January 6th 2020

Chapter 6
Their House of Three

They took a day off after the drive back from Tucson before going back to the house to start properly unpacking. Lucas had known, just by watching how she worked at it beforehand, that Maya kind of wanted to wait until her brother had arrived to really dive into the boxes. And if he hadn't been sure, then the high energy motivation she now displayed was as good a clue as any. He'd opened his eyes to find her sitting in the bed next to him, sketchpad in her lap, pencil scratching away.

"You're not drawing me sleeping again, are you?" he asked, yawning. Almost without stopping her work, she reached with her other hand to hold up a page lying in front of her. "Huh… Well that's…"

"If you want me to stop, you're going to need to put a damn shirt on when you sleep. I am only a weak human…" This made him snort, and he finally sat up to see what she was doing now.

"I mean, I always kind of love waking up to… inspired artist with bedhead," he declared, setting his chin on her shoulder. "That looks like a floor plan."

"That's because it's a floor plan."

"How do you draw straight lines like that without a ruler?"

"Practice, practice," she smiled. There was her phone next to her, he now saw, with all the measures they had previously taken throughout the house.

"That's the living room," he recognized. Maya nodded. "We need a couch…"

"We need a few other things," she agreed.

"Want to go shopping today?"

"Might as well. We can do a lot of unpacking before anything gets delivered out to the house."

They took off with Sam after breakfast. They didn't tell anyone where they were headed. All it would take would be for any of their parents to hear and then it would turn into some giant endeavor, with opinions they didn't need or want to go and crowd their heads. It would all go much faster if it was just the three of them. Even Sam didn't know that was where they were headed until they'd gotten into the car and driven off from the Hunter Hart house.

"I can get my desk and chair for my room, yeah? Mom gave me a bit to get what I need for my room. "I have to get a bed, too…" He hadn't brought too much in the way of furniture, leaving at least part of his room standing back in Tucson, for when he'd visit.

"Either that or the floor right now," Maya nodded. "I love you, little brother, but I think you're too big to sneak in with us like Wyatt or Eliza." Sam made a noise like 'ha ha, very funny.' Maya turned a smile to Lucas, and he knew what this one meant. She was so very happy to finally have Sam with them.

"So, what's the plan?" Lucas turned to look at the Harts after parking in the mall lot.

"My mom would say to make a list… and a budget," Sam provided.

"Smart woman Abigail," Maya nodded in agreement. She and Lucas had been setting money aside for about a year, with the prospect of moving back to Austin, getting their own place, and providing what would be needed to get everything as they'd want it. That did not have to mean that they'd just blow through the whole of it, especially with how their working situation was still a bit on the 'to be determined' side.

By the time they'd left the car, they knew what points they needed to hit, and they'd gone for a 'divide and conquer' scenario. Even for all that, by the time they were done and sitting in a booth for lunch, it was nearly four hours later and they were spent.

"Do we still need to… with the boxes? I could be okay just sitting and staring at a wall for a while, really, I'm good," Maya hummed. Lucas just lifted his hand as though to say 'your wish, my command,' and she had to smile. "We have to do it anyway, don't we?"

"There's no rule that says we can't unpack sitting down, is there?" Sam offered.

"You know it's that big smart brain of yours that got you in college at fifteen," Maya pointed at him with a nod.

"But first, food," Lucas tapped her arm as he spotted the waiter returning with their order.

"So much food," Sam chimed in.

"All the food," Maya sat back to take in the pizza set before them.

The thing they discovered, upon returning to the house on the lane, was that as exhausted as their shopping excursion had left them, the pull to unpack, to place, to create this space that was to be their home… was stronger. So, they got into it. Sam kind of had to wait, as far as a lot of his room went, what with the lack of most furniture, so he'd joined Maya and Lucas and helped wherever he could.

They had set themselves to those definable tasks they could cross off their list. Up in the attic, they had put the custom desk in its place, now that the walls were good and dry, with days left alone. Dot had set the thing on lockable wheels, making it easier for Maya or anyone to move it to another spot if they so wanted it. Lucas could just imagine her bringing the desk from one side of the attic to the other, as the inspiration would strike. For now, it was set just as he'd imagined, in front of the window looking on to the back of the house, the land beyond, the water in the distance…

"That's so cool," Sam was still mesmerized by the sky light, the window which had been Shawn's idea. Maya came to stand with him, looking up to the blue afternoon sky.

"I know, right?" When he suddenly bolted for the steps out of the attic, she turned to Lucas, wondering as he did where her brother had gone all of a sudden. They could just hear the sound of rummaging somewhere below, like boxes where being moved around, and then Sam was coming back, lugging a large, long case. Lucas moved to help him get it up the ladder and they set it on the ground. "Is that…" Maya just had the time to say before Sam got the case open and she saw it was indeed a telescope.

"Dad gave it to me when I was eleven," he told her, reminded her. He'd told her about it at the time, and she also remembered how he had never used it. Back then, he'd been unsure how to feel about their father, contemplating how he'd left Maya and her mother back in the day. He'd stuffed it in the back of his closet and left it to collect dust.

"I totally forgot you had that," Maya crouched as he popped the case open.

"I did, too, until I started to pack. I don't know why I decided to bring it, maybe just… I didn't want Mom or the others to find it and… get sad, I guess." They were quiet for a beat, until Lucas came and joined them.

"Want to put it together?"

It took a little while. It wasn't a toy by any means. It was kind of beautiful, especially when they'd finished it and it sat there in the middle of the attic, aimed at that window in the gabled roof.

"You know what we need to do?" Maya looked to Lucas and Sam. They turned to her, shaking their heads. "We camp up here, some night when the sky's clear… See what it can do," she set her hand to the telescope. Sam looked at once excited to do just that.

"We can make a stop at the campfire, too," Lucas added, making the entire project even better.

"I know we just had a whole huge pizza not long ago, but now all I can think about is smores," Sam revealed with a nod.

"Well, how could you not," Maya tapped his arm.

They got back to unpacking for a while, deciding that they would have their 'camp in' on their first night being officially moved in, leaving the Hunter Hart house for this house, the Friar Hart house… They set themselves a goal, a target date, and they were going to stick to it.

They called it a day in time to head back and have dinner with Lucas' parents. They had been going there every evening they'd been in town, to balance with their staying with Maya's family. Tonight, they were joined by Pappy Joe and Professor Robinson. Patty was delighted to meet Sam, who had heard of the woman plenty of times, had technically crossed paths with her once or twice before, but never got the chance to speak to her. Now that he did, he could see why his big sister would rave about her.

She was an especially big hit when she discovered that Sam was also an artist and that he had been making comic books on his own for a while. He didn't know what he had expected the woman's reaction to be, but he had especially not expected her to find this a worthy endeavor or to go on about how she used to steal all her brother's comics growing up. Both Maya and Lucas had sat there the whole time, finding that her mentor and his grandmother still had plenty for them to learn about, four years on.

By the time they'd gone back to the Hunter Hart house, Sam had spent the rest of the evening bent over his sketchbook, working on a new idea. Looking at him as he sat there, Lucas couldn't help but think how there would be no doubt that he and Maya were related.

"You know, he's barely been here a couple of days and it already feels like he was always around," Maya told Lucas as they were getting ready for bed. The day had been long, and by now there was no denying how deeply they yearned for rest.

"I can see that," Lucas nodded. "I can't wait for us to have everything done, the three of us living up at the house…"

"Yeah," Maya smiled. They were kept in a holding pattern at the moment, having the house but not living in it yet, and that was because of her, and wanting to be here, and that was all fine, it was what she'd wanted and what he'd wanted for her, what they'd both wanted for her, Lucas and Sam. But now, the more they made their impression on the house, made it their own, she knew that the time was coming when they should be there and not here. "Once we're out there, we'll need to get to work on… well…"

"Finding work?" Lucas guessed.

"Yes, that small detail," she smiled. "And then you with school, and Sam with school… And then…" she held up her hand, showing her ring, back on her finger after having spent part of the day on the chain around her neck, with her father's guitar pick, so not to be lost or damaged while working around the house.

"Yes, that big detail," Lucas countered, climbing into bed with her. He started to pull his shirt over his head, then paused for a beat, turning to her.

"Oh, don't you dare," she squinted at him until he grinned and pulled it off. "I can't wait until morning already," she leaned to kiss him before they lay down and turned off the lights.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners