July 16th 2020

Chapter 198
Their Art of Summer

The last few weeks of summer felt as though the world acknowledged how much had already happened in recent times. After two weddings and a funeral, the month of August came and went with very little in the way of big excitement.

Alright, it wasn't to say that the month had been boring, not by a long shot. Fall was on its way, and it would bring plenty for them to be looking forward to. Lucas was eager to get back to school, to start his penultimate year, and Maya… well, she was so very close to kicking off her first year as a teacher. After two years of waiting, the time was nearly upon them.

August had also been the month of Maya Hunter. Right after Asher and Ray had gone and tied the knot, Maya had finally gone and started the process which would take her from one name and to the next, before eventually changing it once more, one last time. All month long, she had been happily introducing herself whenever she got the chance, the better to let the name have its day in the sun. It had become something of a game between the four of them in the house, as Lucas, Sam, and Rosa would come to greet her with something like 'hey Hunter' or 'well if it isn't Maya Hunter.'

Rosa was still living with them, her apartment search so far bringing up nothing but disappointments. The issue, of course, was that for the time being she could not afford anything on her own. Well, she could afford an apartment and all it would entail, provided she got some minuscule place or what could only be called a death trap. She needed a roommate, and she had no desire to go and hunt down what would likely have to be a stranger to live with.

"You can stay with us as long as it takes, okay?" Lucas had told her, after she'd returned from another failed search.

"I know," she'd sighed. "I appreciate it, I do." But she needed her space, needed to feel like she had her own home again and not loads of boxes she couldn't unpack.

"We can ride to school together when the semester starts," Sam chimed in, and Rosa looked like this was both good news and cause for further despair over her situation.

As bad as she felt, Riley and Dylan still felt so bad about it, about how they had essentially put her in this position. They had finally found their house, bought it, and were in the process of fixing it up before they moved in. They had not known at first how to ask her if she might want to assist, as it might sound like they were only doing it because they felt bad. Rosa had seen through it, and she was helping them. It was as good of a way as any to help clear the awkwardness hanging over them.

"Thirty-three minutes!" Riley had declared, coming up the lane one morning. Maya and Sam had been in the attic, doing their own thing, and Sam had looked out the window, only to see someone walking up from far away and think it looked a great deal like Riley. When Maya had gone to look, she had found that, yes, it was her. The siblings had gone down through the house and made it on to the porch as she came walking up.

"What's thirty-three minutes?" Maya asked.

"The walk from my house to yours," Riley had happily revealed. It had made Maya laugh, pulling her oldest friend into a hug before fulfilling her request for a glass of water. Their lives had come to be like a succession of relocations, taking them further and closer and further apart again. Had it been up to them, they could have been neighbors, across the street like their friends in Houston or across a fence, like Riley's grandparents and her father's old teacher. Thirty-three minutes on foot seemed to please her, and Maya felt the same. Thirty-three on foot, seven by car, as they found when they first made the ride out.

Riley and Dylan were not the only ones to test the distance.

After they had returned to Austin, and gotten through GiGi's loss, and Asher and Ray's wedding, Maya and Lucas had gotten in touch with their new friends from Atlanta. They had responded to the notice of their safe return, expressing their own return but also the reason why they might not hear from them for a little while. By the time they had finally called one another, it felt as though they could have talked for hours, and they did. Over days, they called, and they wrote, and they were all very happy to find that this budding friendship of theirs might actually have a fighting chance at taking root rather than being an open and closed book.

And when Maya had mentioned how TXNY was going to have a few gigs through the month, Caleb and Talia had decided to journey out to Austin, to see her and Lucas again, and to witness one of these shows for themselves. They were driving out, taking in the landscape as they went, and finally arriving in mid-evening the day before the show. Much as they had wondered what it would be like to see each other again, out of the context of Paris, there was really nothing for them to worry over. They were all thrilled to reunite.

The next evening, TXNY had taken the stage, and it had been as electric as ever, if not more. Even though she wasn't going around announcing her name to the crowd before her, Lucas could just see the moment when Maya thought about how, in that moment, she was a Hart again, the name she'd kept for the stage.

"That was unbelievable," Talia had told her, all smiles as Lucas had taken her and Caleb backstage after the show. Maya had taken them to meet the rest of the band, both sides having heard of one another enough times now that they were all glad to finally meet.

Caleb and Talia had stayed in Austin one more day, hitting the road again the morning after that. While they were still in town though, to no one's surprise, Maya and Caleb had 'fallen into an art hole' as their respective spouses had come to call it. If that wasn't enough, this time they also had Sam, turning the duo into a trio. Lucas and Rosa had taken the opportunity and given Talia the tour of the city.

That series of shows had happened, in some part, the better to anticipate how they would all be so busy for the rest of the month. For Maya, a lot of it had been about preparing for the school year. Yes, her first day of teaching would come with the start of classes, but she had been going to the school now, meeting people, doing what needed to be done ahead of the big first day. At the same time, she had to start figuring out this new schedule, balancing the school with the theater without falling flat on her face and letting down one or both sides.

Coming home at the end of the day, it felt like she landed right in the middle of being exhausted and happy to be home or just satisfied with her day… and happy to be home. It wasn't hard to be at peace out there, with her husband, and her brother, and her their friend, and so… so many dogs… Well, six of them at least.

They had Trix and Lou, and they had Archer, and while Rosa stayed with them they had Peanut. Now, as of just a couple days ago, they had two more in the house.

Knowing how much of a difficult choice it was for Missy Sanderson to make, about what to do with Coraline's litter, Maya had been very happy to present her with the idea she'd had. It had still been too early to take any of the pups away from their mother at the time, but they lost nothing by thinking ahead. The plan was simple: Keep it in the family. They had been hearing, from the day the puppies were born, how several of their friends showed interest toward adopting one or more of the little ones. So, what if they did that? If all the puppies went to people who were part of each other's lives, then even if the fluffy siblings were separated it would not be forever.

Missy had loved the idea immediately, and so it all started, as they went about figuring out who was interested. By the end of it, they had takers for eight of the puppies, the ninth being one that Missy wished to keep along with Coraline. And because she knew both the people and the puppies very well, she was the one to decide who went where. She was keeping the ninth and last born, Liza. Three of the pups were Houston bound, with Shadow going to Sophie and Chiara, Bod to Asher and Ray, and Zorya to Willow and Lion. Here in Austin, 'the Lady Door' was to move into Dylan and Riley's new home with them, while little Charlie went to Zay and Nadine. The firstborn, Una, had been something like a belated eighth birthday present to the Hunter twins.

Finally, the last two were at the Friar house on the lane, one of them temporarily. Rosa hardly had to ask if her friends minded her having one more dog around here while they hosted her, and so she welcomed jolly Lupescu as her second dog. To no one's surprise, Lucas and Maya found their fourth in the shape of the hyper Crowley, coming along like a friend you had to keep watch of, in order to prevent them from running off a cliff when they weren't looking.

For a moment, when he was awakened by something thumping at his shoulder, Lucas was certain it was the puppy. How he would have managed to climb on to the bed, he didn't know, but… He opened his eyes, finding not an eager puppy but an eager wife.

"What's happening, what time is it?" he mumbled, blinking as he tried to get a look at the clock.

"Early," Maya told him. "But I didn't get to show you yesterday, and I have to go in to the theater today so I wanted to make sure, before I go in and start officially changing a few things, that you knew about this… officiality…"

"Is that a word?" he gave her a look like 'you're the teacher here.'

"Do you want to make jokes right now?" Maya countered, putting a sheet of paper in his line of sight. It took him a moment to focus and actually read what it said, but as he finally did he started to sit up. He took the paper and read it again, and his face… oh, he didn't know how much it would make him smile to see it. "Now, are you glad I woke you, Mr. Friar?"

"I am very glad you did, Mrs. Friar," he pulled her close, making her laugh. He kissed her now, many times over, on her lips, her forehead, her cheeks, wherever he could.

"I've been practicing some new signatures, want to see?" He didn't have to say a word. His face said 'show me all of it.' He had never been so happy to share his name with another person.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners