A/N: A new chapter of "We Three Hearts" is now available!
April 7th 2020
Chapter 98
Their Fall in Wonders
The first day of the Fall Festival arrived before they knew it. As happy as she might have been at the thought of having one less thing to handle on top of her regular duties, Maya was actually kind of sad to see it come to an end. Alright, technically it was only starting now and what she'd been doing up to this point had just been preparation, but she had loved every part of it already… especially the parts where she'd gotten to work with Lindsay Alcott, at the high school. She would be in the building and it would be hard not to feel one of two things. On the one hand, she'd be thinking back to the years she'd been a student here, and on the other… she'd be thinking about the years she could be a teacher here, if she got to work here. The thought of being colleagues with Mr. Matthews alone was enough to make her laugh.
She'd been so looking forward to this moment that she was sure she wouldn't be able to sleep the night before, or she'd wake up so ridiculously early as to leave her feeling that she hadn't slept. Instead, after having finished a few things right before bed, she'd just gone right to sleep, and in the morning…
"Hey… Maya… I gave you ten more minutes, now you have to get up…"
"Mm?"
"Festival day," Lucas' voice finally connected with her and she opened her eyes with a gasp. It took her a moment to figure out he was crouching next to the bed, arms folded on the edge of the mattress as he stared at her. "Hey there," he half raised a hand in greeting.
"What time is it?" she yawned, burrowing down as she stretched.
"Sure you want to know?" he asked, pointing to the clock.
She tried to bolt out of bed so fast that he caught her mid-leap, dropping her back to safety before she could go and trip over her own legs and the sheets she was still tangled in.
"Right, no, good point… good point…" she breathed, sitting up.
"Packed your breakfast, filled your mug," Lucas nodded, and Maya caught his face in her hands with a smile. "What are you doing?" he laughed.
"You're being peak Huckleberry right now, just making sure you're real," she explained, leaning in to kiss him. "Where's Sam?" she asked.
"Downstairs, why?"
"Because whenever I say anything remotely suggestive he's usually right there and gives me that face like I've traumatized him for the rest of his life," Maya pointed out, which made Lucas snort for a beat before looking back at her.
"What were you going to say?" he inquired.
"Yeah, sorry, I don't have time, I'm so late already…" she replied with vague innocence, moving to get out of bed and get dressed.
"That is not fair, come back…" he 'pleaded' as her laughter ran away with her.
She'd been seeing the pieces of this giant, multifaceted puzzle that was the Fall Festival come together over the past few weeks, she'd seen so much of it in the theater's basement, and the storage rooms, all over the place, but she hadn't seen it all come together in its full display, no one had, until today. All she could say was that, for as much as she had loved and deeply cherished the festivals every year, because of what they represented to her, it was sort of impossible for her not to feel as though this one was going to be particularly special. She had been in the thick of it, she'd helped to make this happen.
They had left the theater, all the trucks packed up, the cars, some of them leaving on foot, pushing wheeled trunks… As they'd reached the park, the set-up had started, most of the people there doing their own parts, with others like Maya and Miss Alcott going around and helping where they could. It had all been so much of an effort, non-stop, that it took some time for Maya to finally stop and look around and see it, all their work… and it was amazing.
It was more than anything she could have envisioned. It was the Fall Festival.
Every year was slightly different, but overall it was what it always was, and the feeling would be renewed from year to year, like they'd just hit pause and suddenly they were back to unpause, moments later and not a year later. She could almost envy her siblings, the young Hunters having been here every year since they'd been born, which would mean that they did not know a time where they hadn't been to the festival. Last year, when they'd brought them here, the twins had remembered for the first time, had looked forward to these days, recalling the things they'd done, and seen, and eaten… Now they were looking forward to it even more, feeding their little brother and sister with tales of the 'magic' of the event and leaving MJ and Haley to look at them with wide eyes. They couldn't wait to see it all either.
Maya reached into her pocket for her phone. She had to call them and find out when they'd come out here to see it all, maybe send them some pictures. When it rang even as she'd grabbed it, she smirked. It figured that this would be them, right in the moment. Private number. Alright, maybe not.
"Hello?" she answered, motioning that she'd follow in a minute as some of the others from the theater were calling out to ask if she needed to swing back that way for anything.
"Oh, good morning! I was hoping I'd reach you," a woman's voice responded. Maya blinked, trying to think if any of her people hadn't arrived for the set-up and coming up empty.
"I'm sorry, who's this?" she asked, still looking around, wondering why they wouldn't just call Miss Alcott, who was actually in charge. "Hold on," she cut in again, spotting some of their volunteers arriving. "The check-in tent is over there!" she called out to them. "There, the orange one!" she pointed, and they turned on their way to the tent. "Sorry about that," Maya pulled the phone back to her ear, trying to think where they'd left off.
"Is this a bad time?" the woman inquired, thankfully sounding more amused than annoyed over the sudden interruption. She gave the smallest bit of a laugh that left Maya feeling like she might genuinely have heard a record scratch. She knew that laugh, just couldn't place it.
"Uh… No, no, I'm alright, just setting up for the Fall Festival," she explained. That laugh kept playing back in her head, like the kernel of a melody she couldn't get out of her head until she'd manage to expand on it, turn it into a song. She'd joke that this was the reason she had written so many songs over the years. Once she started, it was impossible to let go most of the time. "But, uh… I can talk, it's fine," she nodded to herself, looking around.
"Good, yes, well I'll do my best not to keep you too long," the woman went on, and maybe it was all the time she'd spent, with the band, on her songs, or even being around the Stage Ready mentors, but it was like the intonation was another bit of music she knew enough to pick up on, because that was how she'd recognized the voice at last, matched the laugh to the rest of its melody.
She almost had to bite her arm to keep from making any noise as she realized she was on the phone with Ree Forster.
"I hope you don't mind, Audra gave me your number."
"No, I don't mind at all," Maya managed to speak in a relatively even tone, even as her throat felt impossibly dry.
"I meant to keep in touch, I've been told my attention span suffers a whole lot whenever there's a new album coming, or a tour, or in this case both," Ree explained.
"That's alright," Maya nodded.
"But I did remember how I told you I'd let you know about the tour when I knew more, so that's what I'm doing now. It'll be out in a couple of days, so let's just keep that between us until then, yes?"
"Uh huh…"
"Yes, so, I will be doing three shows in Texas, one of them in Austin on December 11th, and I would love for you to be there."
Oh, what she wouldn't have given to have been back in that field again, so she might have had a proper reaction equivalent to the mad frenzy happening inside her mind in that moment. The best she could do for now, with so many people hanging about… and with Ree Forster on the line… was to walk at a fast pace around the perimeter of the park.
"That… That would be amazing, yes, I… Thank you…" she finally replied.
"Good!" Ree sounded like she was smiling. "I'll send you information on how to get in touch with someone at the venue. They've already been given the heads up to get you and any others coming along the tickets you'll need, so don't be shy, bring whoever you'd like."
"That's very generous of you, I… I'll do that." How was she even keeping her voice from trembling right now?
"Still unsure exactly when I'll be getting in town, but once I know more I'll see about setting up a time for us to have lunch," Ree carried on, either unaware of the freak out being thinly contained on the other end of the line or aware but also conscientious enough to act as though she didn't pick up on it.
"Great…"
"I would love to get you up on stage with me, we could perform your song," Ree went on, and Maya had to stop walking.
If she wasn't so sure that this was definitely Ree Forster on the line, she would have thought this was some prank, it was… there was so much. But then she'd already been riding that feeling of a waking dream ever since Audra Watts had walked into the theater that day and offered her this new deal, the song writing deal. If she hadn't already believed deep down in the idea of things happening when they were supposed to happen, she might have believed it was too good to be true. She had thought that way, once, years ago, back when it had been just her mother and her, in New York, and in those early Texas days. The last decade had been like one exercise after another in showing her just how much it could all change.
She'd walked around the park for a while after the call had ended, just trying to allow the thoughts to settle down and not feel like runaway bouncing balls inside her skull.
"Hey, is everything alright?" She looked back to find her old English teacher was walking at her side. How long had she been there?
"Oh, yeah…" Maya laughed it off. "I was just sort of… I was thinking about the festival," she told her, then, "The previous years, you know? A lot of memories…"
"That's how I started getting involved," Lindsay nodded with a smile. "I would come out here every year with my parents and my sisters. My birthday always landed somewhere in the middle of it, and we'd come out and hang around here."
"When is it this year?" Maya asked, happy for the new subject to help her get back on track and put the phone call off until later.
"In three days," Lindsay revealed, and Maya had to stop for a second and think it over…
"Wait, so that first day, my first day in your class…"
"I guess it was, yes," her fellow teacher smiled. "You made it a good one."
"I was all weird and quiet," Maya frowned, having trouble believing that.
"So one of those has changed," Lindsay teased, making her laugh. "Anyway, I stand by my statement. This makes me think, I might call on your assistance on some other projects up at the school, if you're available that is…"
"Oh, yeah, put me in, Coach," Maya grinned.
Talking with Miss Alcott had helped to resettle her nerves, whether or not she knew that she was doing it, and by the time the 2026 Fall Festival was officially kicked off and people started to disperse through the park and its many stands, and games, and other attractions, Maya was right where she wanted to be.
"Maya!" Nellie Hunter came dashing for her big sister, her twin right on her heels. By the looks of their cheeks, they had found the face painters before they'd found her. They both had a smiling pumpkin on one cheek and a pair of fall colored leaves on the other.
"Hey, look at you!" Maya matched her tone as she braced for the full force of the seven-year-old's hug. "Let me see," she prodded at the small chin until she'd turn her face up. "That is an excellent pumpkin," she declared. "I happen to know where you can paint real ones, want me to show you?" Nellie and Gracie both wanted it very much, so off they went.
Much as she loved hanging out with her family out here, Maya couldn't help but give the gold star as far as favorite moments for the first day of the festival over to the moment where Lindsay Alcott found herself surrounded with several of her former students all at once, nearly a decade after they'd left her class. They were all just as enthusiastic to see her as she was to see them.
"This all looks great," Lucas had declared when he'd first come around and found her. Maya could barely contain herself, with how she wanted to tell him about the call from Ree. She would tell him, just him, that night once they were back home, and only because there was no way he wouldn't pick up on there being something going on with her. But for now she had to keep it in, no matter how much it was killing her to be all calm around the guy who'd seen her at her most unhinged of giddy outbursts.
"I would actually be okay with the world looking like this all year round," Maya nodded, letting out a contented breath. Fall was in the air, and that meant so many good things for them. Halloween, and their anniversary, and the holidays after that… The Fall Festival really was like the kick off to all of that, wasn't it?
"So long as they kept the pies?" Lucas wondered.
"No pies, no joy," Maya smiled up at him. "And now I want pie."
"Lead the way."
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
