July 12th 2021

Chapter 193
Our Goals For Connection

Maya was the first one back to the house out of all of them that night, so, high on the energy of the start of the new year, she jumped into dinner prep. She wasn't alone, of course, not with her audience of dogs. There they all were, all six of them looking like they were trying for a tactic of ultimate politeness, in the hopes that she'd meet this with generosity... and food. Some of them did better than others.

"Alright, guys and gals, everyone gets theirs, deal?" she addressed them, a much smaller class than her usual. They were all primed, staring at her (or maybe just her hand), tails wagging.

There were still six of them, when they should have been down to four by now. Ginger and Darby's people had run into some unexpected issues which prevented them from collecting the dogs from their temporary home. That was fine by Maya and Lucas both, although they did worry regarding Marianne in this. They had been doing their best to prepare her for the inevitable separation, trying to make some distinction between their four dogs and the two who were their welcome guests. Now the delay was putting more stake in the idea that they were just hers to love forever.

Back to work as she was, Maya didn't hear the door when Lucas returned with Marianne and Granny Lizzie, who he'd picked up on the way home. What alerted her to their return instead was the sudden migration of the pup pack. The only thing that would move them all from food was their favorite small human and more of their big humans. In no time, she could hear her daughter's laughter in the other room. It made her smile as she remained at the stove.

"Hey," Lucas came along to find her, slipping in behind her to kiss her cheek. "Have a good day at school?" he asked, making her chuckle. "Too dad-ish?"

"Seeing as I don't see the alternative being such a good idea, we'll say it was alright," she assured him as she motioned for him to take over with the spoon so she could go and say hello to Marianne and Elizabeth.

She'd known as soon as Lucas had written to her that morning to tell her that his mother couldn't take Marianne that he would follow this up with a decision to bring her to the ranch. It was his day there, and he'd find no complaint whatsoever from the people out at Sullivan Stables about bringing her along.

Equally unsurprising, once she knew they'd be out there, were the videos courtesy of Donna Devereaux. Even before Marianne was born, the dance instructor and event coordinator had been saying she would teach the little Friar some moves. Before she could walk, she would sit with Marianne, move her arms, and her legs, until the baby would imitate her. And when she did start walking, oh, it was like Donna's best day. For months now, whenever Marianne was brought to Sullivan Stables for any amount of time, she'd be sure to make a stop over at the studio. The videos today were by no means the first they got, and they were all of them very sweet and kind of hilarious, seeing the tiny girl and the old woman together.

By now, Marianne was actually improving. Oh, she was still not quite two yet, but that didn't stop her from making the most of the mobility she had in her growing limbs. Right now, she particularly liked to spin and twirl around, and she was handling herself very well for her age.

It was just as well that they made enough food for what would have been leftovers, as Cara came home not only with Mateo but with her friends, Raina and Lainey, too. The trio was set to work on a project together, which somehow required the future vet's involvement. This made it so that the meal's conversation was largely taken up with their talking about what they would be doing that evening. After they were done eating, Cara and her lot headed upstairs to her room, while Granny Lizzie took Marianne up for her bath. This left Lucas and Maya to gladly handle the dishes and the rest of the kitchen cleanup.

Lucas told Maya about the competition, all the preparation they would be doing in the months to come. It was to be expected that, if there was ever anything she could do to help on that front she would do it. He also showed her pictures he'd taken of the albums Carson had pulled for him. They had both seen so much of the material when they had helped put together the archive, but there were still some things they had not seen, almost on purpose, to leave themselves new discoveries to make. The twelve-year-old Melinda Sullivan was new to Maya, and she reveled in seeing her mother-in-law as a girl, just her sisters' age.

"You look so much like your father's side of the family, but then I look at her here and I see so much of you, too," she smiled. He hadn't been that much older when they'd met. That fourteen-year-old face of his was so deeply printed into her memory.

"Juliet thinks Nellie might be in good standing for her age group if she enters," Lucas told her as she stood looking at the pictures on his phone. This got her attention.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," he smiled. "Or should I say Penelope now? She keeps contradicting herself on that."

"Oh, I know, and she gets upset if we get it wrong, even though she changes her mind every day or two. I think if Mom and Dad weren't just so glad to be home with her and the others again, they would have lost their patience a while ago," Maya suggested as she tried not to laugh. "Anyway, at least she shouldn't be conflicted by the competition. She's going to jump at the chance."

Nellie had already done some competitions locally, and she had earned Juliet's praise and predictions at every turn. Whether she would be Nellie or Penelope Hunter by spring would be determined in time.

"How about school today?" Lucas asked. The look he got back in response already promised a mix of stories. "That much, huh?" he wondered with interest.

"Oh, well, right at the top, I had a couple of visitors drop by to say hello before the day started.

"Your parents?" Lucas guessed.

"No, though I wouldn't have put it past them," Maya laughed. "No, just a couple of recent graduates." He smiled as he understood. Stella and Phoebe.

Maya went on to recount her reunions with her new seniors, juniors, and sophomores, either in class or out of it. She told him about Rochelle and Lea and their anticipation for a freshman, and the new installment for the Fall Festival by the following year's seniors. She told him about her new sophomore, Summer, and how Taylor had reacted to her arrival.

"Don't tell Dylan, please? Unless he spots it himself, it's probably better that we just leave Taylor be."

"Am I hearing this right? You? Staying out of people's love lives?" Lucas gave a slightly exaggerated expression of shock. Maya responded by sprinkling water from her fingers at his face. He jumped, and she smiled.

"Anyway, I'd have my pick if I wanted to go meddling in teenage romance."

"Is that right?" Lucas asked, showing curiosity like they were a couple of gossiping old friends. "Who?"

"Henry," Maya whispered accordingly. Lucas smirked. He'd been thinking about his cousin's first day, couldn't help it, but this was the last thing he would have expected to hear about.

"And...?"

"Stevie Brett," Maya revealed. "He almost face planted into a stool when she came in, and that was before he found out that she was into Star Wars. Now if he can just manage to speak to her, they might be in business."

"That's a very big 'if' right there," Lucas winced sympathetically.

"Yeah..." Maya sighed. She told him about Henry's assessment that he was a loser. He'd try so hard to make it sound as though it wasn't a big deal, to convince them but maybe to remind himself, too, as far as he was concerned.

Lucas wished he could do more for his cousin than he already was. He couldn't be out there at the school with him, but then Maya would be, so that was a reassurance.

"What about Stevie? How's she doing?" he asked.

"Oh, a big TK syndrome," Maya smiled. Teacher's kid... "She'll be alright, just needs to get past the novelty." She was silent for a few seconds after this. Lucas nudged her.

"What are you thinking?" he challenged. Maya pressed her lips together, scrubbed at a plate. "Maya..."

"What, what?" she looked at him, the picture of innocence. He wasn't buying it. "Okay, look, just because I remembered that Henry's got some light sabers and Stevie is a gymnast and maybe they would be great at doing battle choreography together does not mean I'm meddling. I'm observant."

"Yes, you are," Lucas grinned and nudged her shoulder so she'd look at him and he could kiss her.

Maya went on to tell Lucas about some of the stories she'd gotten from her other freshmen. Some of them had spoken for a couple minutes, until she already felt like she knew them a great deal and looked forward to knowing them some more. This inevitably brought them around to the one she knew the least about. Cade Foster, age sixteen.

"What's your gut saying?" Lucas asked.

"I..." Maya sighed. "I really don't know. He's hard to read right now, but that's how he wants it. He's so closed in, and maybe that's just because it was the first day, at a new school, and in a few days, he'll start opening up even just a crack, enough to see through, but until then there isn't much that I can do but wait. Maybe I can nudge a bit, encourage that crack, but I won't force it."

"Mammy, want my book." Marianne stood on the other side of the gate at the top of the stairs in her PJs as Maya and Lucas were making their way up after finishing the kitchen.

"You want your big book?" Maya smiled. Marianne nodded. "Pumpkin, it's bed time now, remember? Story time."

"My book!" she dashed off toward their room. They followed her to find her trying to pull it from the nightstand. Lucas came around and helped so that it wouldn't fall on her face. Once she had hold of it, she stared at the golden letters on the spine with satisfaction for a few moments before looking around the room. "Where that?" she pointed to where the box had been in the morning.

"The boxes are at school," Maya told her. Caught with a new quandary, Marianne finally walked over to the wheeled cart and set her sketchbook on the bottom shelf.

"Mine," she pointed, and then she walked out of her parents' room and into the nursery. "Daddy, 'tory!" she called out.

"I love that kid so much," Maya whispered as she and Lucas laughed.

The first day back always felt like the peak before the drop. From here on out, they'd be left feeling as though days and weeks and months were on an ever traveling momentum. And all they'd be able to do through it all would be to take in and experience the most that they could experience in the process. Before long Lucas would be knee deep in juggling his residency and the competition, while Maya would have the Fall Festival, and the quiz team, and the new musical, and any number of other projects catching her attention along the way. And they'd have that funny little girl across the hall, with a new birthday just around the corner...

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners