February 13th 2021
Chapter 44
Our Family With Distance
Maya had missed her window to call Abigail before she'd be gone to work, so she waited until she knew her stepmother would likely be on her lunch break before she could go ahead and call her. She wasn't going to reach out to anyone else until she'd spoken to her, and then to Luna, and gotten a response one way or the other. She didn't want to get ideas in the heads of the locals before she knew for sure, not if they'd end up being disappointed. Finally, the time came, and she put in the call. She was left thinking for a moment that Abigail wasn't available, and she'd have to try again later, but then her stepmother came on the line, sounding like she'd heard her phone ringing from some way away and had gone rushing to pick it up, left out of breath.
"Maya, hello!" Abigail answered.
"You okay?" Maya chuckled, and her stepmother responded in kind.
"Yes, yes, I was just down the hall talking to someone," she explained, taking a deep breath. "How are you doing? Everyone doing well out in Austin?" This would very much refer to everyone in Maya's circle, sure, but it would also refer back to Sam and Cara, and to Marianne, most explicitly.
"Everyone's doing great," Maya smiled, looking down to where she had her daughter sleeping over her. "One little someone is using me for a pillow right about now," she informed her stepmother, her voice promising plainly that Marianne Friar was welcome to this 'use' whenever she'd like.
"That's good," Abigail laughed. "So, what can I do for you?"
"Well, I was thinking it might be time for another sleepover with everyone, and I wanted to see about getting the kids up here for a weekend," Maya explained, all the while carrying on with her efforts to keep the baby asleep.
"Oh! Yeah, well, hold on, let me just take a look here, I…" Abigail replied, sounding like she might have been looking through something. "Alright, that's in two weeks, and… This weekend would work for us, but I don't know if that's too early, or if the others…"
"I'll look into it, don't worry," Maya smiled. They had something to work with, and that was already exciting.
"They'll be so happy to see you," Abigail went on. "They really wanted to be in Texas with the other kids last week, to watch the show 'all together.'"
"Yeah, I heard about that," Maya laughed now. The more time went on, it felt, the more all her siblings got to feel like a unit, regardless of the fact that she herself was the only one with a foot on both sides of the fence. They all saw themselves as a great big group of brothers and sisters, and Maya loved to see it.
As far as the awards, she had been treated to pictures, and videos, too, from the Hart-Lane viewing party. Eliza and Emma had seen to it that they'd record everyone's reactions when Maya and Ree's categories were being announced. They'd sent all this to her, and Maya had spent part of the ride out from Los Angeles, the one where she'd been in the back with the baby, watching these on her phone. Eliza and Emma, along with Wyatt and Luna's girls, Ginny and Sadie, were easily the most energetic, yes, but this in no way diminished the outbursts from the others. Abigail, James, and Luna could all be seen bolting from their seats with great cheers when Maya's name was called for Best Song especially. Then there was Maisie, coming on three years old, who didn't necessarily understand what was happening but took her cue from her siblings and hopped around with a screeching holler. The whole thing was chaos and Maya couldn't get enough of it.
"I can't wait to see them either…" she breathed, brushing at Marianne's hair.
"Are you sure everything's alright?" Abigail asked after a few seconds.
"I am, yes," Maya replied. "This last week has just been sort of strange, I guess."
"Good strange or bad?"
"A bit of both? I don't know, it's just… I've been doing music, and been sort of known for years now, and it's been fine. I had the band, and then I started writing songs for people. But now there's so much more of it, and if that's not enough…"
"You're a mom now," Abigail filled in, after Maya had paused.
"Yeah…" she looked to her baby girl, smiled to see how her little hand was resting at her shoulder, not unlike how her hand would do when she'd been this small and resting with her father. Kermit had gone so far as to get a tattoo right there, for her. "Kind of rattled me for a while, the idea that she could get caught up in the middle of all this."
"I can't say I've gone through anything like this, so I can only speak as a mother myself, but I get it, I do. And I know you, Maya. Whatever comes next, you'll find the way." That was generally what everyone would tell her, if she shared these concerns, and a great part of her would see this as their knowing her enough to trust in the outcome, and she'd be thankful. But then what if this was different? What if she went the wrong way?
After getting off the call with Abigail, Maya put in another to Luna, hoping to catch her on a break as well. Her aunt had been doing so much better in the last few years, in great part thanks to her having Abigail and the kids nearby, and then her mother, too, of course. Maya had worried just a bit that taking Elizabeth away from them would send Luna spiraling back down just a bit, but she seemed to be doing well, truly. It might have been that her mother moving out would be something she needed, allowing her to rely only on herself as she went on raising her girls. They weren't so little anymore, were they? Ginny would be fourteen soon, and Sadie had turned ten this past year. Oh, how Maya couldn't wait to see them again.
The feeling was mutual, by the way Luna responded to the invitation for their Sleepster. When Maya asked if she'd be able to send them in a few days, her aunt did her own schedule check. It would mean pushing back an appointment for Ginny at the orthodontist's, and Sadie would have to miss a soccer game, but the former would be more than happy not to have to go get her braces checked, while the latter would sacrifice one match in a heartbeat if it meant going to see her cousins in Texas. This was as good as they could hope for in the way of a starting signal for this sleepover. She could make the rest of the calls this afternoon.
"You know, I'll have the girls for a couple days, it might not be a bad time for you to… mingle… with certain co-workers… or one… certain… Oliver?" Maya intoned, imagining her smirk was near tangible for her aunt to hear.
"Very subtle," Luna replied, her own voice suggesting a small smile, maybe a flush in the cheeks.
"But not wrong, am I?" Maya slowly asked.
"You should count yourself lucky, you have never had to experience dating the way most of us have. Never mind the fact that I'm going out there with two grown girls as part of the deal…"
"Sadie told me all about how he went with you guys to get her new shoes for the team. Sounds to me like he gets along great with her, Ginny, too."
"He played professionally for a year, until he got injured. He found out Sadie played, and she needed new shoes. He was just being nice," Luna insisted.
"I might not have gone out with other guys before, but I know a guy with feelings when I see one. 'Just being nice' would get you information. The guy went with you, patiently explained everything, helped Sadie test it all out… The problem isn't that you're bringing the girls into the equation, it's that you're bringing yourself and you're scared… just a bit… which is completely normal and understandable. All that being said… I am handing you an opportunity here. You don't have to marry the guy, just… see if he'd like to go to dinner, maybe a movie, you know… The old standard."
"Say I did reach out…" Luna finally spoke after a few seconds of silent contemplation. Her voice came as tentative as her words.
"I won't tell a soul. It'll be between you, me, and this little pumpkin," Maya smiled, finding Marianne's eyes open and blinking. "Want to say hi to your auntie Luna?" she cooed, putting the phone on speaker.
"Hey, Marianne, hello…" Luna's voice sounded.
"She's looking for you, I think," Maya chuckled. "I'd say maybe you should just come down, too, but… you have things to do," she teased.
"Alright, alright, I get the message," Luna laughed, even as Marianne's face scrunched under imminent tears.
"Oh, hey, I gotta go, the dam's about to burst out here. Keep me posted!"
By the time Cara came home from school, she looked like a tornado ready to sweep past, as she still needed to get ready before the rest of the band arrived for practice. Maya left the baby with Elizabeth and hurried after her, finding her bedroom door was shut.
"Hey, can I come in?" she asked after knocking.
"One second!" Cara called out. When she opened the door again, she was still finishing up with the new shirt she'd slipped on, her favorite tour t-shirt, which she often wore on practice days, almost like a good luck charm. "Hey, what's up?" she asked, moving to her dresser as she pulled her hair in a high ponytail.
"Well, I talked to your mom earlier, and Luna, too…" Maya started, nodding along. Cara turned around at once, her hair spilling back down as she let go.
"Are we doing Sleepster?" she asked with growing excitement.
"This weekend," Maya laughed. Her younger sister looked ready to pounce on her for how happy she was at the prospect of them all coming out to visit.
"Okay, what's the plan? Are we doing anything special? How can I help?" she asked in quick fire.
"Sit down," Maya held out her hand for the elastic. Once her sister sat on her desk chair and turned, she went about making her ponytail for her. "Nothing's been decided yet. I'm still waiting to hear back from a couple people. But they'll be flying down on Friday evening, leaving Sunday afternoon. I'd ask if you have ideas, but I have a feeling you'll get them if you don't already have them."
"Is Maisie coming, too?" Cara asked, and Maya confirmed that she was. "So, we'll have her and Marianne to think about, too. She has to be a part of it," she stated very matter-of-factly.
"Yes, she does," Maya smiled. "Took the words right out of my mouth." As excited as she'd already been herself at the prospect of having them all converging on the house for the weekend, every step of the way as she planned for it all, she really felt that excitement growing. By Friday evening, she could just imagine, she would be spilling over with giddiness just as her younger sister was doing here. Every time they had one of these, it felt better and bigger than the last, and the memories stayed with them.
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
