CHAPTER 9

“Hi, Drew.”

Drew looked up from the coffee cup she’d just brought to her lips and saw Gia standing in front of her on the other side of the table.

“Oh. Hi, Gia.”

“What are you doing?”

Drew looked down at her bowl of oatmeal.

“Having breakfast. What are you doing?”

“I don’t have school today,” Gia replied. “Snow day.”

“I looked out my window and saw that a lot had really come down last night, huh?”

“Yes, a ton. I go to this special school, and it’s really small, so when the snow gets bad, they have to close. Mom says it’s because they have a parking lot that people can’t get into because of the snow, but I think it’s because the teachers want a snow day, too.” Gia smiled wide.

“Well, I’m sure you’re both right.” Drew took a sip of her coffee. “So, you’re off today?”

Gia sat down in the chair opposite her and said, “Yes. And I asked Mom last night if you could be my coach. She said no, but could you?”

“Your coach?”

“For snowboarding. I know I’m new, but I can be good. My mom is really good, but I know you are, too, because we watch videos of you.”

“You watch videos of me with your mom?” Drew asked.

“Yeah. And she takes notes on her phone. She showed me.”

“Your mom…” Drew smirked. “She takes notes on me? Where is your mom right now, exactly?”

“Gia!”

“Ah, there she is.” Drew turned her head to see Selma hurrying over to the table.

“What are you doing over here? You were supposed to wait for me on the sofa.”

“I saw Drew.” The girl pointed.

Selma looked over at Drew and gave her an apologetic expression.

“I’m sorry. She got away from me. And she snuck a cinnamon roll this morning, so she’s a little…”

“Hyper?” Drew guessed.

“Yeah. Too much sugar.”

“I heard she has a snow day.”

“Yes, we got dumped on. Did you see it?”

“I did, yeah,” Drew replied. “I was going out to enjoy it.”

“Can we go, Mom? Drew said we could.”

Drew looked up at Selma with wide eyes and shook her head.

“Gia, did Drew actually say that to you?”

“No,” Gia replied. “But she’s going out there. Can’t we?”

“Sorry,” Drew mouthed to Selma silently.

“She can coach me, Mom.”

“Honey, we talked about this last night…” Selma sat down next to her daughter. “Drew is a guest here. She’s not a coach. She’s a professional athlete and is here on vacation, okay?”

“She can’t help a little?” Gia asked.

Drew wasn’t sure what to do. She’d planned on going out anyway and didn’t mind showing Gia the basics, but she was not about to say something that would piss off the girl’s mother after they’d just finally, possibly, reached a bit of a détente.

“We’re not even going out today, Gia. I have to work,” Selma said and pushed some of Gia’s black hair behind her ear.

That black hair matched her mother’s, but Selma’s was down and framing her face while Gia’s had been pulled back into a ponytail, complete with a pink hand-tied bow. Their eyes matched, too. So did their caramel skin. Gia really did look like her mother in miniature, and Drew found that adorable for some reason.

“I can cover for you,” the woman, whom Drew knew as Olivia, offered as she walked past with bags of cookies.

“Can I have a cookie?” Gia asked, hands outstretched to grab one.

“Oh, no,” Selma answered and put those hands down for Gia. “And it’s okay, Olivia. We have that big VIP group coming in today.”

“Yeah, but Kelly did everything for them last night. The bags are made. I have enough cookies.” Olivia held up the bags. “And I’ve already gotten the keys and everything ready, too. Plus, Howie got the snowplow up here and took care of the drive and parking lot, so we’re all good.”

“I swear, you and Kelly conspire against me sometimes.”

“I think it’s conspiring for you when we’re trying to get you to take a day off,” Olivia argued. “But we’re good here.”

“Mom, please. You promised,” Gia pled.

“I promised that I would check the schedule.”

“But Olivia said–”

“Well, if Olivia said,” Selma joked and sighed loudly while Drew took a bite of her oatmeal. Selma looked over at her and asked, “Orange or grapefruit?”

“Huh?”

“Juice. I sent both up yesterday because I didn’t know which.”

“Orange. But I’m more of a coffee girl in the morning.”

“And oatmeal?”

“Usually, yeah. But I still ate what you sent up. Well, I ate some of what you sent up because you sent up the whole kitchen.”

Selma laughed a little and turned to her daughter.

“Okay. We can go out today, but when I say it’s time to go, it’s time to go, okay? If there’s an emergency back here, we have to leave.”

“Really?” Gia stood up and hugged her mother.

Drew watched Selma instantly relax, and she smiled at the exchange.

“Drew’s coming, too, right?” Gia asked after pulling out of the embrace.

“Uh…” Drew left her mouth open.

“You can say no,” Selma told her.

“Should I say yes?” Drew checked with a lifted eyebrow.

“Yes!” Gia practically yelled with excitement.

◆◆◆

“That’s it. Do a little jump and twist your hips here,” Drew instructed as she placed her hands on Gia’s hips, showing her what she meant before she took a step back to watch Gia attempt to turn her board. “She mentioned she goes to a special school,” she said to Selma then, who stood beside her.

“She does. It’s a gifted program, and it costs about a million dollars a year.”

“Is that US or Canadian?” Drew joked. “Great job, Gia! Try again!”

“She’s actually in the sixth grade.”

“I’m sorry… What?” Drew asked, turning to Selma in surprise.

“Yeah. She’s bored there, too.” Selma shook her head. “It’s a pretty small school; they only take twenty students per grade. She got in last year after testing off the charts. And while it’s expensive, it’s also worth it. She still hates it, though.”

“Why?”

“Because of the boredom. She’s kind of right there in the middle of being ready for seventh or maybe even eighth grade. They asked me when she was admitted if I wanted to move her up to seventh to see how she did, but I didn’t want to do that. She’s in a school with a ton of smart kids, but she still gets picked on for being so young for her grade. At this rate, she’ll be done with high school by fifteen – sixteen at the latest – so I don’t know… Am I supposed to let her skip more grades and finish sooner, or keep her where she is and just have her deal with the boredom, but it’s slightly better for her socially?”

“Like this, Drew?” Gia asked loudly.

Drew returned her attention to the girl and noticed that she was trying to twist the board in the snow.

“Hey, good job. You’re getting it to turn, Gia.” She walked over to the girl. “Want to work a little on really moving?”

“Yes,” Gia said with a wide smile.

“Okay. But you can’t go so fast that I can’t catch up to you, all right?”

Gia laughed.

“I won’t.”

“Good. So, let’s put our board straight that way.” Drew pointed.

They were on a flat part of the resort’s property because Selma hadn’t wanted to get too far from the place, and Drew told her that she could hang out in the morning instead of going for a run and then hit the mountain in the afternoon if she wanted.

“Now, you have to be able to use your core. Do you know what that is?”

“No,” Gia replied.

Drew showed her what she meant and told her how to use her hips and shift her weight from side to side. Then, she stood back and told Gia to try to move forward on the little slope they’d found that wouldn’t let her get too far.

“Thank you for this,” Selma said when Drew returned to her side.

“No problem. She’s a good kid, Selma. Apparently, she’s a little genius.”

“If you asked her the angle of that hill, she could probably tell you and calculate the circumference or something. Is it circumference?”

“I don’t think so.” Drew chuckled.

“I don’t know where she got all this from. Her father wasn’t exactly the smartest guy in school.”

“Don’t tell me you fell for the jock type.”

“I didn’t fall for him,” Selma replied with a laugh. “He played basketball and hockey, though. We were both athletes, so it worked, but I wasn’t in love with him.”

“How long were you two together?”

“About four months before we…”

“And then, Gia?”

“I’m pretty sure she was conceived our first time. Maybe our second. Don’t get me wrong… I don’t regret anything. I have her.” Selma smiled warmly at her daughter. “But getting pregnant in high school wasn’t part of my plan.”

“Drew, I’m doing it!”

“Yes, you are. Come back up and do it again,” Drew told her. “How long has she wanted to snowboard?”

“Oh, years,” Selma replied. “Since she could walk, really.”

“You didn’t want her to?”

“It’s not that. I want her to do what she wants, what makes her happy. When she was really little, I didn’t know what to do with this very smart kid who was reading before most kids and doing math before most kids, so I put her in academic-like things. That’s where we found out that she’s really smart. I thought it would be better to immerse her in that, and all of that costs money.”

“Ah…”

“Snowboarding isn’t cheap. I can get her boards and equipment from the shop, which I do, but she would need lessons. I’d have to be able to bring her here consistently, and I can’t when we’re in season. I also couldn’t ask my grandma to do more than she already was. I thought I’d just wait to see if she grew out of wanting to do it, but she didn’t. And she seemed so miserable the other day that I finally gave in, even though it’s the exact wrong time for me.”

“I can help while I’m here,” Drew suggested.

“What do you mean?”

“Help. I can bring her out here and teach her. I’d offer to take her up the mountain, but I’m guessing you’d say no to that.”

“Drew, you’re on vacation. You do not have to teach my daughter to snowboard.”

“I can help. That’s all I’m saying. If she’s got a snow day today and you have to work, I can be with her out here. Look at it this way: she’ll get tired eventually, but this is the best way to find out if she really wants to do it. You know what they say about kids: have them do the same thing, like, a thousand times, and if they get bored and frustrated, it’s likely not for them. But if they don’t, maybe they’ll do it more seriously.”

“So, your plan is to try to bore her on a snowboard? My child, who loves the snow? Worships it practically?”

“It’s different when you’re not just playing in it, though.”

“I do have to check on my grandma.”

“I’ll watch her. And I won’t teach her anything crazy, I promise. Super basic stuff. We’ll be here when you get back.”

“Gia?”

“Yeah?” Gia looked up at her mom.

“I need to go check on Grandma. Can you stay here with Drew for a few minutes and keep practicing?”

“Really? Yes!” The girl pumped her little fist in the air.

Drew laughed.

“Okay. You’re really sure?” Selma asked Drew.

“Go,” she replied. “Before I change my mind.”

“Dinner on me tonight?” Selma suggested. “In the lodge, I mean.”

“You’re comping me another meal?”

“Oh, I… I was thinking that maybe Gia and I could–”

“Oh. Yeah,” Drew said. “Yeah, that’s way better than me eating alone.”

“What about your friends?”

“I have no idea what they’re doing. We’re not all that close. I haven’t seen Becks in years.”

“Okay. Well, I’ll be back to get her as soon as I can. And dinner, maybe around five-thirty? She eats early so she can take a bath and do her homework after. They give her a lot of that at her school.”

“Sure,” Drew replied.

“Thank you,” Selma said.

Drew nodded and watched her walk off.

“Okay, Gia. Let’s try our arms now.”

“Arms?”

“Yeah, we’ve got to get them into the right position.”

“Oh, cool,” Gia replied.

Drew spent the next hour and a half teaching Gia a few things, and she watched her do them over and over again without complaint until Selma came back from her grandma’s house, hurrying over and apologizing for taking too long. Drew didn’t mind. When Selma took Gia inside for a break, Drew decided to hit the mountain to get in a run or two. While she liked boarding down a mountain, she really missed boardercross. She’d always preferred the course to a mountain slope or the half-pipe, and she was itching to get back on one. For now, though, she went on a more difficult run on her second trip down the slopes, and her knee felt fine when she unclipped and stood her board up next to her.

She got back to the lodge with enough time to take a quick shower and ice her knee afterward in order to tell her coach that she’d followed instructions without lying to him. After resting on her bed with ice on her knee and only in her underwear, Drew dropped the reusable ice pack into the mini fridge in her room and got dressed for dinner.

She wasn’t sure what to wear, so she threw on a flannel over her sports bra and added a pleather jacket on top of it to deal with the cold from the doors opening. Jeans and black boots completed the look, and she was out the door and in the elevator. Drew wasn’t sure when she’d last had dinner with a child. She didn’t have kids in her life on the regular. So, as she went down to the lobby, she thought about possible conversation topics. There was math because, apparently, Gia was good at that. There was snowboarding, obviously. Maybe skiing. Books. She could bring up books. What books would a kid like Gia read, though? Did she even like reading? Drew sighed and decided to relax and let Selma lead the conversation so she didn’t have to worry about it. Then, the elevator doors opened, and she saw Selma standing there at the front desk, leaning over it a bit. The woman had changed her clothes after boarding and was wearing a business suit now, with a pencil skirt that hit just below her knees and had a very nice slit going up one side.

“Oh, God,” she said to herself.

“Drew!” Gia yelled and wrapped Drew’s middle in a hug.

Drew put her hands on Gia’s shoulders more than anything, but Gia’s yell caught her mother’s attention, and Selma turned to look at them. Drew shrugged a shoulder. Selma laughed silently and shook her head.