October 20th 2022

Chapter 293
Our Peace in Teamwork

Maya waited on the bench outside the high school, taking in the fall weather as she waited for her mother-in-law to bring along her youngest daughters. It wasn't as though she had been counting down minutes and seconds on her first day back to work, just waiting for that bit of time she'd get to hang out with them, just as she did on most workdays, but the closer they had gotten to it, especially thinking of Mackenzie and the previous night… Now as she waited, she was hit with a new thought that really felt like some rude gut punch at this point. She thought of the time, three years onward, when Aubrey would enter preschool. That would be the end of grandparent daycare and of these afternoon visits with her girls. They'd all be in school and… well, that'd be good, obviously, but would it be so bad if a part of her would miss it all? She was starting to see herself, gathered with several teenaged girls someday. Would they find her to be too much? Roll their eyes at how borderline clingy she could get? I'm being ridiculous again, I…

"Hey, Mrs. Friar!"

That call, in that voice and tone… It was like being yanked back in time just a few years, and she sat up at once, looked over, and she nearly cried as she smiled and got up. Here was Phoebe Munroe, walking in her direction and guiding a stroller as she went. Maya's heart was doing tumbles. In all that had been going on, with both families, it was the first time she would find herself in the presence of Myles Julius Russell in the month since his birth.

The very first of what she had been jokingly/lovingly calling her grandstudents had started out his life for the most part with only his immediate family getting to see him. It was all out of respect from everyone else as they knew that, within those few short weeks, his father would be expected to fly off and be gone a long while. Before any of that was going to happen, Khalil would get to spend as much time with his son as he was able to get, and the same with his wife, and his sister. From what Maya had heard, in getting to talk with Stella, he had finally gone just last week, and as strong as she'd tried to be about it, for his sake and for their son's, Phoebe had struggled in finding her footing with the baby, without Khalil there. But now here she was, come to say hello to her former teacher, and Maya couldn't have been happier to see her.

"I know this little face… I know this face…" Maya crooned, getting a look of the sleeping babe before turning to embrace his mother. "It's so good to see you, both of you," she told Phoebe, feeling already in the strength of her hold that she thought the same thing.

"Desi told me how you were starting again today, and I knew you'd be out here right now," Phoebe explained. She had come to visit her, many times, throughout her pregnancy, and as delightful as it could be to watch her grow from week to week, Maya knew that the more important part in this had simply been that, to this day, Phoebe felt a particular kind of safety around her former art teacher, a space where she could be as honest and open as she ever needed to be. Her approach to motherhood had been one that was equal parts anticipation and apprehension, thinking of the time when Khalil wouldn't be there, when another duty and obligation called him away. It might be easier for Myles not to be too affected now, but she didn't have that benefit, and neither did Khalil.

Soon, Maya found herself sitting on her favorite bench, holding her former students' baby boy cradled in her arms, and as good as the day had been so far, it only felt better for his warm little presence. He woke up not long after she took him, and those eyes… They were Khalil's eyes, plain to see. In the pictures she'd already seen, she had watched the boy go from newborn to this, watched his features start to define…

"You know, the last couple of days before he was born, I could barely get up," Phoebe shared. Maya looked at her, momentarily concerned, but she was soon reassured. "Taylor got it in my head that I'd been getting clumsy again, same as I used to be, and he didn't want me to 'crush his nephew,'" she air quoted, much to Maya's amusement. "Next thing I knew, Khalil and Desi were thinking it, too, so whenever I wanted something, they'd be faster than me and they'd go get it for me. It was nice at first, but by the end I couldn't take it anymore," she lightly laughed.

"Believe me, even us less accident-prone mothers got some of that overly precautious… Hey!" Maya brightened all over again when she spotted another woman and another stroller coming their way. Here was Melinda, with Mackenzie and Aubrey. With her own boy already seen to, Phoebe was soon up and ready to greet the little Friars and their grandmother. In no time, she was sitting next to Maya, holding Aubrey, while Melinda showed herself as quick and strong as ever at the age of sixty-one as she chased around her tiny Macaroon.

While she herself had never been part of the team, only adjacent to them – though she had played a hand by coming up with their name – Phoebe quickly became a very willing and welcoming ear on the matter of the new freshman's selection. It had been on Maya's mind all day, none more than when she'd sat in class with her own lot of them before coming outside. She had been so ready to set aside the selection from her own students, and there were a couple of interesting prospects from those who didn't take art, but then she couldn't stop thinking about Lydia since their last conversation. She'd set Lucas' cousin as an alternate, a contingency alongside Lamar Whitley in the event that she didn't find what she was looking for elsewhere, but suddenly the old gut feeling had kicked in. Now, it was coming down to 'Lydia or a no-art candidate.' Gut feeling or none, she continued to wonder…

"Maybe I should take someone from outside my class. I've only had one of those over the years… She ended up starting to take art the next year despite all that, so not entirely clear whether it still counts, but… Shouldn't I give them a chance, too? It doesn't feel fair otherwise."

"Couldn't you just… make the team bigger? Or make a second team… One that's art students and one that's not," Phoebe suggested with a shrug. Maya considered it, momentarily, but it didn't feel like a eureka moment so much as a 'have your cake and eat it, too' situation.

"I might consider the bigger team option, but if I do, it won't be this year, with me coming in when I did," she told Phoebe, who nodded in understanding. "And until then, I'm still stuck."

"Well…" Phoebe tried again, thinking for a moment. "Maybe for this time, it's like you just said. You came back late, they need a teammate, so… just follow your gut?"

Maya smiled. She supposed that it would be the easiest answer. If she did go with Lydia this year but explored the option of growing the team next year, then her would-be candidates would still have a shot to join, just… next year. And in the meantime, she would have plenty of time to scout for potential new members in the sophomore and junior classes as well, themselves juniors and seniors next year. Then it would only be a matter of looking into the new freshmen again.

"I'm really glad you came here today," Maya told her. "And not just because it means that I got to hold this little peanut," she added, turning her eyes back to Myles Russell and his already notable head of curling hair.

"I'd be happy to keep coming by, I mean, if that's alright," Phoebe told her, with her own gaze locked on Aubrey Friar, just over four months old and looking up at her with wondering blue eyes. She didn't say it with words, but she didn't have to. Maya understood that she needed the companionship herself, as she continued to adjust to raising her son alone while Khalil was away.

"I would love that," Maya smiled at her. "And hey, one day we can look back and tell these two that they became pals right here," she went on, nodding between the two babies, and Phoebe's smile said she'd love that very much, too.

Phoebe and the baby left not too long before the others would have to as well, as Maya would need to go back inside and prepare for final period with the juniors. Before she could go, she would need to be parted from the little possum clinging to her front. The moment Mackenzie had had enough of playing with her grandmother and settled instead in her mother's arms, it had felt very clear that she had no intention of moving until she was physically removed. Maya wasn't going to do that, not until she had to. Until then, she was very happy to keep holding her, rubbing at her back, or brushing at her hair… If she kept this up, the toddler would be asleep for her ride back with Granny Mel. Would that make her loosen her grip on her mother? Oh, not even. If anything, she'd hold tighter. She would not soon be fooled.

"You know, I can see what you're doing," Maya whispered at her. Mackenzie didn't look up, only kept prodding at the guitar pic around her neck and doing just what she'd seen her big sisters do, pressing her little finger against the engraved print. This one was Maya's own baby print, so they just about fit, which made her smile and bow her head to kiss her sweet little captor. She had missed her today. It had been a while since they had been apart for this long at a time. She was used to it with her father, had been and had had to be, but not so with Mama. How was she supposed not to get emotional over her daughter's overt affections? "I'll be back home before you know it, you'll see. And then we can have lots more of this."

She ended up walking back to Melinda's car with Mackenzie still in her arms the whole way instead of putting her back in the stroller and waving goodbye before returning to school like she'd previously done. She was not asleep after all, and she was making noises of small distress all the while. Finally, she was buckled into her seat, where she received many, many kisses from her mother to load her up for the next couple of hours until they were reunited. She didn't cry, but oh, she kept her eyes on her mother for as long as she could, and even after she couldn't, she tried to find her before, as Melinda would later tell her, she was distracted by the music on the radio.

As she'd watched them drive off, Maya could have used a bit of musical distraction. She wasn't under the impression that she was a bad mother for being here, at work, instead of with them, but it could still feel like a gut punch to be reminded how much she missed her daughters when they weren't around her. She was just going to have to take her own advice and remember that, before very long, she would be with them again. One more period to go, and they were gold stars…

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners