October 14th 2022

Chapter 179
This One Year

It had been a bargain… if they could call it that. There had been no reason to assume that this would work, but there was absolutely reason to assume that if this didn't work, nothing would, and for all they knew it would mean the end of everything as far as Lucas' first and as yet only gig as a riding instructor at Sullivan Stables. But the gamble had been worth it, and this they wholeheartedly believed. They were going to fight for Ava's summer.

The idea had been there, brought spontaneously to exist thanks to something Maya had said but it wasn't brought immediately to the Nash family, it couldn't be. First, Lucas had needed to really get his series figured out so he could first off advance the idea to the station. If they were on board, they would want to know more, and from there… From there, he would go and face what may well be his greatest adversary in all this. Lucas could have been scared about the entire process, but he really wasn't. Once the idea had come into his mind, it was like everything else fell away. It was so right that it couldn't go wrong. Suddenly, he knew exactly what those five segments would be, and he built his proposal in one sitting. When he showed it to Maya, he only had to look at her face to know that they were on the same page with this. She finished reading and she looked at him… Go get her.

The station loved it as soon as he explained what he had in mind, not just for this week but for any other days where he might be called on in the next few months. What better way to appeal to the kids than to have one there with him for his summer pieces, too? Did he have someone in mind?

Next came the hard part. He wasn't going to lie to Ava's parents, no. He would never. But… But he could be cautious in his vocabulary, allow them to assume, for one thing, that the station was already aware of Ava and they were very interested in having her on the air. Lucas wasn't sure that they would go for it for a minute or two, especially as Mrs. Nash brought up the Maine camp, which she suggested that 'Ava is so looking forward to attend.' Lucas wasn't about to let his face betray the fact that he knew this was a bold lie, and instead he carried on. At last, they relented… or Mr. Nash appealed to his wife and she finally caved, on the condition that Ava wanted to do the segments instead of going to Maine. Whatever Mrs. Nash thought her daughter would say, the moment they asked her if she wanted to, Ava gave an immediate and hearty yes. She was staying for the summer.

The choice didn't come a moment too soon. The long break between one school year and the next was all but days away before they knew it, and for Maya that realization seemed to hit all at once. It wasn't as though she'd been thinking that they still had weeks and months to go, she knew that the year was nearly over, but for some reason there was one morning, as she stood in her classroom and prepared for her MOMAs to roll in… All at once, she realized that with this year coming to an end, that would mean that she would soon have been teaching for a whole year already.

It still felt like it was yesterday that she was freaking out at the thought that she'd never become a teacher like she'd wanted to be. But then she'd pushed through, she'd found a way. She'd gotten her degree, and then the baking club had happened, and then… How had it been a year already since Sue Cartwright's infamous ousting? Her classroom now had zero trace that she'd ever been there at all, as though it had reclaimed and rebuilt its soul after the former teacher had gone away. Now, it felt bright, and welcoming… Oh, Maya loved being here every day, about as much as she loved how she felt that her students loved being here, too.

Next year was going to be vastly altered from whatever it might have been, what with the twins' coming, but that was just how it was going to be, and Maya knew they would find a way and make it all work. Her first goal was to at least be in school through Halloween. After that, the furthest she could get into November before bowing out, that would become the goal.

It seemed as though the realization struck others, too, as far as her being gone for a good chunk if not the better part of the next school years. The first of those was Eliza, who showed up with that look in her eyes, like 'oh no…' She came over, and Maya didn't even debate the propriety of hugging a student in class, not with her little sister. She closed her arms around Eliza and held her while she did the same, feeling suddenly like her small self all over again.

"Couldn't you just bring the babies with you? I don't think anyone would mind," she mumbled into her sister's shoulder. "Everyone loves babies."

"You know that, even if I'm not in this room every day of the week, I'm still your big sister, right?" Maya chuckled.

"I know, but you're only my teacher for a little while and then it'll be over, and now you're going to miss almost half of it. And what about the baking club?"

"Charlie will take care of the baking club, you know that. Look, I promise I'll do everything I can so that, even if I'm not here, I'll still be… sort of here. I don't know how it's going to work yet because it's still very far away. Alright?"

It was so easy for Eliza to turn those big, pleading blues at her, and Maya wasn't immune to them, but she could also mostly chuckle about it. Her promise stood, and that was all that should matter: she'd figure it out.

"You know my dad's a substitute teacher, right?" Roman Day asked her when he walked into Polychromatics at the end of the day.

"Yes, I've met him, remember?" Maya smiled.

Even after having done it twice already, parent night still felt like such a weird experience to her, but she'd gotten through it each time. Of the many parents she'd met, she'd had Roman's father sitting across from her twice, and it had been sort of inevitable for the fact that he was a teacher, too, to come out. Maya had very much enjoyed her conversations with Barton Day, enough that by that spring session they'd veered completely off topic after a while and had to remember that he had other teachers to see, and she had many more parents to meet.

"Why do you ask?"

"I don't know, I just figured next year you won't be here after you have your babies," Roman pointed at her.

"And you want your dad to come in here?" Maya guessed. Roman made a face. "You don't?" she chuckled. "Too awkward to have your dad as your teacher?"

"It's not that bad. It's happened before, just for a day, or a week…"

"But not for months on end," Maya guessed. "Well, it doesn't mean that he'll be the one to…"

"I think he is though," Roman told her, and she looked up. Oh? "Heard him on the phone yesterday, and he was talking like it was going to be a long assignment. He didn't say anything to me, but I looked at the caller ID after, and it was the school's number."

As surprised as she was to hear it, Maya was actually really glad. It made the prospect of being gone from here for so long feel a lot less stressful already, and as the days just went by, one by one, it also meant one less thing to worry over as summer officially began.

Of the many things that the season and the school break brought, one of them was the opportunity for Maya to spend a lot more time working out at the bakery. Friar & Olsen's had now been in business for nearly half of a year, and it was doing better than they could have anticipated, so much so that they'd had to hire a couple more people. A lot of this Maya wouldn't even take credit for, not when Charlie had been the one who'd gotten to be so much more hands on with the bakery since it had opened. Between her and David, they had really gone out of their way to make sure that the big start they'd made with the midnight opening would not fizzle out. It wasn't just about making big splashes, though those were great, of course. What they wanted was to build up something that would carry on for the day to day, the weeks, months, years… And they were getting that, too, as much on their own as through their association with Nando Garcia, their benevolent and enthusiastic neighbor.

All the while, there had been just one aim for the niece and aunt, and it was that, whatever they'd do, whatever they'd put out in those displays, whatever they presented to their clients, it would be a representation of who they were, as people, as bakers… They were doing that now, and people were noticing. The biggest mark of who they were, without a doubt, was the selection of baked treats they'd created, inspired by their children. They always sold out by somewhere between late morning and early afternoon, at which point making special orders ahead of time was maybe your best bet.

That was what Maya did on her first full day, filling special orders, and it was just what she needed. Right now, it was Tadpole Surprises, and she still smiled every time someone saw them for the first time and – mostly kids – asked 'what's the surprise?' She wasn't going to tell them, was she? They'd try it, because they'd be curious, and it looked good… And then they'd eat it, and if this happened right there in the bakery, she could sometimes see for herself how they reacted… It was an excellent surprise.

"Hey, Maya, you've got someone here to see you, can I let her through?" Charlie poked her head through the swinging door between the front and the kitchen.

"Sure," Maya told her. "The surprise is hidden by now," she smirked. After carrying the tray over to the oven and setting the timer, she turned to find… "Abigail!" she beamed at the sight of her stepmother, who in turn came sweeping over to hug her before pulling back to get a look at her growing belly with that happy grandmother glimmer in her eyes.

The timer on a batch of Hon' Buns pulled her away from the greeting, but as she brought the tray out, Abigail decided to get right on with the reason for her visit. Part of it would involve the bakery, yes, but first she needed get a few things out there.

"I have a… situation, and I needed to talk it over with someone," Abigail started. Maya looked at her, immediately intrigued. A situation?

"Of course," she told her stepmother. "Is it alright if I keep…" she gestured around the kitchen. Abigail insisted that she go ahead, so she did, though she paused again as soon as her visitor started with…

"I've been seeing Stephen again…"

It felt impossible to think it had been over three years now since Maya had played witness – and very minor enabler – to the plot between a few of her young bakers (namely her own sisters, Cara and Eliza, and Daphne Brett) to bring their widowed parents together. All she'd done, when a meeting had been orchestrated, was to point out the fact that the girls had all lost one of their parents and had benefited from getting to talk to others in their position. From there, a friendship had been formed between Abigail and Daphne's father, who taught science at Maya's old high school. That friendship had eventually grown into the pair quietly testing the waters, seeing if a relationship might be something they'd want before ever bringing any of their children into this. That meeting of the Harts and Bretts had been a bit rocky at first, for Sam, and Wyatt on one side, and then with Daphne's younger sister, Stevie. But in the end, even they had gotten on board, and it had looked for a while like the two families would make one whole.

They had dated like this for nearly a year, and it had felt as though any moment now, the next time they'd hear from them, it would be revealed that they planned to move in together, or even get engaged… Instead, it had all come to a grinding halt. Neither Abigail nor Stephen had ever said exactly what had led to the break-up, only that they'd decided it would be better off if they stayed friends and nothing more. Plenty of theories had floated about, generally coming down to there being some part of one or the other or both who had gotten cold feet, thinking of the one they'd lost. Whatever it was, the break had been an amicable one. The families still hung out together, though not nearly as much as they used to. The kids were all still friends, maybe more now that there was no 'pressure' about this thought of their becoming stepbrothers and sisters. To Maya's awareness, neither Abigail nor Stephen had been in any serious relationship since then, or any relationships at all. They'd just carried on, raised their kids…

But now this… Maya couldn't say that she'd picked up on anything from her stepmother in what she now learned was nearly half a year since the former couple had started talking more and seeing one another in secret. Sure, she'd been busy with everything from school to the bakery, to Lucas and the boys, and now the twins inbound… but it still left her totally blindsided to think she hadn't realized something was up.

"So, now you want to tell the others?" she guessed.

"Well, yes…" Abigail started slowly. "But that's not all of it, it's… Stephen's asked me to marry him."

Maya nearly dropped a whole load of chocolate chips into her mixer out of surprise. Abigail was startled and tried to catch the bag, but thankfully the chips were saved. Maya set the bag down, wiped her hands on her apron, and moved around the work counter to stand before her stepmother.

"What did you say?" she asked, trying not to be too preemptive in her reaction.

"I told him I needed to think about it," Abigail revealed, and Maya nodded. Good, yes. She had to keep working, but first she went and pulled a stool over to the counter, collected one of the previously made Sprout Specials, depositing the green topped cookie on a napkin in front of her stepmother. They were her favorites. Now she could get back to work.

"So…" she spoke, a delicate nudge of a word. Abigail sat quietly for a moment, breaking the cookie in half, as she always started.

"It's not that I don't want to be with him, I… We left each other back then, and it was the right call at the time. We didn't see it at first, but then we did, and now…"

"You're afraid you'll realize the same thing now," Maya guessed. Abigail let out a sigh. "But you've been seeing each other…" she nudged again.

"We actually started that right here," Abigail revealed with a chuckle. "I came down one afternoon, not long after the bakery first opened, and he was there, too. We saw each other the night of the opening, both of us were here for our girls, but we didn't say much to each other at the time except Happy New Year. Then when we ran into each other days later, on our own… We sat, out there, at the table by the window… We must have talked for… Oh, almost two hours," she recalled, and the smile on her face was all-encompassing, undeniable. "He said he wished we could do it again, and I said I'd like that, too, and from there… We didn't plan on going behind everyone's backs, but with how things went last time, it was even more important that we be careful."

"I understand," Maya promised. "You know, now that I know about what's been going on with you two, it makes sense. I did feel as though you were in a good mood, a lot of the time. And I'm standing here right now, looking at you, and I can see it again. Maybe it wasn't the right time back then, but that doesn't mean it's going to be like that again. I think… now might be the time. It's all up to you, of course."

"When we broke up, I told myself that I just wasn't ready. Yes, it had been over a year since Kermit by the time Stephen and I started seeing each other, closer to two when we split, but maybe this was a sign that I just needed to put that side of my life behind me, focus on the kids. And then when we started seeing each other again, it reminded me of the time when we were together before, the two of us, your brothers and sisters, Stephen's girls…" Her hand was at her heart, her face a mix of sadness and love… She missed them. Daphne, Stevie… She still saw them, but it wasn't the same. Back then, she'd been getting to look to them like two more daughters, and even if it was a slightly different scenario, Maya knew more than anyone how unwavering this woman's love could be for her children, whether she'd carried them herself or if they just sort of… came with the men she loved.

Following a new hunch, Maya moved to pull something from the refrigerator. She brought the box and set it before Abigail. She opened it to show what was inside, letting her know that Daphne had made them the day before. When Abigail looked, the reaction was instantaneous. She gasped, beaming with new pride.

"She pulled it off… Oh, I knew she could, I told her if she just…" She paused, breathed, laughed. "I see what you did there," she nodded. "Well played." Maya grinned.

"Go talk to him, Mom." Go get your girls…

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners