CHAPTER 13

It was Drew’s last day at the lodge, and for the first time in her life, she wished she would have taken more days off. She’d never wanted time away from her training, but this trip had been unexpectedly relaxing, and she was able to confirm that her knee was feeling good at the same time. Racing was different than just going down the mountain, but she was confident. Structurally, everything was okay, which meant that it was all mental for Drew, and she could handle that.

Her coach had texted asking when she was coming back, even though she’d confirmed that with him already, so she sent him her flight information to make sure he had it. Now that she’d done as he’d instructed, he seemed ready to get back to their usual training schedule. He’d even offered to pick her up from the airport and take her straight to the gym to get in a workout. Deciding that they could start back up the next day, though, she had told him no on the picking up part because she wanted to get back to her place and at least unwind a little, unpack some of her stuff, and also call her parents to let them know she was home. Maybe she’d even go over for dinner.

This whole thing was so strange for Drew. When she had taken brief vacations in the past, she’d enjoyed them obviously, but she’d always been itching to get back out on a course to take turns and get some air on a jump, trying to calculate how to pass someone on every inch of the course because she never knew when she’d need to make a move. If she got stuck behind someone at turn four, she might need to pass on the outside. If she was behind on a jump, she might need to take a different angle coming out of her landing.

Today, she was packing because while her flight wasn’t until the afternoon, she didn’t have enough time to get to the mountain, board, and come back before it was time to leave. Instead, she’d pack a little, have breakfast downstairs, and come back up to finish packing before she’d head to the airport. Normally, she’d leave for the airport early because she had a credit card that got her access to the lounge, and she could easily kill time there for a few hours before her flight, but she didn’t want to do that this trip.

“Drew!”

“Another snow day?” Drew asked when Gia wrapped her arms around her middle.

“It’s Saturday,” Gia stated, looking up at her.

“Oh, right,” she replied.

She’d forgotten the day of the week, and not because she’d been on some amazing, relaxing vacation but because she’d been thinking about Selma Driscoll in a way she should not be thinking about Selma Driscoll.

“Are you going out today?” Gia asked after letting go of her.

“No, I’m leaving today. I have a flight later. I’m getting breakfast right now.”

“You’re leaving?” Gia asked, looking up at her with clear disappointment in her eyes.

“Yeah. Your mom told you that, right?”

“Yes,” Gia replied, still sounding disappointed. “But she didn’t tell me it was today.”

Drew got down on one knee so she could meet Gia’s eyes.

“I don’t live here like you do, so I have to get back to my home.”

“I know.” The girl looked down at her feet. “I wanted to learn more about snowboarding.”

“Well, Gia, your mom is one of the best snowboarders in the world. Do you know how lucky you are that you get to learn from her?”

“Yeah,” she said, clearly not convinced.

“Has she told you how good she is?”

“No.”

“How many people are in the world?”

“Billions, but I don’t know the exact number. Over eight.”

“Right. So, out of all those people, only some of us snowboard, right?”

“Yes.”

“And only some of those people keep going and do it professionally, right?”

“Yes,” Gia said again.

“Okay. Well, out of all those people, and it’s still a big number, your mom is ranked sixth in the world right now. That’s crazy, right?”

“She’s sixth?”

Drew nodded and added, “She’s even higher than me. I’m only tenth right now.”

“You got hurt,” Gia recalled.

“Yeah, but that’s not the reason. Every time someone gets on a podium and wins first, second, or third, they can improve their ranking. Your mom has been getting on a lot of those podiums. I used to, but I haven’t as much recently. She’s even better than me, so you should really be learning from her.”

“I guess.” Gia finally looked up at Drew. “But I wanted to color and stuff with you, too.”

“Maybe when I come back.”

“You’re coming back?” the girl asked, lighting up instantly.

“Not tomorrow.” Drew chuckled. “I used to come here more than I do now, though, and I was thinking I might try to come back later this year.”

“Oh,” Gia uttered. “Later this year… So, a long time from now.”

“Not that long. I bet when I come back, you’ll be so good on the board.”

“Maybe. My mom is really busy, so she can’t teach me a lot of the time.”

“Do you know why your mom is really busy?”

“She works and takes care of me.”

“She has two jobs,” Drew explained. “She works here because your grandma needs help, and she snowboards, Gia. Plus, she gets to be your mom. It’s a lot of hard work, and that takes time. Trust me, it’s not that she doesn’t want to teach you something. She’s just busy. I know whenever she has a spare minute, she wants to spend it with you, though.”

“Yeah,” Gia said, sounding maybe half-convinced.

Drew stood up then, deciding there wasn’t much else she could do, and that was when she noticed Selma standing behind Gia by several feet, still well within earshot. Selma mouthed, ‘Thank you,’ and smiled at Drew, who winked at her. Drew was not a winker, though, and she had no idea why she’d just done that.

“Hey, Gia? Why don’t you go see if your breakfast is ready in the kitchen,” Selma suggested.

“Eggs and bacon?” Gia asked.

When Selma nodded, the little girl took off.

“Don’t take offense that she’d choose eggs and bacon over you. She loves eggs,” Selma explained, walking over to Drew. “And it’s turkey bacon, but don’t tell her.”

Drew smiled and said, “Your secret is safe with me.”

“So… You’re heading out today, huh?”

“Yeah. My flight’s in the afternoon, though, so I was going to eat and finish packing.”

“If you eat down here, she’s going to want to eat with you. I can tell her to eat in the office, though.”

“No, don’t,” Drew replied. “I wouldn’t mind eating with her one last time.”

Selma bit her bottom lip.

“Or not,” Drew added.

“No, it’s fine.”

“Can you take a break and eat with us?”

“Break? I just got here,” Selma said with a little smile.

“You could still sit and have coffee, right?”

“Not really. I’m covering the desk right now. Olivia is on her way, but her car wouldn’t start, so she’s running late, and we’re about to have a rush at check out.”

“Right,” Drew said, knowing that, this time, she was the one who sounded disappointed.

“Still want to have breakfast with her?” Selma asked. “You can say no, Drew.”

“No, I do. If it’s okay with you.”

“It’s okay. Just be aware that she gets attached pretty easily. And you’re, like, her new hero, so it’s going to be hard on her when you go. Maybe say goodbye at breakfast, and I’ll take her upstairs when you check out.”

“Whatever you think is best,” Drew agreed. “Hey, Selma?”

“Yeah?”

“If you say no, it’s no, but maybe I could call her or talk to her sometime about snowboarding? Like a video chat or something, if she’d be interested. I don’t know. Maybe I’ll leave, and she’ll forget all about me.” Drew laughed nervously. “But if you’d be okay with that, I’d like to talk to her sometime. Only when you say that it’s okay, of course. I probably won’t have time to come back here for a while, but I like her. So, it’s not just her who’s going to miss me, you know?”

Selma seemed to soften and said, “We can figure something out.”

“Yeah?” Drew asked with a smile.

“Sure. She doesn’t exactly have a phone, though, so you’d have to call me. She has her own computer, but that’s for school and video chatting with her grandma. We can see about adding you to that list. For now, let’s maybe keep it at phone calls.”

“Whatever you say.”

“I’ll give you my number, okay?” Selma said before turning to go to the front desk.

“Okay,” she replied.

A few minutes later, Drew sat down with Gia, who already had her plate, and watched the little girl devour her breakfast until her own oatmeal and coffee showed up. Selma did come by, likely to check on them, and stood behind Gia, staring at Drew a bit. Drew didn’t know what that was about.

With breakfast done, she said goodbye to Gia but told her that she’d call her mom and they could see when they could talk about her snowboarding. That seemed to cheer the kid up, but Drew herself went upstairs to her room feeling sad, and only part of that was because she was leaving a vacation.

After she finished packing and checking her room one last time to make sure she didn’t leave anything behind, she headed downstairs to check out, finding both Selma and Olivia at the counter now. Selma told Olivia that she’d handle it, though, which made Drew smile softly.

“So? Your number?” Drew asked and set her own phone on the counter. “It’s unlocked. You can just add it, and I’ll text you mine right back.”

“Okay,” Selma said and put her phone number into Drew’s phone.

When she handed it back, Drew sent her a text so that Selma could put her into her phone as well, which Selma didn’t have on her at the moment.

“Will you do something for me?” Selma asked.

“Sure.”

“Can you maybe text me or something when you get in so I know you’re okay? I know it’s weird, but–”

“No, I can do that.”

“So I can tell Gia that you’re okay,” Selma added.

“Right. Sure. Yeah,” Drew confirmed.

“Because she’ll worry about you.”

“That’s nice of her; to worry, I mean.”

Selma cleared her throat then and said, “Well, you’re all checked out. I sent the receipt to your email, but do you need a paper copy?”

“No, email is fine,” Drew replied.

“The airport shuttle is outside. It’s about ready to leave, so you should go unless you want to wait thirty minutes.”

Drew thought about that. She could wait another thirty minutes. She had time before her flight. But she also knew that she shouldn’t. Selma was working, so it wasn’t like they could sit and talk for thirty minutes. On top of that, Gia could come back down any minute, and they’d already said their goodbyes per Selma’s request. Drew wanted to respect Selma’s wishes where the kid was concerned.

“I’ll go, but I’ll text you later.”

“Okay. Yeah. Safe flight, Drew.”

“Have a good day, Selma.”

Drew grabbed her roller bag and turned to find that an employee was carrying her other bags for her out the door. She smiled one more time at Selma, turned, and left.

◆◆◆

Her apartment was as she left it, which shouldn’t be a strange thing; no one else lived there. But whenever Drew left for any kind of trip, she half-expected to come home and find her apartment changed. Instead, she still had an empty glass of water sitting on a coaster on her coffee table, a cactus in the corner because she couldn’t keep any other kind of plant alive but wanted something living to take care of, and an empty fridge.

Drew tossed all of her dirty clothes into the washing machine and started it so that she could throw them in the dryer later and worry about taking them out tomorrow. She usually did that when she got home to wash any hotel or airport smells or germs out of her clothing, but after that, she moved to lie down on her bed and stared up at her ceiling. She didn’t know what to do. She would be back to training tomorrow and should get a call very soon about whether or not Team USA wanted to take a chance on her again, but tonight, she had nothing to do, and it bothered her in a way that it never had before.

Drew Oakes: I’m home safe. Just wanted you to know so you could tell Gia.

She hit to send the text before she could think too hard about it and waited. When nothing came in response for a minute, she tossed her phone on the bed and reached for the TV remote, planning to put on some show she could maybe fall asleep to later. Then, her phone dinged, and she launched at it so fast that she dropped the TV remote in her hand.

Selma Driscoll: I’m glad. Gia’s glad, too. Did you get all your luggage okay?

Drew smiled because that was an opening. She’d half-expected Selma to say something like, ‘Okay. Good. I’m glad you’re safe,’ but not to ask her a question that Drew could then answer, keeping their conversation going.

Drew Oakes: They didn’t even damage my board or my skis, so I’m feeling #blessed right now. How was your day?

The three bubbles appeared instantly.

Selma Driscoll: Okay. Busy, but I’m finally at home. Gia passed out early tonight, which was good, so I got to change into my pajamas and get to bed early myself.

“She’s in her pajamas in bed?” Drew asked herself, thinking about what Selma’s pajamas would look like.

Selma Driscoll: How was your flight?

Drew decided to take a chance.

Drew Oakes: Call?

Selma Driscoll: That bad?

Drew Oakes: No, just easier.

Selma Driscoll: Okay.

Drew swallowed and pressed the phone icon, placing a call to Selma Driscoll for the very first time.

“Hey,” Selma greeted.

“Hi,” Drew replied with a smile she hoped Selma couldn’t hear from the other side of the phone. “So, busy day?”

“We had a massive group come in today. Forty people.”

“Whoa. You can fit a group that size in that place?”

“We can if they book well in advance and pay for a room block. It’s a group with a bunch of families, so it’s not all forty rooms, though.”

“And they all checked in around the same time?”

“Yup. Lots of fun,” Selma said sarcastically.

“How’s Gia?”

“She’s okay. A bit of a rough day after you left. I think her intelligence wars with her age and maturity sometimes. She understands logically that you don’t live here and that you were going to leave, but it’s hard for her little heart to say goodbye to people she cares about.”

“I didn’t like saying goodbye to her, either, if that helps.”

“How would that help?” Selma laughed a little.

“I don’t know. That’s just the expression.” Drew laughed a little, too, and rolled over onto her side. “Am I keeping you from anything?”

“No. It’s too early to sleep, and it turns out, I have no life when my kid, my grandmother, or this hotel don’t need me, so I’m just lying here.”

“I feel that. I don’t have the kid, the hotel, or the grandmother, but I know what you mean. I was going to watch lame TV until I fell asleep.”

“What were you going to watch?”

“No clue.”

“What to pick out something together? Then, we can both have something to do,” Selma suggested.

“That sounds great, actually.”