February 3rd 2020

Chapter 34
Their Support of Memories

Sunday...

"Can't skip out and follow me out there this week, can you?" Maya asked him as they embraced by the door, once the last of her things had been packed into the minivan.

"I would go in a heartbeat," Lucas assured her with a smile, even as it felt like he was soaking up everything about her, filling up his mind to hold him through the week to come as he prepared to see her off until Friday.

"But," she nodded.

"But," he confirmed. She sighed, stealing a look to where Sam was playing catch with the dogs. "He'll be fine. I've got him," Lucas promised.

"Oh, I know that," Maya turned back to him with a laugh. "Boys' week... That should be interesting."

"Kind of looking forward to that," Lucas admitted. "Even if it comes at the cost of not having you around."

"Big cost, huge," she smirked, stretching up to kiss him. "And now I really gotta go." He pulled a card from her own plays, making an exaggerated sad face, which made her break into giggles. "Fine, one more and then you put those eyes away or I'm never going to make it to Houston."

"At last, my master plan," he whispered as she kissed him once more.

"You hold on to that now," she tapped at his chest before stepping back from his hold. "Sammy, come on, I have to go!" she called out, and her brother came jogging over, the dogs on his heels. She hugged him tight. "I'd tell you to be good, but who am I kidding, the misbehaving element is leaving with me," she smiled, giving him a cheek pinch. Sam pulled back with a laugh.

The dogs were left for Lucas and Sam to hold on to as Maya said her quick goodbyes to them, knowing they were all too likely to chase after the minivan if they caught on that she was leaving. They watched her drive off, until Sparkles was but a twinkle of red in the distance and then it was back into the house for Lucas, Sam, Trix, and Lou.

"So... What are you up to now?" Lucas asked.

"Homework," Sam shrugged. "You?"

"Got some people to track down..."

X

Monday...

"Hey, did you just get back?" Lucas asked, watching Maya on the screen as she settled in on the couch over in their old Houston house, pulling her hair from its bun. It was nearly ten in the evening. He'd been so caught up in his work that he hadn't seen the time until his phone started to chime and let him know he had a call coming in.

"Yeah..." she breathed, shaking out her hair with relief. "We had so many kids today, it didn't stop for a minute. We had some of them that stuck around into the evening, there were parents..."

"Oh?" he tried not to smile, even if he could tell just by the way she said this that she might have some choice words about those parents hovering around today.

"I don't know that I was ever called 'young lady' this much in one day..." Maya groaned. "Opiniated parents aside, I think we got through today alright. When one of the kids would just... have a breakthrough, you know... It was so good," her smile returned.

He already missed her, having spent one night and day away from her, but seeing her happiness shining through like this... It all became just a bit easier.

"What about you? Did you get anywhere today with the coach project?" she asked.

"Well..." he stretched to reach the green journal. He would have been perfectly contented just hearing about her day, hearing her voice and the way it made him feel, but if she wanted to be told about his day, he would tell her all he could. "I managed to track down a lot of the people from my list. Some of them aren't local anymore, not too sure what we're going to do about that. They all want to be involved if they can. Every one," he nodded. Maya smiled, that smile that said she was happy for you.

"That's amazing..."

"Yeah, it really is. Most of the ones I spoke to, wrote to, they had stories to share without me needing to ask, so that's something already," he told her, leafing through his notes. "Just when I'd think that I'd reached the depths of his involvement through the years, there's more. I'm pretty sure if I asked the kids he's coaching now they'd have even more."

"So do it," Maya shrugged. "I'm sure there's a way to involve them somehow."

X

Tuesday...

"Wow, you guys were tiny..." Sam declared upon seeing a picture of the 8th grade boys and girls' teams posing together with their coaches, the year where those teams had included the likes of Maya Hart and Lucas Friar. Upon hearing this declaration, Lucas had looked back toward his brother. "I mean... compared to today," Sam shrugged.

"Nice cover," Lucas pointed at him, which might possibly have been something more like 'saved by the bell,' as in that same moment the Skype bell rang. As Sam casually went back to his browsing through the material spread across the kitchen table where the two of them sat, Lucas tapped at his laptop and the screen soon filled with the image of Maya, back in Houston. It was earlier than the night before but still on the whole could be called late.

"Good evening, Austin," she smirked. Sam leaned over in his chair until his face could be seen by the webcam. "Isn't it past your bedtime?" Maya teased.

"Ha ha," Sam exaggerated, dropping back on to his chair.

"Hey," Lucas finally greeted his fiancée.

"Hey," she smiled. "So this is Wiley central, is it?" She could see some of the papers in front of him.

"Starting to be, yeah."

"Hit me," she nodded eagerly. "You get to go first this time."

"Okay, well, I talked with the secretary today, and then the principal, at the middle school and a couple of the high schools where most of the middle kids would have ended up. I don't know if it was all still being kept quiet that he was retiring, but now..."

"Oh, oops," Maya laughed apologetically.

"It's all good. It's kind of speeding things along, actually. They're going to see to some things on their end, where I couldn't have gone." When Maya laughed here, it felt like there had been a joke somewhere and only she had caught it. When he asked about it, she smiled.

"Just imagining you trying to sneak through the middle school without the coach seeing you, like some really tall 7th grader," she explained, laughing again when she heard her brother laughing off camera.

"Hey," Lucas 'protested,' looking to Sam, who focused on the photos again.

X

Wednesday...

"Shae absolutely wanted to make sure that I would say hello to you from her, so... hello to you... from Shae," Maya nodded, smiling. By the angle of the camera, Lucas could picture her sitting with her legs up on the couch, her computer set in her lap. He was in much the same set up on his end. Of course, he was on his own, as Sam was upstairs in the shower, while on the screen he could occasionally see his friends walking in the background. They would stop and wave at him now and again, Sophie, and Chiara, and Asher and Ray... According to Maya, the boys didn't look eager to go and find a place of their own any time soon as they'd said they would.

"Hello to her, too," Lucas chuckled. "I know she's not there, I mean..."

"I know," Maya laughed. He must have looked bummed out about something, as after they had already chatted about their respective days, she'd ended up taking her laptop and walking off upstairs, leaving their friends and her hosts behind. "You want me to repeat that to your mother?" she stopped midway up the stairs, addressing someone in the living room below. Lucas hadn't heard, couldn't say for sure who had spoken or what they'd said. "Our friends have dirty minds," Maya told him, spotting his curious look.

"We knew that," Lucas laughed.

"Two more nights and then I'm home," she smiled at him, finally stopping at the top of the stairs. "Can't come soon enough if you ask me."

"Same," he nodded. "I mean, it's good, right? Being apart, sometimes... It puts things in perspective."

"Like how you can't wait to have your little spoon back?" she casually asked.

"Definitely," Lucas confirmed, beaming.

"We've had worse, haven't we? That summer when I had to go to Philadelphia and you were out here in Texas..."

"Until I sailed off on Air Zvolensky to find you again..."

"And that was good, wasn't it?" Maya nodded.

"Putting aside the terror of what would happen if your parents didn't respond the way I needed them to..."

"Yeah, beside that," she hummed, recalling it all.

"This will be better," Lucas told her, and oh how he felt those three days apart already. Two more now, even more like one and a half... They could make that...

X

Thursday...

"You know, I could come and get you," Lucas told Maya with a smile as he watched her on the screen, absently collecting her things from around her as she prepared to start packing.

"Don't think I haven't considered it," she sighed, tipping back on her borrowed bed with her phone held before her. "Except then there would be two of us and two cars," she counted on her fingers.

"I could bring someone along to drive the second one."

"No, no, really. It'll be easier this way, and besides by the time you'd get here I would be dead asleep, and you know how I get."

"Whether I do or do not know I am going to reserve the right to pretend like I don't," Lucas informed her, which made Maya laugh.

"Don't think I haven't missed you enough that common sense only won out by thiiis much," she pinched her fingers together."

"Common sense and I are not getting along right now," he chuckled, his way of saying he felt the same.

"When did we go and become adults?" she hummed, propping her head up by sticking her free arm underneath.

"Someone must have snuck it in," he shrugged. "Like vegetables."

"Oh, my mother tried that with me when I was little. She said I hadn't looked at her with so much betrayal in my eyes since I was a baby and she took me in for my shots."

"It's a good thing you're coming home tomorrow," he told her, laughing.

"Why, you about to make yourself a Maya pillow?" she teased.

"We're very happy together," he gave her smirk.

"Oh, that girl better be gone by the time I get there," she replied with mock fury.

"Queen of the little spoons," he vowed, bringing her back to smiles.

"I'm just glad I get to be back in time for your big day."

"You and me both. Wouldn't have felt right without you there."

X

Friday...

Right near the time when he would finish up his morning hours at the Sanderson farm, he'd have a buddy nearby. Missy Sanderson would sit on the fence near the road, waiting for the bus that would take her to school, all the while sharing stories about one animal or another from her grandparents' farm. The way she'd talk about them, they might have been people, friends. It would make Lucas laugh every time.

Not long after the yellow bus had come along and Missy had run off to get on, Lucas had looked up to find another awaited vehicle. The red minivan named Sparkles. Mitch Sanderson had told him to go on ahead and he didn't need to be told twice. He jogged off to meet her on the road, and Sparkles rolled to a stop just ahead of him. The window rolled down.

"Howdy, going my way?" Maya drawled, leaning in the opening with a grin.

"What do you think?" he smiled back and moved in to kiss her. After five days and some hours apart, it felt like they'd reset all the counters and started over again.

"Well, I have the day off, so I was thinking I would drive you to school," Maya told him once he'd finally come around and climbed into the passenger seat. "Give Robbie and Ramona the morning off driving you."

"I would like that a lot, yes," Lucas agreed at once.

"Good, because I already texted Ramona to let her know."

Arriving back at the house, while Lucas quickly went to freshen up, Maya was left to reunite with a couple of eager pups and an equally eager little brother. Lucas came back down to find the two of them in the kitchen, where Sam was showing his sister some of what they had been doing for Coach Wiley.

Soon, he was off to catch his own bus, which he had been taking all week while his sister wasn't there to give him a ride. Maya and Lucas got in the minivan and started on the road for his university. For having been separated all this time, it hadn't taken long for it to feel as though she had never left. She really had been gone though, and the effect of her return would be felt in an extra lift in his steps all day, and in his voice as he told her the latest updates on the coming weekend and the deployment of Operation Wiley.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners