thing to go. Her coach wasn’t all that happy with her, although he understood, but it was also a big year for her, and it was his job to understand that, too. Selma still tried to get out to work with him whenever she could, and now that her grandma was back, she hoped she’d have more time.

She took her first run slowly, letting the wind hit her more than anything else. Then, she took her second run a little faster, working on her turns. On her final run of the morning, she went all-out and did a couple of jumps that probably anyone could do, but they made her feel good about being back on a board again.

Since she didn’t have to rush back, she had lunch at the restaurant and enjoyed her hot chocolate and a panini before she sat outside in the snow and let her food settle a bit. After that, she went at the mountain again, attacking a more difficult slope with speed before returning to do it all over again because she hadn’t liked how she’d taken a turn. Then, after one last run, Selma decided she needed to head back to the lodge and relieve her grandmother, but when she got there, embarrassingly a little winded, knowing her hair looked terrible and her face was probably still red, she found her daughter sitting on the sofa, leaning over the table. Next to her was Drew, and they both had crayons in their hands. They were coloring together.

“How did I do?” Drew asked, holding up whatever she’d just made to Gia.

“That flower is wrong,” Gia replied.

“Gia!” Selma walked over. “It’s Drew’s drawing. It’s not wrong.”

“No, it is,” Gia replied. “Hi, Mom.”

“Honey, her–”

“She’s teaching me how to draw flowers. She’s right: I drew it wrong.” Drew nodded to Gia’s paper, where she’d drawn what looked like perfect flowers in all sorts of varieties. “I asked her to show me. It’s okay.”

“Where’s Grandma?” Selma asked before she sat down next to Gia and kissed the top of her head.

“She’s in the office. But Drew was out here, so I asked if she wanted to color. I asked first, Mom. She said yes.”

Selma looked up at Drew to confirm. Drew nodded.

“You went up?” Drew asked her.

“Yeah, Grandma made me.”

“Please… You loved it.”

“Yeah, you loved it, Mom,” Gia echoed.

“Did you not go up?” she asked Drew, ignoring their comments.

“I did. I went up super early, though, and used the course.”

“You ran through it?”

“I just got back about an hour ago. I came down for a hot chocolate and found this one here.” Drew knocked Gia’s shoulder playfully.

Gia giggled but continued to focus on the flower she was drawing.

“Mom, when I finish this, can we play a game?”

“A game? Sure, honey. Let me check on Grandma first, take a shower, and we can pull one out while we have dinner.”

Gia looked up then and said, “No, with Drew.”

“Gia… Drew is here as a guest. She doesn’t–”

“It’s okay,” Drew interjected. “I already agreed. She asked me if we could play something when you got back.”

“She did?”

“Yeah. She said she wanted to play Monopoly.”

“We have it. It’s the kids’ version.”

“Mom won’t let me play the grown-up one because I beat her at it once.”

Drew laughed and said, “She beat you at Monopoly?”

“Yeah. She’s going to be my financial planner when she gets older, for sure.”

“I am?” Gia asked.

“No, honey.” Selma chuckled. “Finish your flower. I’m going to go upstairs and change, at least. Can you watch her?”

“Sure,” Drew said.

“I’ll check on Grandma first, okay?”

“Okay,” Gia replied, not really paying attention to her anymore. “Drew, you have to add another petal. That’s why it’s wrong.”

“Oh, sorry,” Drew said and looked back down at her piece of paper. “Like this?” she teased and drew a squiggly line over the page in green.

“What? No.” Gia laughed.

Selma stood and watched them for a second before she turned around and forced herself to walk away because the site of Drew with Gia was confusing the hell out of her. In the office, she found her grandmother doing payroll and made sure she was okay.

“All good for the night,” Grandma shared. “I’m about to go home. Olivia and Kelly are both on tonight, so you’re off as well. Understood?”

“Yes. I’m just going to play Monopoly with Gia and Drew.”

“Drew is great.”

“Yeah. How come you never told me you knew her?”

“Honestly, it didn’t cross my mind. She hadn’t been here in a while. Then, you had the crash at the Games, and it didn’t seem important to bring up that she used to come here. Has it been a problem that she’s back?”

“At first, it was awkward, but it’s okay now. And Gia really likes her.”

“Gia’s not the only one, I remember.” Grandma winked at her.

“It was a crush, and it’s over,” Selma told her.

“Sure, it is. Well, I’m done, so I’m going to go home and get some sleep. I’ve already had dinner, so don’t worry about that. I’ll be back tomorrow.”

“Do you want me to walk you home?”

“No. They shoveled the walk, and Howie is out there, so I’ll have him take me to be safe.”

“Okay. I need to go up and change. Say goodnight to Gia out there; if she looks up from her coloring, that is.”

“I will.”

Selma headed back out and watched Gia with Drew from the elevator, where neither of them could see her. Gia was teaching Drew some kind of hand-clapping game that she hadn’t taught Selma. She wondered if Gia had learned it at school. As she watched Drew or Gia laugh when the other messed up, Selma realized that she hadn’t yet pressed the call button for the elevator and turned to do so.

She didn’t have time to shower, so she ran a brush through her thick hair and pulled it back after she changed into jeans and a sweater. Then, she headed back downstairs as quickly as she could to relieve Drew of the free babysitting she’d been providing.

“Okay. What do you want to drink? On the house, obviously.”

“I thought the hot chocolate was always free,” Drew said.

“Drew, a real drink. Come on. Let me buy you a drink. You’ve been watching my kid for hours.”

“Mom, did you bring Monopoly?”

“Shit. I left it upstairs.”

“You said, ‘Shit.’” Gia laughed.

“Gia!”

Drew laughed, too.

“Drew!”

“What? You said, ‘Shit.’”

Gia cackled and practically fell into Drew’s lap. Drew wrapped an arm around her and laughed harder, too. Selma stood there, looking at her daughter and how happy the girl was with the woman who would soon be leaving, and she couldn’t help but think back to her last relationship. It had ended after about six months into it, the day she’d gotten back from the Olympics, and she’d never let him meet Gia. Her kid had only been six at the time, so she’d been terrified that if Gia had met the guy Selma had been dating, that she would get attached, and it would devastate her little heart if Selma wanted out of the relationship.

“You know what?” she said. “It’s getting late, and she still hasn’t eaten, right?”

“No, we didn’t eat,” Drew answered.

“Chicken fingers?” Gia asked.

“No, baby. Let’s go upstairs, and I’ll cook you a real dinner.”

“You said we could play a game.”

“I know. But I didn’t realize how late it was,” she lied, holding out her hand. “I’m sure Drew would like her night to herself, too.”

Drew looked up at her then and seemingly understood what Selma was doing; likely not the pulling-her-kid-away part, but the part about Selma wanting to take Gia upstairs for dinner.

“Yeah, Gia, maybe another time. Your mom’s right: I have some things I need to do in my room.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Maybe,” Selma answered quickly. “Can you pick up your art stuff and put it back for me?”

“Fine,” Gia said in a grumble and stood up without taking Selma’s hand.