October 3rd 2022

Chapter 276
Our Flight Through Campfires

Before they'd left for their vacation, it had been settled that no one from the ranch would reach out to Lucas and tell him about anything that was happening out there unless it was a really important thing that they needed to tell him about before he got back. Luckily, nothing happened that demanded for them to reach out, so when he did return, he had nearly a month of everything to get caught up on, from the day to day, the horses, the dogs, the series, all of that, to how things were going with the summer campers, any updates with the new XCs – where he'd learned about his uncles getting to host both of those this year – and registration for the fourth year of the after school program.

He was very glad to be back at work, just as he'd been very glad to be on vacation with his family. There was no side better or worse than the other for him, and he recognized how fortunate he was for that. He had returned to both people and animals who were ecstatic to see him, and the feeling was a mutual one, to be sure. The horses were their own thing, and the day he'd returned had been spent almost exclusively with them, for how long it had taken him to both see to and eventually leave each one of them. Some of them were giving him big puppy vibes with how excited they were, while others seemed to be going by the attitude that Lucas had abandoned them, and they needed to be sweet talked back into liking him. None of them was very hard to convince in the end.

The series was filming now for its fourth season, and Lucas still couldn't put into words how proud he was of being involved in its creation sometimes. It had been born of the stories he had collected, of this place that meant so much to him, to his family, and to his city. It wasn't as though they were reproducing what was in his book word for word. In general, they took inspiration from it, in a way that was as respectful as it was true to the spirit of Sullivan Stables. Now and then though they would include storylines that were more directly connected to the stories, and these had always been the most fascinating to Lucas.

As of yet, they had not gone anywhere near the story of Simon Sullivan and the fire in the stable, which was in the book, and this he was sure was due to Katy's wanting to respect him and his family, not using this personal tragedy for drama's sake. Lucas didn't think his mother and uncle would have terribly minded it, and maybe someday it would come up, but for now they did not lack in storylines to explore, and so they continued to thrive.

The after school program was going stronger than ever, according to how registration was going so far. Already, they were looking at a significantly larger number of kids attending, and it was to the point where they'd had to explore their maximum capacity and whether it could be extended. Lucas was looking forward to a second year with Marianne in blue group, even as it meant that his baby girl would be turning seven before he knew it. Each new year continued to feel massive, and this one… She would be going into the first grade already, and three of her little sisters were going into pre-school, how was all that possible?

Right now, he needed to keep focused on the ranch of today, not that fall. Their XCs were on their way, earlier than usual. When he'd reached out to both families after coming back from vacation, he had spoken to them all about what they did throughout the year, and what was going on right now. He'd mentioned the summer camp, how it had been going for a few years now, ending in the traditional camping trip. In both cases, he had learned that their incoming XCs actually loved to camp, and he'd been asked if it would be possible for them to come along in time to be a part of that trip. Michael and Keith were both ready and willing to receive their lodgers ahead of the arranged date, so it was settled, and now Matt and Lupe were about to arrive. The senior girl would have had a relatively short trip to make with her horse Cece, from Santa Fe to Austin, but then seeing as her freshman counterpart from New York came by plane, he still got there ahead of her.

Maya and the girls were present for this greeting, too, as were Michael and Keith, with Lara, Lydia, and Leyton. Maya was particularly eager to meet the boy, knowing that he was supposedly from her old neighborhood. She would soon be stunned to discover that it was far more than that. In little to no time, talking to him and his parents, she learned that Matt Cullen was born and raised in the building right next door to where one Maya Hart had done the same for the first thirteen and a half years of her life, give or take. He'd gone to the same schools she'd gone to, and some of the people she remembered from back in the day were still in the area and familiar to the Cullens. It was an unexpected connection, but also one that seemed to appease the couple at the idea of leaving their fourteen-year-old son for the better part of the year. He was not much of a talker, at least for what they saw of him that day, but he looked happy to be there, so that was what mattered.

Lupe and her family arrived nearly two hours later. Remy was the one to spot the trailer coming and she pointed and jumped around and shouted, soon drawing her twin and triplet into the noise. The Friar girls all had that general attitude when there was the promise of a new horse. Every single one of them here, from Marianne on down to Mackenzie, and they were sure if Aubrey were a little older, she'd be just as thrilled as they were.

As funny as this all was, the excitement might have come second to the reaction of pure, uncensored awe that came over poor, fourteen-year-old Matt, when he was first blessed with the vision of seventeen-year-old Lupe Acevedo. They all got to see her step out of her father's truck, her long, dark hair sweeping at her back, a sense of strength about her that mingled perfectly with pronounced femininity, but the way his eyes widened, and his jaw dropped, they had to wonder if she wasn't moving in slow motion, the way he saw her, maybe with the swell of music, too. And then they could just see the thoughts follow, as he'd have to remember they'd be staying in the same house – which could have been fortunate if it wasn't also so potentially disastrous – and also that she was three years older than him, which mostly registered as 'you have no chance, Cullen.' It might have been the best and worst day of his adolescent life.

As for Lupe herself, if they were intrigued this year again why a senior would choose to come out here instead of graduate with their class, the answer was simple, if kind of harrowing. She'd been aware of the XC program for a while, naturally, as she would come around for competitions at least twice a year. She'd missed the most recent one, and they'd never known why, but they found out now: there had been a fire at her school, large enough that the building was shut down. It would be rebuilt in time, but until then, she'd spent the tail end of her junior year shuffled off to a different school. She had no attachment to it, and that had been the ideal reason for her to finally do the thing she'd wanted to do. She would be an exchange camper at Sullivan Stables. She'd planned to scale back her competing to focus on her studies in her senior year, to get into the college she wanted, so as a bonus she didn't have to worry about missing class, traveling out here… She'd already be local.

The Cullens and Acevedos got to talk to Michael and Keith, who would be hosting their children for the year. They had already done so ahead of their arrival, over the phone, so it was nice to put faces to names and voices. They would follow the two men in bringing most of their son and daughter's belongings to the house; the rest of those belongings had been set aside for the camping trip. They were heading out that afternoon, and the rest of the campers were already packed and ready to head out to the camp site as soon as they got the call that it was time to go.

"Hey, Blue guy!" a voice called out, and Lucas stopped and turned, already chuckling. At this point, he'd given up trying to remind the twelve-year-old that he had an actual name, though he did wonder what would happen next year, when he in all likelihood would follow Marianne into red group. Would he become 'Red guy' then or would he remain forevermore Blue?

As he'd promised the boy months ago, when he'd been about to age out of yellow group and the whole after school program, he'd discussed things with his mother and eventually found a way to hire him on. He didn't have one particular task, usually would go where he was needed, but he'd been here, every weekday from morning to before dinner time, and once school started up, they knew he'd be making his way over as soon as classes let out. He was helpful to the point that they wouldn't have known how to reasonably turn him away if they wanted to, which they didn't. He was one of them now, and today, he was coming along with them on the camping trip, where he still saw the need to make himself helpful. This translated into getting all the campers' things loaded up to head to the site, and so when he spotted the XCs, he came out to get their camping gear.

Lucas waved at Rafa as he went and got Matt and Lupe's things. There, he ran into Michael Sullivan – almost literally – and they had a brief exchange, the boy apologizing and running a nervous hand over his fringe. He was in such a hurry to do his task that he was already sprinting off with the bags when a look of surprise came on to Michael's face. Lucas saw this and moved to intercept his uncle, see if everything was alright. Keith had seen this, too, and was asking his husband what it was about when their nephew came along.

"He…" Michael started, his hand pressing over his mouth for a moment, letting him collect his thoughts. "One of your campers?" he asked Lucas.

"Not exactly. He was part of our afterschool program, but he was twelve this year, so he's aged out. He didn't want to leave, asked for a job, so we gave him one. Why?"

Michael seemed to be telling himself that he was imagining it, but even as he shook his head to himself, he was reaching into his pocket, pulling out his wallet and from there a small photo. It wasn't even that he didn't know what it looked like, as though he hadn't had years to keep thinking about it, about him and what could have been. But he needed to see it with his own eyes now, if only show that he wasn't pulling this out of nowhere. He showed the photo to Lucas. He'd seen it before, seen the baby boy in the photo and even held him in his arms. Levi… For eight days, this baby boy had been Levi Sullivan-Reyes, before his birth mother had changed her mind and taken him back. Eight days and he had been theirs, part of their family and their hearts, and though they'd given him back and wished him the best, it had been like punching a hole into their own chests and leaving it to remain open for all these years… twelve of them…

"There, the birthmark, on his head, right by his hairline," Michael pointed, as his thought connected with Keith, and Lucas… Maybe it was coincidence, maybe it was just some random boy, or maybe… Maybe Rafa had once had a different name, for the first eight days of his life.

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners