The third prompt is "Maya and Lucas have dinner with Lucas's mom."


Chapter 3

Maya didn't sleep at all that night between thoughts of Lucas's home life and her mother's revelation about who her father was. She was dealing with the lack of some random guy named Jack and Lucas… she couldn't even begin to guess what Lucas was really dealing with, but none of it was good.

Her original plans for the day the Matthews returned had been to spend the day with Riley, but suddenly… Lucas had to come first. She could maybe go to the cops or someone with the story of what she'd seen, but she figured she needed real proof for her story to have any merit. She really didn't think she was going to get Lucas to agree to tell the truth himself, so her next best idea was to trail him and wait. Much as the idea killed her, she was going to have to follow him and wait until she once again saw a scene like the one from yesterday. She could record it on her phone and then go to the cops.

So she got up before it was even light outside and loitered in the lobby of Lucas's apartment building until she saw him come out of the elevator and leave the building hours later. It was a pain and a half to trail someone in New York City, but Maya managed it, if only barely. Yet the only place it landed her was outside of a dinky bookstore sandwiched between a McDonalds and a pet store.

Hearing the rumble of her ignored stomach for the first time that morning, Maya went into the McDonalds and scarfed down a breakfast burrito. She alternated between playing on her phone and keeping an eye on the bookstore next door, waiting for Lucas to emerge, until lunch time. At long last, she noticed Lucas exit the bookstore, and scrambled off of her window-adjacent seat, moving quickly so that she could keep him in her sights… only to do a double take and realize that she'd lost him in the crowd she saw outside the window.

Figuring she may as well at least attempt to locate him again, she was heading back out of the restaurant when Lucas stepped into her line of sight, holding the door open for an Amazonian redhead who was old enough to be his mother.

Lucas saw Maya the same moment she saw him, and both of them paled.

"Lucas, are you alright?" the redhead asked him in concern, following his line of sight to Maya, who had suddenly lost so much presence of mind that she didn't even attempt to make herself scarce.

"Yeah," Lucas answered, and even as uncomfortable as Maya's presence was making him, he seemed much more relaxed with this woman than he had with his father. Left with no real choice, he led the woman towards Maya and introduced them. "Mama, this is my friend, Maya. Maya, this is my mama, Rachel Friar."

Right that instant, Maya even forgot to tease him about calling his mom "mama." She was suddenly too busy wondering if this woman knew what her husband became when he was alone with Lucas.

She was definitely going to find out the answer to that question before she left Lucas and Mrs. Friar alone today, though, even though she knew it would upset Lucas. She couldn't bear to leave him in that sort of a home life without even attempting to do something, and this woman – Lucas's own mother – would be the best person to make the abuse stop!

"Can I talk to you for a second?" she asked Mrs. Friar seriously.

Mrs. Friar gave her an odd look – and an even odder one to Lucas when he objected, "No!" – before she answered, her eyes curious even as she smiled, "Sure. We were going to get dinner and go back to the bookstore where I work. Would you like to eat with us?"

Maya was quick to agree even if she wasn't really hungry. It was a chance to sit down with someone who could help Lucas out, and she would take that however she could get it. She made herself smile to put the other woman at ease as she joked, "I'd love to crash your lunch."

"We'd love to have you," Mrs. Friar smiled widely back at her, but Maya didn't miss her slightly pained wince.

A sudden realization hit Maya practically between the eyes. Of course this woman knew what was going on in her own home! Someone with as much anger as Mr. Friar had exhibited yesterday likely wouldn't just hit his son… he'd take his issues out on his wife as well.

Mrs. Friar turned to get in line to order and Lucas sent Maya a distressed look behind his mother's back. His meaning was clear: Why did you have to get involved?

Because I want to help! she thought stubbornly. But… now wasn't necessarily the time, she decided, getting a good look at Mrs. Rachel Friar's profile. The woman was wearing long sleeves and heavy makeup – Meant to disguise bruises? Maya wondered – but even beneath it all, she was still obviously exhausted. Life had not been kind to her in recent years, at least not very recently, Maya decided, and she wasn't going to make it worse by interrogating her in public.

So Maya had a friendly lunch with Lucas and his mother, making conversation and discovering that she and Mrs. Friar actually got along pretty well… all the while ignoring the pit in her stomach at the thought of what this mother and son were suffering through in silence.

After lunch, Maya ended up following Lucas and his mom back to the bookstore where Mrs. Friar worked. The redhead was smiling when she went back to work, but the moment Lucas shepherded Maya out of her sight he was plainly unhappy with her. He sat down on a box of books in what passed as the store's storage room and allowed Maya the time to do the same before he demanded, "What are you doing?"