August 21st 2020

Chapter 234
Their Record of Sessions

On days when she'd be headed into the Hex for a while, Maya loved to get up early, as the world was quiet, walk through the house, grab some coffee and traipse on over to the studio. Some days she would go and pick up one of her guitars and just see what her mind decided to do with it, or she would sit at the console and tinker at a recording… It was a special kind of peace all her own.

Lately, she'd been going the way of a third option for these mornings. After a while, it was hard for her not to look at the rest of the instruments in this place and feel a bit of a pull toward them. She'd always had her guitar, and it was great, but maybe for having stepped up as a teacher now, she was getting to consider the possibility that she could expand her musical brain if she knew how to play all of those, too. The first one to call to her was Kayla's drum kit. She'd been calling up memories of many years watching both Kayla and Nadine sitting there, and watching an inordinate amount of videos, thanking the insulation of the studio as she experimented.

"You're getting pretty good at that."

Maya blinked, looking up to find Ree standing in the doorway with a smile. She got up, looking down to find she was still in her PJs.

"I know, I'm early," Ree apologized, as Maya had gone to look at the time. "I'd explain why, but seeing as you're in here already, I'd say you are best placed to understand all on your own."

"Just give me five minutes, I'll go get changed," Maya smiled.

"Don't worry about breakfast, got you covered," Ree nodded, holding up a bag branded as being from Ma Maggie's. Maya had told the singer about the restaurant back when they'd first met in person, and Ree now swore by it, whenever she was in town.

As promised, after a mad dash back into the house – passing a bewildered Lucas and Sam, still just coming down from upstairs – Maya returned, dressed and ready for the day's session. She found Ree sitting on the stool with her guitar, lightly strumming the melody from one of the songs they were set to record that day. When she'd heard the demo, she'd declared it possibly her favorite song that Maya had done for her yet, which had been the kind of compliment her young songwriter had to take humbly as they spoke on the phone and wait until after they'd hung up to react in earnest as she'd felt.

"So, how's school?" Ree asked, setting the instrument aside so she might join Maya as they broke into the food together. They could have eaten back inside the house, at the kitchen table, but then they both had that same feeling about being here in the Hex, and they preferred to stick around.

"Making me glad that I found the person I'd want to spend my life with when I did, so that I didn't have to 'suffer' trying to figure out dance dates," Maya declared, which had Ree laughing at once. "We had one of those last night, Lucas and I chaperoned," she added in explanation.

"I had tutors, once I was signed, so I wasn't in school so much in my teens. Never been to a dance like that," Ree told Maya, taking a bite of her pancake.

"Next time we have one of those, you are welcome to join us, you and Peter. Make a date of it," Maya suggested, and Ree burst in a great cackling laugh.

"Might just take you up on that, it would be just brilliant, yeah. Oh, prom, make it that," she waved her fork.

"Done," Maya laughed, grabbing her phone. "Making a note of it, and I am going to hold you to it."

"Please, do. We can always use a bit of casual fun. All the touring, the interviews, flying everywhere, it all starts to take a toll after a while, on Peter, on Christina. It's things like that which make me really respect the choice you made," Ree went on. "Sometimes I wish I could settle down, reset the balance between my career and my family. You cracked the code, Maya."

"I…" she blinked, touched, unsure how to respond. Ree was right though, wasn't she? She'd chosen her path, and so far it was really all she could have asked for. "I hope you're right. Once Lucas and I start to have kids, maybe it won't feel that way anymore, and then things will have to change again. They're going to be the thing that matters most."

"See? You'll be alright," Ree smiled. "Now, go on, what else is new?"

"Oh, it's like… everyone's got babies on the brain these days," Maya shook her head before taking a bite of her bacon. Ree gave a nod and a look that suggested she remembered a similar time in her own life. "Some of our friends found out they were expecting, others are still waiting to hear from the adoption people, and then more others are locked on 'any day now' with baby number two, so we're just waiting for the call out of New York…"

"That is definitely a lot," Ree reacted in awe.

"It is, yeah," Maya smiled. It was hard not to think about what the next few years were going to look like, as they all went and had kids, and that growing group got to grow up together…

While they waited for that call from Farkle and Isadora, the talk of the hour was definitely 'baby SCAR,' as they took to calling it, deciding they liked the acronym best, no matter how some might have found it strange.

As promised, the four of them had come over from Houston the previous Sunday, the better to unveil their news to those parents they could tell in person. Both Chiara's parents and Sophie's mother had to be told over a video call, but then they had Asher's parents, and they had Ray's chosen family, the Friars. Finding a way to tell them all at the same time had required some subterfuge, but they'd managed easily, what with the new kitchen and all. They only had to mention – via a very willing to participate Lucas and Maya on their dinner night – how others, like the Garcias, would be so interested to see the completed work, too, and from there they could let Melinda set the stage by herself. It worked.

After their surprise drop in with the baby bombshell, the four had made their way over to the house on the lane where they could say hello to their friends and be given the hugs they deserved before giving their whole story, from when they'd found out to how the reveal to the parents had gone.

It was to be expected, with how the whole thing had been such a process, that they would all choose to let some time pass before telling people about the baby. Chiara was due in early August and already three months along when they told everyone, at which point she was happy to show off her rounding belly. The actual discovery though, that had happened a month ago already. According to Chiara, they had all been saying they would patiently wait to see if it had taken, if she was finally pregnant. That had been the plan. But the more days went by, the more she could feel all their eyes on her, like they were waiting for her to do something, to be sick, or to show any other sign, and they had been driving her just a bit nuts.

It had all finally come to a head one night. She'd come home and dropped a test box on the table, declaring that they were going to find out once and for all. Sophie, Asher, and Ray had all looked to one another, appropriately sheepish, before each of them in turn had surrendered their own boxes, each purchased independently in some failed ploy to go 'hey, Chiara, how about it?' It had only taken one, and when she'd come sweeping out of the bathroom, to present them that stick with the plus sign, she'd almost run into them, all lined up and waiting for her. There had been a lot of hugging and so, so much happy crying. Telling their parents, a month later, had brought it all back, as the Garcias and the Friars in Austin and Diana Zvolensky and the Mantovanis overseas all received the news of this impending grandchild as they might have done if this child had been their very own.

"Lucas and I are looking at all this, how his parents are taking it all in, like a preview for what we can expect when it'll be us," Maya told Ree with a chuckle.

"Is it that intense?" Ree asked, laughing.

"It always is with his mother," Maya pointed out. "But in a good way," she specified.

"How are they doing now?" Ree inquired. She'd heard about the fire when she'd called Maya to wish her a Merry Christmas.

"Oh, well, they're back home, which has been great for them, and for us, too, I guess. Not that we weren't happy to have them here, because we were, it was just… time to get back on track. Mr. Friar is still having trouble with his hands, but he tries not to show it, doesn't want anyone to worry, least of all his wife or Lucas and me, but it's not like we don't see it. And Mrs. Friar, you know, now that she's back at her house, she can be herself again, and that's really been the most helpful," Maya nodded. And her sessions with Riley, but that's for her to share. "I think it helped us, too, Lucas and me, to have them here. We weren't expecting that, but it's like… it helped us to look at them and see that they weren't just his parents anymore, and we were all a bit more… on the same level. I used to go out to their house and feel so nervous about making a good impression…"

"Happens if you're courting their son," Ree teased. Maya snorted.

"I wasn't at first!" she replied.

"Weren't you though?" Ree countered. Maya had no way to reply to that.

"We should probably get started," she set aside her empty container, indicating the console, the booth…

"Need to digest before that," Ree told her as she ate her last bite. "So, here's something while we do. I wanted to talk to you about the album, once we're through, once I release it."

"Okay," Maya sat up, business like.

"I would like you to come on tour, with me," Ree smiled, more so at what had to be shock on Maya's face. "You will have put a whole lot of work into this album, maybe more than I will have done. It just would not be fair for me to go out there and claim it as my own when it's ours. So, what do you say? One taste of the whole thing, see how it is for yourself."

Maya was speechless. It was unexpected, of course, but it was also just… huge… and requiring a lot of consideration, so many factors coming in… They had set themselves a schedule, Ree and her, and by the time they finished recording the last of the songs, it would be somewhere in October, and the album would likely come out around the turn of the year.

"When… when would this be, I mean I have my job, my kids… and maybe a kid on the way by then…" At this, Ree raised her hands, settling her down.

"There are no dates just yet, not for the album, not for this tour, and I can be very flexible if it means you'll come with me. We have time to figure this out. Say you'll at least consider it? Talk to your husband, see what he has to say."

"He'll probably say I should do it," Maya breathed, sitting back in her chair. "I should still run it by him." Ree agreed. "I… I'll think about it."

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners